GTE Sprint Communications Corp. v. State Board of Equalization

Defendant/appellant State Board of Equalization appeals a summary judgment in favor of plaintiff/respondent GTE Sprint Communications Corporation in respondent’s action for refund of surcharges paid pursuant to the California Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge Law (the Act). (Rev. & Tax. Code, § 41001 et seq.) Appellant contends the court erred in determining respondent had no duty to collect the subject surcharge.

Facts

This case concerns respondent’s payment of a surcharge under the Act for the period July 1, 1977, through December 31, 1983. The parties submitted a stipulated statement of facts, upon which our factual statement is based. A long-distance telephone call involves three discrete steps in the transmission from caller to receiver. The originating call begins at the caller’s telephone and is carried over a local telephone company’s transmission and switching facilities to the entry point of a long-distance network. This is known as the originating link. The long-distance carrier then transmits the call over its facilities to the exit point of the network in the area where the call is received. This is called the intermediate link. Finally, the call is…