In Weatherford v. City of San Rafael, published June 5, 2017, the California Supreme Court reversed and remanded a stipulated dismissal of a taxpayer's action under Code of Civil Procedure section 526a. The plaintiff sued a city and county for declaratory and injunctive relief, challenging the manner in which the defendants impounded autos. The lower courts ruled that section 526a requires the plaintiff to have paid property taxes to the defendant public entity to have standing to bring the suit. The Supreme Court reversed. It ruled that section 526a was intended to restrict the common-law rules of taxpayer standing, by limiting the types of taxes that may be paid to give standing. But limiting the types of taxes to property taxes is too narrow a reading. The plaintiff must pay a tax assessed by the defendant locality, but the tax need not be property tax.
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