(a) Except as otherwise provided in Sections 6359.4, 6359.45, 6363, and 6370, for the year beginning on January 1, 1988, and ending on December 31, 1988, 77 percent of the gross receipts of any retailer from the sale at retail of food products shall be subject to the tax imposed by Section 6051, when those food products are actually sold through a vending machine.
(b) Except as otherwise provided in Sections 6359.4, 6359.45, 6363, and 6370, for the year beginning on January 1, 1989, and ending on December 31, 1989, 55 percent of the gross receipts of any retailer from the sale at retail of food products shall be subject to the tax imposed by Section 6051, when those food products are actually sold through a vending machine.
(c) Except as otherwise provided in Sections 6359.4, 6359.45, 6363, and 6370, for the year beginning on January 1, 1990, and thereafter, 33 percent of the gross receipts of any retailer from the sale at retail of food products shall be subject to the tax imposed by Section 6051, when those food products are actually sold through a vending machine.
(d) (1) The Legislature finds that 33 percent represents the statewide average of food products sold through vending machines which are subject to the tax imposed under this part. Therefore, the Legislature establishes this average as the measure of the tax with respect to vending machine sales to simplify tax auditing procedures and to provide for uniformity in the taxation of gross receipts derived from the sale of food products through vending machines.
(2) The Legislature also finds that due to fiscal constraints, it is necessary to phase in the partial exemption for sales made through vending machines in the 1988 and 1989 calendar years.
(e) For purposes of this section, “food products” includes hot coffee, hot tea, and hot chocolate, when those hot beverages are actually sold through a vending machine for a separate price. “Food products” does not include other hot prepared food products, as defined in Section 6359.
(Amended by Stats. 1988, Ch. 1029, Sec. 3.)