Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, Inc. v. Director of Revenue

94 S.W.3d 388, 2002 Mo. LEXIS 139, 2002 WL 31863817
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedDecember 24, 2002
DocketSC 84168
StatusPublished
Cited by47 cases

This text of 94 S.W.3d 388 (Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, Inc. v. Director of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, Inc. v. Director of Revenue, 94 S.W.3d 388, 2002 Mo. LEXIS 139, 2002 WL 31863817 (Mo. 2002).

Opinions

WILLIAM RAY PRICE, JR., Judge.

L

The Director of Revenue seeks review of the decision of the Administrative Hearing Commission (“AHC”) ordering the refund of use tax paid by Southwestern Bell Yellow Pages, Inc. (“Southwestern Bell”) on raw yellow paper purchased out-of-state for manufacture of yellow page directories. Southwestern Bell both purchased the raw paper and printed and bound the paper into directories outside Missouri, but distributed the finished yellow page directories within Missouri. The decision is reversed and the case is remanded.

II.

Southwestern Bell publishes and distributes yellow page telephone directories in areas of the state where Southwestern Bell Telephone Company provides telephone service. Southwestern Bell distributes these yellow page directories free of charge. The main source of revenue from the publication and distribution of the directories is advertising. Missouri businesses pay Southwestern Bell to place advertisements in their yellow pages.

To produce the directories, Southwestern Bell purchased rolls of blank paper stock from various paper mills located outside of Missouri for delivery to a printer also located outside Missouri. Southwestern Bell contracted with the printer to cut, print, and bind the paper into the directories. The printer shipped the directories to a Missouri independent contractor, employed by and under the direction of Southwestern Bell, to distribute the yellow page directories. Southwestern Bell did not pay any state or local sales tax on the paper purchased or the printer charges for these directories.

Southwestern Bell self-assessed and paid Missouri use tax on the paper purchased and printer charges for the directories distributed in Missouri. Southwestern Bell later filed an application for tax refund. The Director of Revenue denied the application. Southwestern Bell appealed the Director’s decision to the AHC. At some point prior to review by the AHC, the parties agreed that Southwestern Bell is owed a refund on the use taxes paid on printer charges. The only issue before the AHC was the applicability of the use tax statute to the raw paper.

[390]*390In the hearing before the AHC, Southwestern Bell claimed that it does not owe use tax on the paper purchased outside the state because the paper was consumed and transformed into the yellow page directories and thus never “used” in Missouri as contemplated by section 144.610, RSMo 2000. Relying on International Business Machines Corp. v. David, 408 S.W.2d 833 (Mo. banc 1966), the AHC agreed and determined that Southwestern Bell is owed a refund.

III.

“This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to Mo. Const, art. V, section 3 and reviews the AHC’s interpretation of revenue law de novo.” Southwestern Bell Tel. v. Director of Revenue, 78 S.W.3d 763, 765 (Mo. banc 2002) (citing Concord Pub. House, Inc. v. Director of Revenue, 916 S.W.2d 186, 189 (Mo. banc 1996)). This Court will uphold the AHC’s decision if “authorized by law and supported by competent and substantial evidence upon the whole record”. Section 621.193, RSMo 2000; Southwestern Bell Tel. v. Director of Revenue, 78 S.W.3d at 765 (citations omitted).

IV.

A court is to consider statutory terms not defined by the legislature in “their plain or ordinary and usual sense”. Section 1.090, RSMo 2000; Ryder Student Transp. Servs., Inc. v. Director of Revenue, 896 S.W.2d 633, 635 (Mo. banc 1995). A dictionary will provide the plain meaning of words used in a statute. Lincoln Indus., Inc. v. Director of Revenue, 51 S.W.3d 462, 465 (Mo. banc 2001). If some ambiguity persists in the statute after consulting a dictionary, courts derive meaning from the intent of the legislature. Id. Courts cannot add words to a statute under the auspice of statutory construction. Ryder Student Transp., 896 S.W.2d at 635.

Section 144.610 states:

A tax is imposed for the privilege of storing, using or consuming within this state any article of tangible personal property ... in an amount equivalent to the percentage imposed on the sales price in the sales tax law in section 144.020. This tax does not apply with respect to the storage, use or consumption of any article of tangible personal property purchased, produced or manufactured outside this state until the transportation of the article has finally come to rest within this state or until the article has become commingled with the general mass of property of this state.

Section 144.610.1, RSMo 2000 (emphasis added). At issue in this case is the meaning of the statutory language “using ... within this state any article of tangible personal property”.

This language was analyzed in 1966 in International Business Machines, Corp. v. David, 408 S.W.2d 833 (Mo. banc 1966). In that case the Court held that section 144.610 authorizes a use tax only on “the completed article ... that is brought into this state and not the items of raw material that went into its manufacture, which, of course, are greatly changed in form and could not be identified as separate articles.” 408 S.W.2d 833, 836. The Court reasoned that raw material manufactured into a completed product outside the state “was never used in this state as such,” and, thus, was not subject to use tax. Id.

Under the doctrine of stare decisis, a decision of this court should not be lightly overruled, particularly where, as here, the opinion has remained unchanged for many years. In those instances, however, where it appears that [391]*391an opinion is clearly erroneous and manifestly wrong, the rule to [sic] stare deci-sis is never applied to prevent the repudiation of such a decision.

Novak v. Kansas City Transit, Inc., 365 S.W.2d 539, 546 (Mo. banc 1963) (citation omitted). See also Crabtree v. Bugby, 967 S.W.2d 66, 71-72 (Mo. banc 1998); Bealey v. Smith, 158 Mo. 515, 59 S.W. 984, 985-86 (1900); Young v. Downey, 150 Mo. 317, 51 S.W. 751, 755 (1899). Unfortunately, the holding of IBM cannot be reconciled with the language of the statute and that case must be overruled.

Section 144.610.1 does not include any express reference to a “completed” article, nor is such a concept inherent in the meaning of the word “article.” The word “article” is defined in Webster’s Third New International Dictionary as “one of a class of material things”; “a thing of a particular class or kind as distinct from a thing of another class or kind”. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 123 (1981). The American Heritage Dictionary defines “article” as “[a]n individual thing in a class; an item”.

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Bluebook (online)
94 S.W.3d 388, 2002 Mo. LEXIS 139, 2002 WL 31863817, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southwestern-bell-yellow-pages-inc-v-director-of-revenue-mo-2002.