Rider V. County Of San Diego

''Rider v. County of San Diego'', 820 P.2d 1000 (Cal. 1991) was a California Supreme Court case where the court ruled that a sales tax in San Diego County, California to fund courthouses and jails was invalid, because it failed to reach a two-thirds voter approval as required by Proposition 13.

Background

In 1978, California voters passed Proposition 13, an amendment (article XIII-A) to the California Constitution that limited the ways that state and local governments could create new taxes. Specifically, section 4 of article XIII-A required the approval of two thirds of voters for "special taxes" proposed by cities, counties, and entities called "special districts."

Seeking additional funding for jails and courthouses, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors in 1985 sought to create a county fund for managing and operating such facilities. However, in the November 1986 election, only 51 percent of county voters approved the fund, well short of a two-thirds requirement for passage as required by Proposition 13. Subsequently, the California State Legislature passed the San Diego County Regional Justice Facility Financing Act in 1987, which was introduced by Assemblymember Larry Stirling (Republican of San Diego), that created the seven-member San Diego County Regional Justice Facility Financing Agency, an agency responsible for creating Proposition A, a sales tax of 0.5 percent in San Diego County that would fund the construction of courthouses and jails. In June 1988, the sales tax won with 50.8 percent approval of county voters. The San Diego County sales tax rose to 7 percent.

Procedural history

Following the June 1988 election, Richard J. Rider and other San Diego County taxpayers filed a lawsuit that challenged the legality of the tax and alleged that the sales tax violated the requirements of a supermajority vote to pass taxes from Proposition 13 (1978) and Proposition 62 (1986). Judge Gordon Burkhart of the Riverside County Superior Court ruled in the plaintiffs' favor on March 23, 1989. The judge ruled that the sales tax was a "special tax" as defined by Proposition 13 because the tax was not for general use but specifically for judicial facilities.

However, on September 4, 1990, the California Court of Appeal overturned the superior court decision. The appeals court ruled that because the Regional Justice Facility Financing Agency was not empowered to pass property taxes, that agency was not a "special district" as defined by Proposition 13.

The Supreme Court of California heard the case on October 9, 1991. By that month, San Diego County raised over $320 million from the sales tax but was unable to spend the money pending the outcome of the ''Rider'' case.

Decision

The California Supreme Court issued the 5–2 decision ruling against the sales tax on December 19, 1991, saying that any entity that is "essentially controlled" by a county or city must follow the two-thirds requirement for special taxes. Chief Justice Malcolm Lucas wrote the majority opinion, joined by Justices Armand Arabian, Marvin R. Baxter, and Ronald M. George. The justices wrote in their majority opinion:

Additionally, Justice George wrote a separate, concurring opinion writing in part:

Giving separate dissents were Justices Stanley Mosk and Joyce L. Kennard. Mosk gave the opinion that the majority opinion broke away from past precedent. Kennard wrote that the San Diego agency that proposed the sales tax "is not a special district subject to the provisions of section 4 of article XIII A of the California Constitution and that the majority's interpretation of the phrase "special taxes" is overbroad."

Aftermath

Nearly a week after the court decision, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted on December 30, 1991 to continue collecting the Proposition A sales tax, and Chief Justice Lucas signed an order denying a request by the Libertarian Party to stop collection of the sales tax. In January 1992, a '' Los Angeles Times'' poll found that 68 percent of San Diego city residents believed that a sales tax was needed to improve jails and courthouses and that 64 percent supported allowing the county to restore the sales tax.

On February 13, 1992, the California Supreme Court declined to review this decision. As a result, Proposition A was abolished, and the sales tax rate in San Diego County dropped from 8.25 to 7.75 percent.

Rider says that this case reduced taxes by $3.5 billion in San Diego County and $14 billion statewide.

References

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Supreme Court of California case law
United States taxation and revenue case law