Federal Paper Board Co. v. Kosydar

306 N.E.2d 416, 37 Ohio St. 2d 28, 66 Ohio Op. 2d 82, 1974 Ohio LEXIS 183
Ohio Supreme Court·Decided January 23, 1974·No. No. 73-324·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinion

Corrigan, J.

Appellant presents two propositions of law challenging the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals. Appellant argues: (1) That there is no evidence in the record that the motor vehicle equipment in question ever [31] came to rest in Ohio prior to its use in an integrated system in interstate commerce and, therefore, the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals, that such equipment is subject to the Ohio use tax, is unreasonable and unlawful; and (2) that the Ohio use tax may not be levied upon gross rentals paid by the taxpayer for motor vehicle equipment after the use of such equipment in an integrated system of interstate commerce has begun.

We are in agreement with both propositions. However, since both propositions depend upon finding that no taxable moment occurred in Ohio, it is unnecessary to discuss appellant’s second contention.

E. C. 5741.02 levies an excise tax on the storage, use, or other consumption of tangible personal property in this state, subject to the following relevant exception contained therein:

“(C) The tax does not apply to the storage, use, or consumption in this state of the following described tangible personal property, nor to the storage, use, or consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased under the following described circumstances:

( Í # * *

“ (3) Property, the storage, use, or other consumption of which this state is prohibited from taxing by the Constitution of the United States, laws of the United States, or the Constitution of this state. This exemption shall not exempt from the application of the tax imposed by this section the storage, use, or consumption of tangible personal property which was purchased in interstate commerce, but which has come to rest in this state, provided that fuel to be used or transported in carrying on interstate commerce which is stopped within this state pending transfer from one conveyance to another is exempt from the excise tax imposed by this section and Section 5739.02 of the Eevised Code.”

This exception reflects the exclusive power granted Congress by Section 8 of Article I of the United States Constitution: “To regulate commerce with foreign nations [32] and among the several states, and with the Indian tribes.”

United States Supreme Court decisions interpreting that clause clearly establish that Section 8, Article I, forbids a state to legislatively impose a direct burden upon interstate or foreign commerce and deprives the state of power to impose more onerous public burdens upon the products of other states brought within the taxing state than are imposed upon like products produced and sold within its own boundaries.

However, Section 8, Article I, is not an absolute bar to state taxation which may have some incidental effect upon interstate commerce. State sales taxes, measured by gross receipts or the amount of sales, have been held valid where the taxes are nondiscriminatory, i. e., so apportioned as to involve no risk of a similar tax on the same sales or receipts by another state. General Motors Corp. v. Washington (1964), 377 U. S. 436, rehearing denied, 379 U. S. 875.

State use tax statutes have been consistently upheld by the United States Supreme Court in their application to tangible personal property where the property was carried into the taxing state, and there brought permanently to rest, or halted temporarily before resuming its interstate course or usage. Scripto v. Carson (1960), 362 U. S. 207; General Trading Co. v. State Tax Comm. (1944), 322 U. S. 335; Nelson v. Sears, Roebuck & Co. (1941), 312 U. S. 359; McGoldrick v. Berwind-White Mining Co. (1940), 309 U. S. 33; Felt & Tarrant Mfg. Co. v. Gallagher (1939), 306 U. S. 62; Pacific Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Gallagher (1939), 306 U. S. 182; Southern Pacific Co. v. Gallagher (1939), 306 U. S. 167; Henneford v. Silas Mason Co. (1937), 300 U. S. 577.

In Henneford v. Silas Mason Co., Justice Cardozo determined that a state use tax is a tax upon the privilege of use of property after interstate commerce is at an end. The rationale behind the decision lies in the fact that things acquired or transported in interstate commerce, once they are at rest, became a part of the common mass of property within the state of destination. Sirice the privilege [33] of use is one of a number of privileges or rights that attach to property or ownership, this property right may be subject to state taxation which is nondiscriminatory in its operation.

In Southern Pacific Co. v. Gallagher, supra, the United States Supreme Court upheld a state use tax upon the rolling stock of a railroad company engaged in intrastate and interstate commerce. There, the tangible personal property was purchased out of state by the railroad company and temporarily stored in the taxing state for the purpose of protection, pending its immediate or subsequent installation or use as a part of the company’s interstate transportation facilities.

The court held that the tax was not violative of the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution because the retention and installation of the property constituted the exercise of rights of ownership within the state and were, therefore, intrastate taxable events, and, when the property had reached the end of its interstate transportation but had not begun to be consumed in interstate operation, a “taxable moment” occurred, rendering the tax on the railroad company’s exercise of its property rights effective.

In so holding, Mr. Justice Read, speaking for the majority, stated, at page 177:

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Federal Paper Board Co. v. Kosydar, 306 N.E.2d 416, 37 Ohio St. 2d 28, 66 Ohio Op. 2d 82, 1974 Ohio LEXIS 183 (Ohio 1974).

306 N.E.2d 416 (Federal Paper Board Co. v. Kosydar) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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