State Board of Equalization (California)

The State Board of Equalization (BOE) is a public agency charged with tax administration and fee collection in the state of California in the United States. The authorities of the Board fall into four broad areas: sales and use taxes, property taxes, special taxes, and acting as an appellate body for franchise and income tax appeals (which are collected by the Franchise Tax Board). The BOE is the only publicly elected tax commission in the United States.

The board is made up of four directly elected members, each representing a district for four-year terms, along with the State Controller, who is elected on a statewide basis, serving as the fifth member. The current board members are:

George Runner (R)
(First District)

Fiona Ma (D)
(Second District)

Jerome Horton (D)
(Third District)

Diane Harkey (R)
(Fourth District)

Betty Yee (D)
(State Controller)

The terms of all five members, including the State Controller, began on January 5, 2015. As of 2008, the agency employed approximately 3,950 people throughout the state.

The State Board of Equalization was created in 1879 by an amendment to the California Constitution. Its original mandate was to ensure that property tax assessments were uniform and equal across all counties in the state.

Prior to the creation of the state income, sales, and fuel taxes in the 1930s, California's state government was almost completely supported by property taxes, which were and still are assessed at the county level by elected assessors. Of course, assessors were tempted to boost their popularity with county voters by undervaluing voters' property (and thereby lowering their taxes). This presented the risk of counties with honest assessors paying more than their fair share of the burden of operating the state government, so the Board of Equalization was created to equalize the burden.

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