Buelow v. Glidewell

757 So. 2d 216, 2000 WL 261140
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 9, 2000
Docket1999-CA-00064-SCT
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 757 So. 2d 216 (Buelow v. Glidewell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Buelow v. Glidewell, 757 So. 2d 216, 2000 WL 261140 (Mich. 2000).

Opinion

757 So.2d 216 (2000)

Ed BUELOW, Chairman of Mississippi State Tax Commission
v.
David E. GLIDEWELL, individually, and Glidewell Trailer Sales, Inc.

No. 1999-CA-00064-SCT.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

March 9, 2000.
Rehearing Denied May 25, 2000.

*217 Bobby R. Long, Jackson, Brad D. Wilkinson, Attorneys for Appellant.

John A. Ferrell, Booneville, Deborah George Martin, Attorneys for Appellees.

BEFORE PRATHER, C.J., SMITH AND WALLER, JJ.

SMITH, Justice, for the Court:

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

¶ 1. This is an appeal from the Chancery Court of Alcorn County, Mississippi, where Chancery Judge John C. Ross, Jr. vacated the order of the Mississippi State Tax Commission requiring David Glidewell and Glidewell Trailer Sales, Inc. (collectively referred to as "Glidewell") to pay sales taxes on trailers sold to out-of-state residents and ordered a refund of those taxes paid.

STATEMENT OF FACTS

¶ 2. David Glidewell and his wife, Pat Glidewell, have operated Glidewell Trailer Sales, Inc., in Alcorn County, Mississippi, since 1991. David Glidewell operated the business as a sole proprietorship until December 1993, when the business was incorporated. The business predominantly sells enclosed trailers which vary in size from five feet wide by eight feet long to eight feet wide by fifty-two feet long. The business often sells trailers to out-of-state residents. Glidewell did not collect sales tax on the sales to out-of-state residents.

¶ 3. In 1996, the Mississippi State Tax Commission (hereinafter "the Commission") performed a sales tax audit on Glidewell Trailer Sales, Inc., for the period from January 1, 1993, through August 31, 1995. The audit resulted in a sales tax assessment upon the sales to out-of-state residents. For the period from January 1, *218 1993, through November 30, 1993, sales taxes in the amount of $3,930.22, plus interest and penalties of $1,591.74, were levied against Glidewell personally as he was operating the business as a sole proprietorship during that period. For the period from December 1, 1993, through August 31, 1995, sales taxes in the amount of $27,195.85, plus interest and penalties of $6,908.42, were levied against the corporation.

¶ 4. During the audit period, the sales tax on retail sales of personal property was seven percent. Miss.Code Ann. § 27-65-17(1) (Supp.1992). A reduced rate of three percent applied to the sale of semitrailers. Id. During the audit period, Miss.Code Ann. § 27-65-101(1)(s) (Supp.1992), provided a sales tax exemption for the gross proceeds from the sale of semitrailers if the semitrailers were exported from the state within forty-eight hours and registered and first used in another state.[1] This exemption, promulgated in April 1990, is commonly known as the "forty-eight hour drive out rule."

¶ 5. The auditor concluded that the trailers sold by Glidewell to out-of-state residents were not "semitrailers" within the meaning of the drive out rule. The sales tax statutes do not contain a definition of "semitrailer." However, Rule 25 of the Commission's Sales Tax Rules defines "semitrailer" as "one that is attached to and moved by a truck-tractor." "Truck tractor" is not defined by the tax statutes or rules, but is defined in Webster's dictionary as "a motive power unit in the form of a truck with short chassis and no body used in a combination highway freight vehicle." Truck tractors are also known as "semitrailer trucks" or "semitrucks." Rule 25 was promulgated in September 1991, subsequent to the adoption of the drive out rule in April 1990. Miss.Code Ann. § 27-19-3(8) (Supp.1992), during the audited period, defined "semitrailer" as "every vehicle (of the trailer type) so designed and used in conjunction with a motor vehicle that some part of its own weight and that of its own load rests upon or is carried by another vehicle."[2] Section 29-19-3 appears in the privilege tax statutes. Miss.Code Ann. § 63-3-107(b) (1996) contains the same definition. Section 63-3-107 is found within the provisions entitled "Traffic Regulations and Rules of the Road." Both § 27-19-3(8) and § 63-3-107(b) were on the books at the time the drive out rule was adopted.

¶ 6. Glidewell appealed the assessment to the Tax Commission Board of Review. Applying the definition of semitrailer contained in Sales Tax Rule 25, the Board of Review found that the trailers sold by Glidewell were not "semitrailers" because they were not designed to be pulled exclusively by a truck tractor. The Board of Review affirmed the assessment, but dropped the penalty and interest because Glidewell had complied with all other tax laws and because Glidewell had apparently relied on inaccurate information from a Commission employee regarding the proper taxation of the sales to out-of-state residents. Glidewell then appealed to the full Commission, which, after a hearing on August 28, 1996, affirmed the reduced assessment as to David Glidewell and Glidewell Trailer Sales, Inc. Again applying the definition found in Sales Tax Rule 25, the Commission found that the trailers sold by Glidewell were not "semitrailers."

*219 ¶ 7. Glidewell paid the assessed taxes and, pursuant to Miss.Code Ann. § 27-65-47 (1990), filed a Complaint to Recover Improperly Collected Sales Taxes on January 30, 1997, in the Chancery Court of Alcorn County, Mississippi. The chancery court held a hearing on October 7, 1998, and entered its opinion and judgment on November 30, 1998. The chancellor found that the Commission acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner in affirming the decision of the Board of Review. The chancellor determined that the Commission should have applied the definition of "semitrailer" in § 27-19-3(8), rather than that in Sales Tax Rule 25. The chancellor concluded that the trailers met the definition in § 27-19-3(8), the definition in Sales Tax Rule 25 notwithstanding. The chancery court vacated the order of the Commission and ordered a full refund of all taxes paid by Glidewell, plus penalties and interest.

¶ 8. The Commission timely filed its notice of appeal on December 30, 1998. The Commission raises the following issues:

I. THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN REFUSING TO GRANT A DIRECTED VERDICT IN FAVOR OF THE COMMISSION.

II. GLIDEWELL FAILED TO ESTABLISH HIS RIGHT TO THE EXEMPTION.

III. THE LOWER COURT ERRED IN DETERMINING THAT THE COMMISSION'S DECISION IN AFFIRMING THE SALES TAX ASSESSMENT WAS ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS.

IV. THE TRAILERS SOLD BY GLIDEWELL DURING THE AUDIT PERIOD DO NOT MEET THE DEFINITION OF "SEMITRAILERS" IN SALES TAX RULE 25.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

¶ 9. In reviewing the order of a state agency, the trial court and this Court are limited by the arbitrary and capricious standard. Mississippi State Tax Comm'n v. Mask, 667 So.2d 1313, 1315 (Miss.1995) (citing Mississippi State Tax Comm'n v. Dyer Inv. Co., 507 So.2d 1287, 1289 (Miss. 1987)).

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Bluebook (online)
757 So. 2d 216, 2000 WL 261140, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/buelow-v-glidewell-miss-2000.