California Computer Products, Inc. v. County of Orange

Plaintiff appeals from an adverse judgment in its action for partial refund of ad valorem taxes on its business inventories which were assessed on the 1975-1976 tax roll as escaped *734 property for the fiscal years 1972-1973 and 1973-1974. Plaintiffs refund action is predicated solely on the claim that the assessor erroneously failed to apply to the assessment the 1974 amendment to Revenue and Taxation Code section 219 which extended the business inventories exemption to escaped assessments meeting the conditions specified by the amendment.

The pertinent facts are not in dispute. For each of the fiscal years 1972-1973 and 1973-1974, plaintiff filed a business property statement with the county assessor showing inventory costs as of the respective tax lien date and the costs so reported were used as the basis for the business inventory assessment for each of those years. In late 1973, the assessor commenced an audit of plaintiffs books and records pursuant to section 469. 2 The audit disclosed that plaintiffs 1972 and 1973 property statements failed to reflect accurately the cost of the business inventories and that such failure resulted in an underassessment for each…

I dissent. Unhappily the majority, apparently misconceiving the issue, have directed their attention for the most part to legal propositions that are not in question and which throw little light on the real question presented by the case, the proper interpretation of the uncodified section 2 in the 1974 amendment to Revenue and Taxation Code section 219. (All statutory references will be to the Rev. & Tax. Code unless otherwise specifically indicated.)

The majority’s major premises, set forth in division II, are: (1) that the right to ad valorem taxes becomes fixed on the lien date of the fiscal year to which they relate {ante, p. 736), and (2) that the tax must be determined in accordance with the law in effect when the right *742 to the tax vested {ante, p. 737). Neither party in this case disputes those well-settled propositions. Indeed, both parties agree that it is the version of section 219 as amended in 1974 that is applicable to the escape assessments here involved because they were enrolled in fiscal year 1975-1976. (See Beckman Instruments, Inc. v. County of Orange (1975) 53 Cal.App.3d 767, 778, fn. 8 [ 125 Cal.Rptr. 844 ].)

The uncodified section 2 in the 1974…

TAMURA, Acting P.J.

Plaintiff appeals from an adverse judgment in its action for partial refund of ad valorem taxes on its business inventories which were assessed on the 1975-1976 tax roll as escaped property for the fiscal years 1972-1973 and 1973-1974. Plaintiff's refund action is predicated solely on the claim that the assessor erroneously failed to apply to the assessment the 1974 amendment to Revenue and Taxation Code section 219 which extended the business inventories exemption to escaped assessments meeting the conditions specified by the amendment. [1]

The pertinent facts are not in dispute. For each of the fiscal years 1972-1973 and 1973-1974, plaintiff filed a business property statement with the county assessor showing inventory costs as of the respective tax lien date and the costs so reported were used as the basis for the business inventory assessment for each of those years. In late 1973, the assessor commenced an audit of plaintiff's books and records pursuant to section 469. [2] The audit disclosed that plaintiff's 1972 and 1973 property statements failed to reflect accurately the cost of the business inventories and that such failure resulted in an…