Sales and use taxes: exemptions: newspapers.

Existing state sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. The Sales and Use Tax Law provides various exemptions from those taxes, including an exemption for the sale of, or the storage, use, or consumption of, newspapers and periodicals published by an organization that qualifies for tax-exempt status and meets specified requirements, and an exemption for the sale of, or the storage, use, or consumption of, a newspaper or periodical distributed at specified intervals without charge. Until July 15, 1991, existing law provided for the sale of, or the storage, use, or consumption of, any newspaper or periodical regularly issued at specified intervals, any tangible property that becomes an ingredient or component part of that newspaper or periodical, and any photograph transferred under specified conditions for the purpose of being reproduced in that newspaper. This bill, on and after January 1, 2020, and before January 1, 2025, would reinstate the exemption from those taxes on the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, photographs transferred under specified conditions for the purpose of being reproduced in that newspaper, and would make an exemption from those taxes on the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, newspapers, unless otherwise provided. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. Existing law requires the state to reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse any local agencies for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.