Tax Departments
Environmental Fees
Environmental Fees include the Ballast Water Management Fee; Hazardous Substances Tax Programs; Hazardous Waste Facility Fee; Hazardous Waste Disposal Fee; Hazardous Waste Generator Fee; Hazardous Waste Activity Fee; Transportable Treatment Unit Fee; Environmental Fee; Occupational Lead Poisoning Prevention Fee; Electronic Waste Recycling Fee; California Tire Fee; Integrated Waste Management Fee; and Water Rights Fee.
Excise Taxes
Excise Taxes include the Alcoholic Beverage Tax; Alternative Cigarette Tax Stamp Program (ACTS); California Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act of 2003; Cigarette & Tobacco Products Taxes; Emergency Telephone Users Surcharge; Energy Resources Surcharge; Natural Gas Surcharge; and Tax on Insurers.
Fuel Taxes
Fuel Taxes include the Aircraft Jet Fuel Tax; Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Fee; Diesel Fuel Tax; International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA); Interstate User Diesel Fuel Tax; Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax; Oil Spill Response, Prevention and Administration Fees; Underground Storage Tank Maintenance Fee; and the Use Fuel Tax.
Note: Biodiesel and biofuel, including straight vegetable (svo) and waste vegetable oil (wvo), are administered under the Diesel Fuel Tax Law.
Property Tax
The Property and Special Taxes Department administers three major property tax programs:
- State-Assessed Property Program;
- Private Railroad Car Tax Program;
- Timber Yield Tax Program.
In addition, the Department provides guidance to the 58 county assessors, who are charged with establishing values for approximately 12 million properties each year, and monitors the adequacy of their assessment practices. The Tax Area Services Section is responsible for maintaining all property tax-rate area maps and for maintaining special revenue district boundaries.
Under its Constitutional mandate, the Board of Equalization oversees the assessment practices of the state's 58 county assessors, who are charged with establishing values for approximately 12 million properties each year. In addition, the Board assesses the property of regulated railroads and specified public utilities, and assesses and collects the private railroad car tax and timber yield tax.
Sales & Use Tax
Retailers engaged in business in California must register with the BOE and pay the state's sales tax, which applies to all retail sales of goods and merchandise except those sales specifically exempted by law. The use tax generally applies to the storage, use, or other consumption in California of goods purchased from retailers in transactions not subject to the sales tax. Use tax may also apply to purchases shipped to a California consumer from another state, including purchases made by mail order, telephone, or Internet.
The sales and use tax rate in a specific California location has three parts: the state tax rate, the local tax rate, and any district tax rate that may be in effect.
State sales and use taxes provide revenue to the state's General Fund, to cities and counties through specific state fund allocations, and to other local jurisdictions.