United States Steel Corp. v. Bowers

170 Ohio St. (N.S.) 558
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMay 4, 1960
DocketNos. 36272 and 36273
StatusPublished

This text of 170 Ohio St. (N.S.) 558 (United States Steel Corp. v. Bowers) 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
United States Steel Corp. v. Bowers, 170 Ohio St. (N.S.) 558 (Ohio 1960).

Opinion

Matthias, J.

Two questions are raised by these appeals, both arising from the same physical use of the lumber the sale or use of which the taxpayer claims is excepted from the provisions of the Sales and Use Tax Acts.

Case No. 36272 raises the question as to whether the sale or use of blocking lumber used by the taxpayer in the transportation of its finished product to the consumer is excepted from the operation of the sales and use tax laws.

Case No. 36273 raises the question as to whether the sale or use of blocking lumber used by the taxpayer in the transporta[560]*560tion of its unfinished products from one of its factories to another where an entirely new processing operation commences is excepted from the operation of the sales and use tax laws.

As the provisions of the Sales and Use Tax Acts relating to the matter presently before us are similar, we will quote only the pertinent provisions of the Sales Tax Act.

Such provisions are as follows:

Section 5739.01, Revised Code. “As used in Sections 5739.01 to 5739.31, inclusive, of the Revised Code:

í Í * # #

“(B) ‘Sale’ and ‘selling’ include all transactions by which title or possession, or both, of tangible personal property, is or is to be transferred, or a license to use or consume tangible personal property is granted, for a consideration in any manner, whether absolutely or conditionally, whether for a price or rental, in money or by exchange, and by any means whatsoever * * #.

Í £ # * #

“(E) ‘Retail sale’ and ‘sales at retail’ include all sales except those in which the purpose of the consumer is :

“ (1) To resell the thing transferred in the form in which the same is, or is to be, received by him;

“ (2) To incorporate the thing transferred as a material or a part, into tangible personal property to be produced for sale by manufacturing, assembling, processing, or refining, or to use or consume the thing transferred directly in the production of tangible personal property for sale by manufacturing, processing * * #.

“(H) ‘Price’ means the aggregate value in money of any thing paid or delivered, or promised to be paid or delivered, by a consumer to a vendor in the complete performance of a retail sale, without any deduction on account of the cost of the property sold, cost of materials used, labor or service cost, interest or discount paid, or allowed after the sale is consummated, or any other expense * #

Section 5739.02, Revised Code. “* * * an excise tax is hereby levied on each retail sale made in this state of tangible personal property.”

The taxpayer makes two basic contentions relative to the use of the lumber in sales to the ultimate consumers.

[561]*561The first of these is actually based on two grounds. One, that such lumber is purchased for resale to the customer, and, two, that, since the taxpayer’s contracts provide for delivery f. o. b. point of origin or at destination, such lumber is essential to the completion of its contracts.

We shall first turn our attention to the proposition that such lumber is purchased for resale to the consumer.

There is no question that such lumber passes into the possession and control of the consumer, to» do with as he sees fit. Such fact is stipulated by the parties. There is a transfer of possession. However, transfers of possession do not necessarily constitute sales. The first paragraph of the syllabus of Kloepfer’s, Inc., v. Peck, Tax Commr., 158 Ohio St., 577, 110 N. E. (2d), 560, reads as follows:

“A transfer of possession of property does not constitute a sale within the meaning of the Sales Tax Act unless such transfer is for a consideration. ’ ’

The taxpayer urges that there is consideration on the basis that the consideration for a contract extends to all elements of the contract and supports all the obligations of the seller in a contract of sale.

However, the furnishing of lumber to the consumer is not a part of the obligations of the taxpayer. The taxpayer is a producer of steel and steel products. The contracts entered into with its consumers are for the purchase of steel. There certainly is no intent on the part of the consumer to purchase lumber. Clearly, if another method of shoring up shipments were adopted, the purchaser could not demand that the taxpayer'also furnish the lumber. The lumber comes into the possession of the purchaser as a mere incident to the shipment. The stipulations of the parties themselves show that such lumber is used to comply with the regulations of the carrier and not to fulfill the obligations of what is to pass under the contract. Stipulation No. 11 reads as follows:

“Lumber is placed in railroad cars in the manner shown in paragraph 10 above and the mutual exhibits referred to therein, to prevent damage to the load, to comply with requirements published by the Association of American Railroads and adopted by the carrier, and, in the event the car is loaded for ship[562]*562ment to a customer, in accordance with any additional requirements of the customer. All trucks are loaded in said manner to prevent damage to the load, to comply with the requirements of the carrier, and, in the event the truck is loaded for shipment to a customer, in accordance with any additional requirements of the customer. All railroad cars and trucks are loaded by appellant and are inspected and accepted by the carrier before they are moved by the carrier. ’ ’

Clearly such lumber is purchased and used by the taxpayer to comply with the shipping regulations of the carrier and not for resale to its customers. It passes into the hands of the consumer actually by way of an abandonment by the taxpayer.

The second branch of the taxpayer’s argument in relation to its sales is that such lumber is essential to the fulfillment of its contracts of sale and thus its sale or use is excepted.

This is a complete misconstruction of the Sales and Use Tax Acts. That part of such acts upon which taxpayer must rely does not except from its operation the sale or use of all items which form a part of the elements necessary to the completion of the contract of sale but only such as are incorporated in the item transferred or used or consumed directly in its production.

Once again we must revert to the fact that the taxpayer manufactures and sells steel. Only if such lumber is essential to the manufacture or processing and is either incorporated in the finished product or used or consumed in producing such product, is its sale or use excepted.' The fact that it may be essential to the completion of the sale does not in and of itself except its sale or use. In Youngstown Building Material & Fuel Co. v. Bowers, Tax Commr., 167 Ohio St., 363, 149 N. E. (2d), 1, the syllabus states:

“In determining whether tangible personal property is used or consumed directly in the production of tangible personal property for sale by manufacturing or processing, and, therefore, whether its sale or use is excepted from taxation under the provisions of subdivision (E) (2) of Section 5739.01, or subdivision (C) (2) of Section 5741.01, Revised Code, the test is not whether such property is essential to the operation of an ‘integrated plant,’ the test to be applied being, when

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
170 Ohio St. (N.S.) 558, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-steel-corp-v-bowers-ohio-1960.