Wabash Power Equipment Co. v. Lindsey

897 So. 2d 621, 2004 WL 2790715
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 17, 2004
Docket2003 CA 2196
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 897 So. 2d 621 (Wabash Power Equipment Co. v. Lindsey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wabash Power Equipment Co. v. Lindsey, 897 So. 2d 621, 2004 WL 2790715 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

897 So.2d 621 (2004)

WABASH POWER EQUIPMENT COMPANY
v.
Lloyd LINDSEY, in His Official Capacity as West Feliciana Parish School Board Sales and Use Tax Collector, and West Feliciana Parish School Board.

No. 2003 CA 2196.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

September 17, 2004.

*622 John M. Sharp, Ross A. Dooley, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Plaintiff/Appellant Wabash Power Equipment Company.

Frederick Mulhearn, Robert R. Rainer, Baton Rouge, Counsel for Defendant/Appellee West Feliciana Parish School Board.

Before: GUIDRY, GAIDRY, and McCLENDON, JJ.

GUIDRY, J.

In this action to recover taxes paid under protest, plaintiff, Wabash Power Equipment Company (Wabash), appeals the trial court's granting of defendants', Lloyd Lindsey, in his official capacity as West Feliciana Parish School Board Sales and Use Tax Collector, and West Feliciana Parish School Board (collectively School Board), motion for partial summary judgment. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Wabash is an Illinois corporation specializing in the sale and rental of industrial boilers and related equipment. In 1997, Wabash purchased a boiler in Nebraska and held it for storage there until Wabash found a customer, an Alabama corporation. Wabash entered into a lease with the Alabama customer, and at the conclusion of the four-month lease period, the boiler was shipped from Alabama to a storage facility in Michigan. Thereafter, on August 19, 1999, Wabash entered into an eight-month lease with Crown Paper Company d/b/a *623 Crown Vantage (Crown), whereby Wabash leased to Crown the boiler and various ancillary equipment. The lease provided: the boiler would be located at Crown's facility in St. Francisville, Louisiana; access to and from the premises and its facilities would be permitted to Wabash's employees to inspect the equipment and show it to prospective customers; and the lease period was for eight months with an option to renew on a month-to-month basis, an option to renew for a twenty-four month period, and an option to purchase the boiler. Crown accepted delivery of the boiler in Saginaw, Michigan and shipped the boiler by railroad to Crown's paper mill in St. Francisville. Crown utilized the boiler for eight months and then on a month-to-month basis for an additional month until it malfunctioned. Crown then shipped the boiler back to Wabash.

On September 26, 2001, the School Board issued a proposed assessment letter of sales/use tax due for the period August 19, 1999, through the present in connection with the lease, assessing sales and use tax liability. On October 8, 2001, Wabash filed a formal protest with the School Board. Thereafter, a formal assessment letter was issued on April 9, 2002, assessing $41,133.75 for sales and use taxes due. Wabash paid under protest the amount assessed on June 14, 2002, and on July 17, 2002, filed a petition for recovery of tax paid under protest. In its petition, Wabash challenged the legality and/or sufficiency of the assessment of the taxes owed on several grounds: there was no "use" by Wabash; Wabash was not a dealer; the assessments were imposition of a tax on interstate commerce in contravention of La. R.S. 47:305(E); and the assessments were impositions of a tax in violation of the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

On April 17, 2003, the School Board filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of whether Wabash owed the School Board a use tax on the importation into West Feliciana Parish (the parish) of its boiler. On May 22, 2003, Wabash filed a cross motion for partial summary judgment on the same issue. Following a hearing on both motions, the trial court signed a judgment granting the School Board's motion for partial summary judgment and denying Wabash's motion, reserving to Wabash the right to an evidentiary hearing to contest the issue of cost price of the boiler on which the use tax assessment is based. Wabash now appeals that judgment asserting the following assignments of error: (1) the trial court erred in holding that the levy of the use tax did not violate the Dormant Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution, La. R.S. 47:305(E) and Sec. 5.305(5) of the West Feliciana Parish School Board Tax Ordinances (parish ordinances) and (2) the trial court erred in finding that Wabash was a "dealer" pursuant to Sec. 1.301 of the parish ordinances.

DISCUSSION

Taxability of Use of Boiler

The authority of political subdivisions to levy taxes is granted by Article 6 of the Louisiana Constitution. Article 6, Section 29 grants to local governmental subdivisions and school boards the authority to "levy and collect a tax upon the sale at retail, the use, the lease or rental, the consumption, and the storage for use or consumption of tangible personal property and on sales of services as defined by law."

Additionally, La. R.S. 47:302[1] provides in pertinent part:

*624 A. There is hereby levied a tax upon the sale at retail, the use, the consumption, the distribution, and the storage for use or consumption in this state, of each item or article of tangible personal property, as defined herein, the levy of said tax to be as follows
(1) At the rate of two per centum (2%) of the sales price of each item or article of tangible personal property when sold at retail in this state....
(2) At the rate of two per centum (2%) of the cost price of each item or article of tangible personal property when the same is not sold but is used, consumed, distributed, or stored for use or consumption in this state; provided there shall be no duplication of the tax.
B. There is hereby levied a tax upon the lease or rental within this state of each item or article of tangible personal property, as defined herein....

Further, La. R.S. 47:303(A)(1) provides that "[t]he tax imposed under La. R.S. 47:302 shall be collectible from all persons, as hereinafter defined, engaged as dealers." Further, La. R.S. 47:303(A)(2) provides that "[o]n all tangible personal property imported, or caused to be imported, from other states or foreign countries, and used by him, the dealer ... shall pay the tax imposed by this Chapter on all articles of tangible personal property so imported and used, the same as if the said articles had been sold at retail for use or consumption in this state." Louisiana Revised Statute 47:303(A)(3) also allows for a credit against the use tax imposed by the Chapter to taxpayers who have paid a similar tax upon the sale or use of the same tangible personal property in another state.

However, La. R.S. 47:305 provides for certain enumerated exclusions and exemptions from the above taxes. In particular, La. R.S. 47:305(E) provides in part:

It is not the intention of any taxing authority to levy a tax upon articles of tangible personal property imported into the state, or produced or manufactured in this state, for export; nor is it the intention of any taxing authority to levy a tax on bona fide interstate commerce.... It is, however, the intention of the taxing authorities to levy a tax on the sale at retail, the use, the consumption, the distribution, and the storage to be used or consumed in this state, of tangible personal property after it has come to rest in this state and has become a part of the mass of property in this state.

In the instant case, Wabash presents several arguments in support of its position that no use tax is owed to the School Board.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Irwin Industrial Tool Co. v. Department of Revenue
938 N.E.2d 459 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
897 So. 2d 621, 2004 WL 2790715, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wabash-power-equipment-co-v-lindsey-lactapp-2004.