MCI Commc'ns Servs., Inc. v. Cal. Dep't of Tax & Fee Admin.

*640 In this action for a state tax refund against the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA), Plaintiff MCI Communications Services, Inc. (MCI) appeals from a judgment of dismissal entered after the trial court sustained CDTFA's demurrer to MCI's first amended complaint without leave to amend.

The California Sales and Use Tax Law ( Rev. & Tax. Code, § 6001 et seq. ) 1 (SUTL) imposes sales and use taxes on retailers and purchasers for the sale, use, storage, or consumption of tangible personal property within California. Certain categories of property are excluded from the definition of tangible personal property and therefore are not subject to sales and use taxation. Under section 6016.5, one such category of excluded property includes "telephone and telegraph lines, electrical transmission and distribution lines, and the poles, towers, or conduit by which they are supported or in which they are contained." This appeal requires us to decide whether the tax exclusion in section 6016.5 extends to the pre-installation component parts that may one day be incorporated into completed telephone and telegraph systems.

We hold that section 6016.5 excludes only…