Did a nonprofit tackle-football league qualify for section 6361 treatment when it excluded girls?

Plain-English summary

Counsel for a redacted California nonprofit corporation asked about its status under section 6361. The league's specific and primary purpose was supervising and teaching tackle football for boys. An absent June 22, 1976 letter to redacted parents evidenced its exclusion of girls.

Section 6361 covered certain nonprofit organizations whose primary purpose was to teach community youth sportsmanship, honesty, and courage. For qualifying organizations, the statute treated them as consumers of food products and nonalcoholic beverages sold to raise money for that purpose. But the special treatment was available only to organizations that did not discriminate based on race, sex, nationality, or religion.

Because the league excluded a class of youth based on sex, Tax Counsel concluded that it failed section 6361 and its tangible-personal-property sales were taxable retail sales under ordinary rules.

Counsel framed the issue solely as statutory interpretation. Whether the exclusion might be permissible under federal or California equal-protection and due-process standards was immaterial to this sales-tax question; section 6361 was not intended as an enforcement mechanism for constitutional or other civil-rights provisions.

The opinion was copied to the Santa Barbara district so it could complete the league's registration if registration was otherwise required. It does not document whether registration occurred.

Source and live-annotation limits

The official PDF does not include the December 17 request, June 22 league letter, incorporation or nonprofit records, program rules, participant or applicant records, tackle-football activities, food or beverage fundraising, any tangible property, profit-use records, contracts, prices, invoices, sales or uses, returns, exemption documentation, registration application or completion, tax calculations or payments, audit, assessment, claim, constitutional analysis or authority, civil-rights proceeding, appeal, or later outcome. The league, attorney, parents, girls, participants, customers, transactions, quantities, prices, and tax amounts are redacted or unidentified.

The source uses implant in the youth of the community for section 6361's described purpose and says the constitutional position may be permissible; the original-text section preserves that wording rather than recasting it as a civil-rights holding.

The live annotation preserves the boys' football league, exclusion of girls, section 6361, four protected classifications, date, disqualification, and constitutional-irrelevance conclusion. It omits the request and counsel, California nonprofit status, specific supervision-and-teaching purpose, June 22 evidence letter and parents, statutory sportsmanship/honesty/courage purpose, food and nonalcoholic-beverage sales and fundraising conditions, tangible-property retail-sales consequence, statutory-interpretation-only limitation, no-civil-rights-enforcement explanation, Santa Barbara registration referral, missing records, redactions, source wording, and absent outcome.

What this means for you

Youth leagues, schools, nonprofits, and tax professionals

Preserve governing and nonprofit records, program eligibility and nondiscrimination policies, participant records, every fundraiser and product, food and beverage classifications, profit use, contracts, invoices and sales, seller registration, returns, exemption documents, tax calculations, and payments. Analyze the tax statute separately from any constitutional or civil-rights question.

Common questions

Why did the league fail section 6361?

It excluded girls from its tackle-football program.

What sales received special treatment under the statute?

Sales of food products and nonalcoholic beverages by a qualifying youth organization to raise money for its stated purpose.

Did the opinion decide whether the exclusion violated civil-rights law?

No. It addressed only the sales-tax statute.

What evidence of the exclusion did counsel cite?

An absent June 22, 1976 league letter to redacted parents.

Were all nonprofit youth leagues disqualified?

No. The opinion describes special treatment for organizations meeting section 6361's purposes, sales conditions, profit-use rule, and nondiscrimination requirement.

Did the source show completed seller registration?

No.

Citations and references

• California Revenue and Taxation Code § 6361
• December 17 request, June 22 league letter, program and participant records, fundraising sales, registration, tax records, and outcome — described or implicated but not documented

Verbatim support

From the official Tax Counsel opinion:

This special status as “statutory consumer” is available only to organizations which do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, nationality, or religion.

We are of the opinion that the League fails to meet the qualifications of Revenue and Taxation Code Section 6361 in that it excludes a class of youth from its program based upon sex.

The language of Section 6361 is reasonably clear, and there is no indication that this section was intended as an enforcement mechanism for constitutional or other civil rights provisions.

Source

• Annotated Legal Opinions collection: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/taxes-and-fees/annotations-menu.htm
• Annotation page: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/vol2/suta/390-0000-all.html
• Original supporting opinion: https://cdtfa.ca.gov/lawguides/annotations/390-0070.pdf

Original ruling text

390.0070

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

STATE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION
916-445-2641

January 4, 1977
REDACTED TEXT
Attorney at Law
Dear Mr. REDACTED TEXT:
This is in response to your letter of December 17, 1976. You have raised a question with respect to the status of the REDACTED TEXT (“the League”) a California nonprofit corporation, under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 6361. We understand that the specific and primary purpose of the League is to supervise and teach tackle football for boys. As evidenced by a letter dated June 22, 1976, directed to Mr. and Mrs. REDACTED TEXT, the League excludes girls from participation in its tackle football program. As you point out, Revenue and Taxation Code Section 6361 provides that certain nonprofit organizations whose primary purpose is to implant in the youth of the community the ideals of good sportsmanship, honesty, and courage are, for purposes of the Sales and Use Tax Law, consumers of food products and nonalcoholic beverages which they sell for the purpose of raising money and in furtherance of such purpose. This special status as “statutory consumer” is available only to organizations which do not discriminate on the basis of race, sex, nationality, or religion. The question at issue is one of statutory interpretation only. We are of the opinion that the League fails to meet the qualifications of Revenue and Taxation Code Section 6361 in that it excludes a class of youth from its program based upon sex. Accordingly, sales by the organization of tangible personal property are retail sales subject to the tax in accordance with the rules of general applicability. It is immaterial that the position taken by the League in excluding girls from the tackle football program may be permissible under equal protection and due process standards of the United States or California Constitutions. As indicated, we view the question as one of statutory interpretation. The language of Section 6361 is reasonably clear, and there is no indication that this section was intended as an enforcement mechanism for constitutional or other civil rights provisions.

Mr. REDACTED TEXT

-2-

January 4, 1977

We have furnished a copy of this letter to our Santa Barbara district in order that that office may complete the registration of the League should such registration be otherwise required. Very truly yours, Gary J. Jugum Tax Counsel J:alicetilton cc: REDACTED TEXT bc: Santa Barbara – District Administrator