Tri-State Asphalt Corp. v. Glander

90 N.E.2d 366, 152 Ohio St. 497, 152 Ohio St. (N.S.) 497, 41 Ohio Op. 40, 1950 Ohio LEXIS 539
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 1, 1950
Docket31828
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 90 N.E.2d 366 (Tri-State Asphalt Corp. v. Glander) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tri-State Asphalt Corp. v. Glander, 90 N.E.2d 366, 152 Ohio St. 497, 152 Ohio St. (N.S.) 497, 41 Ohio Op. 40, 1950 Ohio LEXIS 539 (Ohio 1950).

Opinion

Stewart, J.

The first two pages of the argument in appellant’s brief are concerned with the assertion that the instant case involves a potential refund liability of the state of Ohio of a large sum of money, and the inference seems to be that our. judgment should be influenced by that fact. That argument has no persuasive force whatsoever. There is only one question for solution in the instant case.

Section 5546-2, General Code, provides that “an excise tax is hereby levied on each retail sale made in this state of tangible personal property * #

Section 5546-1 defines “retail sale” and “sales at retail” and provides that they “include all sales excepting those in which the purpose of the consumer is * * * to use or consume the thing transferred directly in the production of tangible personal property for sale by * * * processing # *

There can be no question that the product of appellee was processed for sale. Appellee sold its product direct to its customers except that portion of the pro *500 duct which it used in reference to its state road-paving contracts, in all of which there was a provision for a separation of price, that is, so much for materials and so much for labor and other considerations.

With reference to such use, Section 5546-1, G-eneral Code, provides:

“A construction contract, pursuant to which tangible personal property is or is to be incorporated into a structure or improvement on and becoming a part of real property shall, if the consideration for such incorporation is agreed upon, charged or paid separately from the consideration for the performance of the other obligations of such construction contract, constitute a sale of such tangible personal property for the purpose of this act. ”

The sole question, therefore, is: Was the Wayne crane of appellee used or consumed directly in the production of tangible personal property for sale by processing? If it was, appellee is not liable for the sales tax assessed by appellant and the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals must be affirmed. If the crane was not so used or consumed, appellee is liable for the assessment and the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals must be reversed.

The Board of Tax Appeals was of the opinion that “the crane * * * was used directly in performing an act or a species of acts upon the material used to transform or reduce it to a definite state or thing and was, therefore, used directly in processing. ’ ’

The board was also of the opinion that “the crane in question had a direct connection with the production and marketing of asphaltic concrete; it was used in operations necessary for making the concrete marketable in accordance with the requirements of * * * [appellee’s] customers.’’ The board therefore found “that the crane in question was used directly in the *501 production of tangible personal property by processing for sale and, therefore, the purchase thereof was not . taxable under the sales tax act. ’ ’

The basis of the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals was the fact that in order to produce appellee’s product it was essential to transport the ingredients to bins located in the portable mixer. Such a line of reasoning would except from taxation the sales of practically all instrumentalities for transportation used by manufacturers or processers of products.

It is difficult to conceive of products the processing of which does not require the transportation of ingredients to the place of processing as well as transportation of the finished products from the place of processing to customers or places of use. In either case, such transportation is essential to the production of or use of the processed or manufactured article. In fact, there are few things around the office or plant of a manufacturing concern which cannot be considered essential to the processing or manufacture of articles produced; Thai is true of typewriters, office desks and all other paraphernalia with which modern business is conducted, and, yet, it could hardly be claimed that the sales of such articles are excepted from taxation.

When the General Assembly excepted from taxation the sales of those things which were to be used or consumed directly in the production of tangible personal property for sale by processing, it had in mind only such articles as had a direct part in the processing. Sales of instrumentalities of transportation and other articles or things which are necessary to carry on the business of processing, but which themselves have no part directly in the production, were not excepted. In fact, it has often been argued, although it is not essential to discuss that point in the instant case, that there is an exception from taxation of sales of only *502 those things which are entirely used up or consumed in the processing and which cannot again be used.

As essential as instrumentalities of transportation are to the manufacture and processing of articles, those instrumentalities do not directly enter into the processing where they simply transport the ingredients used in the processing to the place where the processing begins, or transport the finished products from their place of processing or manufacturing to their place of use.

In Saunders Mills, Inc., v. Evatt, Tax Commr., 139 Ohio St., 227, 39 N. E. (2d), 526, the syllabus reads:

“Motor trucks purchased in Ohio for employment solely in transporting agricultural produce, over the public roads from the place where grown on lands leased by the purchaser to establishments owned by the purchaser, where such produce is to be converted into a manufactured product, are subject to the Ohio sales tax, not being used directly in the production of tangible personal property for sale by manufacturing, processing or farming, within the meaning of the words of exemption contained in Section 5546-1, General Code.”

In the Saunders case the court approved the view of the Board of Tax Appeals “that the trucks were subject to the excise tax imposed by law, since they were used exclusively in transporting the alfalfa hay from the fields to the dehydrating plants, over the public roads, and were not engaged in actually sowing, drilling, cultivating or harvesting the hay or in converting it into a manufactured product * * *.”

In the instant case the crane was used exclusively in transporting the sand and slag from the cars or stock piles to the bins in the portable mixer and the crane was not engaged in converting the ingredients into a processed product.

*503 It is true that in the Saunders case the trucks went long distances, over public roads, from the processor’s fields to its plants and engaged in a horizontal transportation, whereas in the instant case the crane was on the processor’s premises and was engaged in a vertical transportation, but since the functions of the trucks in the Saunders case and the crane in the instant case were solely transportation, there is no difference in the principles involved in both cases.

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Bluebook (online)
90 N.E.2d 366, 152 Ohio St. 497, 152 Ohio St. (N.S.) 497, 41 Ohio Op. 40, 1950 Ohio LEXIS 539, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tri-state-asphalt-corp-v-glander-ohio-1950.