Becerra, 090919 CAAGO, AGO 18-501

• Case Date: September 09, 2019
• Court: California

XAVIER BECERRA Attorney General ANYA M. BINSACCA Deputy Attorney General AGO 18-501 No. 18-501 California Attorney General Opinion Office of the Attorney General State of California September 9, 2019          THE HONORABLE MICHAEL C. GHIZZONI, COUNTY COUNSEL, COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA, has requested an opinion on the following question:          Is a nonprofit public benefit corporation that is an instrumentality of a city housing authority exempt from the documentary transfer tax?          CONCLUSION          Yes. A nonprofit public benefit corporation that is an instrumentality of a city housing authority is exempt from the documentary transfer tax.          ANALYSIS          The documentary transfer tax is a tax that may be imposed upon the transfer of ownership of real property. The Documentary Transfer Tax Act^[1] allows cities and counties to impose such a tax by ordinance.^[2]          Revenue and Taxation Code section 11922, contained in the Transfer Tax Act, exempts transactions involving particular government entities from the tax: "Any deed, instrument or writing to which the United States or any agency or instrumentality thereof, any state or territory, or political subdivision thereof, is a party shall be exempt from any tax imposed pursuant to this part when the exempt agency is acquiring title."^[3]          We are informed that it is common for housing authorities in California to create nonprofit public benefit corporations, asserting Health and Safety Code section 34350, subdivision (g) as authority to do so.^[4] We have been asked for our opinion as to whether a nonprofit public benefit corporation created by a city housing authority is a "political subdivision" of the state within the meaning of section 11922 (and thus exempt from the documentary transfer tax). We conclude that it is.          We have previously examined whether a county water district was a political subdivision of the state entitled to the exemption in section 11922.^[5] We observed that various authorities "could be mechanically cited in favor or against the inclusion of county water districts within the term...