“I’m no lawyer, but this sounds illegal.”
Here’s my take from experience with taxing authorities. They do not issue refunds. Something can be ruled illegal, but the taxing authorities rarely return any money collected. Any return of money requires a separate ruling and those are very specific. Joe Blow gets his money back because he’s the one who sued. Generally speaking, it is not worth the cost of suing as the take is too small. Those huge judgements you sometimes read about are news for the very reason that they are so rare.
Thank you for your comment.