Sklar

Today we consider whether taxpayers can obtain mandamus to compel the State Franchise Tax Board (Board) to adopt certain specific procedures to control the use of alcohol entertainment expense as a business deduction on state income tax returns. We conclude that mandamus will not lie to direct the manner in which the Board shall exercise its delegated authority to administer the state income tax laws.

Plaintiffs alleged in their amended petition that they are citizens and taxpayers of various counties in Northern California who commenced this action "individually and on behalf of all taxpayers of the State of California" for the purpose of compelling the Board "to collect income taxes lawfully due the State that have eluded collection because of the Board's total failure to enforce provisions of the tax statutes." Relying on various statutes (e.g., Health & Saf. Code, §§ 11760.2 & 11760.4), plaintiffs asserted that "it is the clearly defined, articulated policy of the State to promote temperance in the use and consumption of alcoholic beverages." The Board, as an agency of the state, has an important and "affirmative role in alleviating problems related to…