Strictly talking about code quality, I will nominate RCP100, which is a small, virtually unknown, now-abandoned routing software written in C [0]. I started programming with C way back in the 90s, and this is one of only two projects I can recall being immediately struck by the beauty of the code (Redis being the other). I know almost nothing about the author but he seems not to want to be known by name. You can browse the source on Github [1], which I uploaded myself, since you can only get a tarball from sourceforge. Anyway, as someone else mentions, C is usually a mess, but RCP100 struck me as beautiful.
The "upside" of the fee is nothing more than feeding the voracious appetite of the state of California. The explanation for this AMT franchise tax literally uses the phrase "for the privilege of doing business in California". The state tax board knows what it's doing, and it doesn't care, because the truth is that loads of people want to start a business in California or run a business from within California as a resident, and have no other choice but to pay the AMT franchise tax (even if the business is incorporated in Nevada or Delaware, if most of the business occurs in the state of California, the tax man still cometh).
That California business AMT ("franchise tax" of $800 a year, even if your business earns $0, or negative dollars, even if your business is a nonprofit) is a small business assassination program. I moved to California unaware of it, and was unable to migrate my non-profit to help fellow combat veterans with civilian reintegration, because the AMT was around my operating budget for the year. That's not a lot, but I can tell you that combat veterans have come to me asking for help, and I am unable to provide assistance except from my own pocket. California is infuriating.