Harding v. Oklahoma Tax Commission

1954 OK 258, 275 P.2d 264, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 638
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedOctober 5, 1954
Docket36254
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 1954 OK 258 (Harding v. Oklahoma Tax Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harding v. Oklahoma Tax Commission, 1954 OK 258, 275 P.2d 264, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 638 (Okla. 1954).

Opinion

WILLIAMS, Justice.

This is an appeal by C. M. Harding, d/ b/a Harding Masonry Construction Company, hereinafter referred to as protestant, from an order of the Oklahoma Tax Commission, hereinafter referred to as Commission, denying his protest of the assessment of use taxes against him on certain materials purchased outside Oklahoma.

Protestant is a contractor engaged in contracting for brick and masonry construction work. He entered into contracts to furnish materials and supplies and do work and labor on certain construction jobs for the City of Tulsa, the City of Lawton, the Veterans’ Administration, the Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and the B. F. Goodrich Company. Under each of the contracts he was to furnish labor and material for a lump sum. In carrying out these contracts, protestant purchased material and supplies, consisting chiefly of fire brick and fire clay, from firms outside Oklahoma and had the same brought into this state by common carrier, unloaded upon the job-site and used the same in carrying out the provisions of his contracts.

Protestant filed a protest of the proposed assessment of the 2% use tax against him on the aforesaid purchases of materials, which protest was denied by the commission and an order entered assessing the 2% use tax, with penalties and interest. Protestant appeals on the ground that the Use Tax Act, chapter 29 of Title 68, Oklahoma Statutes 1951, makes no provision for the payment of such tax on such purchases and transactions.

The use tax in question is imposed by virtue of the provisions of 68 O.S.1951 § 1310a, which reads in pertinent part as follows:

“There is hereby imposed and there shall be paid by every person storing, using or otherwise consuming, within this State, tangible personal property purchased or brought into this State on or after June 1, 1945, an excise tax on the storage, use, or other consumption in this State of such property at the rate of two (2%) percent of the purchase price of such property”.

The statute further provides in 68 O.S. 1951 § 1310c, that the provisions of the act (Use Tax Act) do not apply in respect to the use of tangible personal property purchased for resale before being used or in respect to the use of tangible personal

*266 property now specifically exempted from taxation under the laws of this State levying a sales’ or consumers’ tax upon the sale of such property.

The only question presented by this appeal is whether protestant uses or otherwise 'consumes the materials in question, and is thereby liable for the payment of the use tax on the purchase thereof, of whether' the materials in question were purchased by protestant for resale before being used, and are therefore not subject to such tax.

As previously indicated, the materials in question consist of fire brick, fire clay, cement, tile, block insulation and similar materials. All these materials were used in the construction of the various installations called for by protestant’s various contracts. In connection with the City of Lawton contract, protestant constructed an airplane hangar using some of the materials in question. In the case of the Public Service Co., of Oklahoma contract, which was a sub-contract, protestant constructed a complete new masonry setting for two boilers, except for the roof, using some of the materials in question for such construction. In the case of the B. F. Goodrich Company contract, another subcontract, protestant rebuilt furnace side walls on two boilers, using some of the materials in question in such construction. All of the material in question, was used in a similar manner in one of the various contracts or sub-contracts entered into by protestant.

Under such circumstances protestant’s contention that he did not use or consume the materials in question but rather purchased them for resale would not appear to be meritorious.

Protestant did not contract to sell the City of Lawton a specified amount of cement, tile, lumber, etc.; rather, he contracted to and did construct an airplane hangar. If there was any contract of sale at all, it was for, the sale of a completed hangar and not for the sale of the various materials used in the construction of such hangar.

The precise question does not appear to have ever been before this court before, but we find numerous authorities from the other jurisdictions.

In City of St. Louis v. Smith, 342 Mo. 317, 114 S.W.2,d 1017, 1019, the. Supreme Court of Missouri, had before it a similar question with regard to a contractor who contracted with the City of St. Louis to furnish all work and material for a lump-sum in the construction of paving, a sewer, and a hospital. In the opinion rendered therein the court said:

“(1) It is clear from these statutory provisions that where one buys tangible personal property for his own use or consumption he is liable for the tax. On the other hand, it. is equally, clear .that where one buys tangible personal property for the purpose of resale he is not liable for the tax. In this case, the contractors agreed with the city to furnish all labor and material necessary to construct, and to construct, the improvement in question for a fixed sum of money. It was necessary for the contractor to purchase and use all material necessary to complete said work in order to be in a position to deliver to the city a completed structure as provided in the contract. Our judgment is that it cannot be said by the contractor that'he resold the materials to the city for its use, and did not use or consume them in the performance of his contract. We are not without authority on this question. In the case of State v. Christhilf, 170 Md. 586, 185 A. 456, 458, that court said: ‘It is the contractor or builder who is the ultimate user or consumer of the materials which in one of these cases are converted and fabricated into a building and in the other into a road.’
“Another authority, State v. J. Watts Kearny & Sons, 181 La. 554, 160 So. 77, 79, is to the same effect. Speaking of sales of materials to contractors, that court said: ‘His undertaking is to deliver to his obligee some work or edifice or structure, the construction of which requires the application of skill and labor to these materials so that, when he finishes his task, the materials pur *267 chased are no longer to be distinguished but something different has been wrought from their use and union. The contractor has not resold, but has consumed the materials. Sales to contractors are sales to consumers.’
“Again the case of York Heating & Ventilating Company v. Flannary, 87 Pa.Super. 19, that court said of the installation of a blower and heating system by contract: ‘The contract in suit in no sense was a contract of sale. It was a construction contract. * * *
It would be just as proper to call a contract for the construction of a building, a sale of the stone, brick, cement, wood, etc., which entered into the erection of the building.’
“In 23 R.C.L., p.

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Bluebook (online)
1954 OK 258, 275 P.2d 264, 1954 Okla. LEXIS 638, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harding-v-oklahoma-tax-commission-okla-1954.