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REPORTED IN THE COURT OF SPECIAL APPEALS OF MARYLAND No. 532 September Term, 2008

COMPTROLLER OF THE TREASURY v. JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY

Eyler, Deborah S., Wright, Moylan, Charles E., Jr. (Ret'd, Specially Assigned), JJ.

Opinion by Eyler, Deborah S., J.

Filed: June 9, 2009

Johns Hopkins University ("Hopkins" or "the University"), the appellee, applied for a refund of admissions and amusement taxes it paid to Baltimore City, as collected by the Comptroller of the Treasury ("the Comptroller"), the appellant, on gross receipts from ticket sales to intercollegiate men's lacrosse games in 2002, 2003, and 2004. When the

Comptroller denied the refund request, Hopkins filed a challenge in the Maryland Tax Court. Ultimately, the Tax Court granted the refund. After that decision was affirmed on judicial review by the Circuit Court for Baltimore City, the Comptroller noted this appeal, posing one question for review: Did the Maryland Tax Court commit legal error when it decided that the gross receipts from intercollegiate athletic events were used exclusively for an educational purpose? For the reasons that follow, we uphold the decision of the Tax Court and therefore shall affirm the judgment of the circuit court.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS
In an evidentiary hearing before the Tax Court, on September 13, 2006, Hopkins called witnesses Debra Sorandes, Senior Tax Accountant for the University, and Tom Calder, Director of Athletics and Recreation for Hopkins, and the Comptroller called witness Theresa Trentler, Refund Supervisor. The basic first-level facts were not in dispute. On March 7, 2005, Hopkins filed a written refund application with the Comptroller, seeking to recover $40,672.40 in admissions and amusement taxes it had paid on ticket sales receipts from intercollegiate men's lacrosse games between February 2002 and June 2004. The authority to impose an admissions and amusement tax is granted by the State to counties

and municipal corporations by Title 4 of the Tax-General Article ("T-G") (1988, 2004 Repl. Vol.), specifically, T-G sections 4-101(b)(1) and 4-102.1 Any admissions and amusement tax imposed by a county or municipal corporation must be paid to the Comptroller, and filed with an admissions and amusement tax return. Id.

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Maryland Law