City of Golden v. Sodexo America, LLC

JUSTICE HOOD delivered the Opinion of the Court.

¶1 Imagine that two students enter a dining hall at the Colorado School of Mines in the City of Golden. One pays with cash; the other swipes a "BlasterCard" to use a meal-plan credit. Sodexo, Mines' food service provider, collects sales tax on the cash transactions and remits the tax to Golden. Not so when a student swipes a BlasterCard to use a meal-plan credit. That disparity in tax treatment culminated in this case.

¶2 A little background information about BlasterCards helps to flesh out the legal dispute. During the time at issue, Mines…