Court invents corporate "right" to not be taxed

A court in Contra Costa County, California, has just awarded a lavish Christmas gift to oil giant Chevron - just for the asking.

Superior Court Judge David Flinn has ruled that the Bay Area city of Richmond may not tax Chevron for the crude oil it refines at its refinery there. This despite the fact that the tax - which applies to all manufacturers, not only Chevron - was approved by the city's voters.

So the court is giving Chevron a refund of all the taxes it paid in Richmond.

The judge's main excuse for striking down the tax was that the tax was supposedly out of proportion to the services Chevron gets. If you could strike down a tax for that reason, doesn't that mean any tax I've ever paid would be struck down too? It would certainly entitle me to a refund of the phone tax I used to pay to the Campbell County Schools, considering I was denied the right to enroll at Campbell County High School.

Since when did corporations have a "right" to not be taxed? Especially when the voters approve the tax?

If there ever was a case of legislating from the bench, this ruling is it.

(Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/24/BAGB1B9D9E.DTL&tsp=1)