On Wednesday, February 24th, the State Board of Equalization will be taking up the case of an organized camp in Northern California on the matter of taxing the meals they serve at camp. As you know, camps in general have been exempt from paying taxes on meals under an education exemption and an opinion rendered by the Board’s legal counsel in 1967.

As we come into these last two and a half weeks leading up to the hearing, we would like to make a good showing of support from camps. Please review the list of options for showing support and complete as many as possible. What you can do.

BACKGROUND

We have already had numerous meetings with Board members and their staff, with Board Counsel and with a number of legislators who have connections with Board members. Our final meeting will be on Thursday, February 18th with Jerome Horton, a former State Senator and now the Board representative for District 4, representing the Los Angeles area. To date, the meetings have been very productive, and we are feeling encouraged by the support that has been expressed, including very favorable comments from the Board Chair, Betty Yee.

We are cautiously optimistic that the Board will continue the long standing practice of exempting camps from paying taxes on meals, and that there will be some clarification issued to camps (in a FAQ format) about how the exemption applies to camps and what obligations the camps have to maintain their exemption. There may also be some modification of the Board’s regulations, and some discussion about future legislation to address this issue more permanently.

As we come into these last two and a half weeks leading up to the hearing, we would like to make a good showing of support from camps. Please review the list of options below, and complete as many as possible.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Write a letter to the Board member whose district includes your camp (for a sample letter, click here):

Betty T. Yee, First District: Counties of Alameda, Colusa, Contra Costa, Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Benito, San Francisco, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Trinity, Yolo, and a portion of Santa Barbara.

Bill Leonard, Second District: Counties of Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, El Dorado, Fresno, Glenn, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Lassen, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tehama, Tulare, Tuolumne, Ventura, Yuba, a portion of Los Angeles, a portion of San Bernardino, and a portion of Santa Barbara.

Michelle Steel, Third District: Counties of South Los Angeles, Orange, Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego.

Jerome E. Horton, Fourth District: Fourth Board of Equalization District, includes 73 of the 88 cities in the County of Los Angeles.

John Chiang, California State Controller: As State Controller, Mr. Chiang serves on the Board and represents the entire state.

For a sample letter, click here. Please e-mail a copy of your letter to cbarankin@aol.com.

2. Attend the hearing on February 24th at 1:30 p.m. The Board will be meeting at 5901 Green Valley Circle, Room 207, in Culver City. You will not need to testify, but we are hoping to fill the room with supporters. If you are planning to attend, please send an email to cbarankin@aol.com.

3. Make a phone call to Board members’ offices and let them know that you support the continued exemption from tax on meals served at camps. You do not need to ask to speak to the Board Member, just ask the person answering the phone to pass along your concern.