231 Conn. 378 | Conn. | 1994
The dispositive issue in this tax appeal is whether the plaintiff taxpayer has established its entitlement to a sales and use tax exemption pursuant to General Statutes § 12-412 (8) or (24).
The facts are not disputed. The plaintiff retained exclusive control of, as well as responsibility for, the operation of its photocopying machines. It received and retained all the revenues generated by the machines with the exception of a commission paid to the public libraries in which the machines were installed. Although the public libraries concededly qualify as tax exempt organizations pursuant to § 12-412, the plaintiff has not claimed that it has a tax exempt status except insofar as its transactions with the public libraries qualify for an exemption pursuant to subsections (8) or (24) of § 12-412.
A taxpayer bears the burden of proving the impropriety of an adverse assessment concerning a tax exemption. United Illuminating Co. v. Groppo, 220 Conn. 749, 752-53, 601 A.2d 1005 (1992); Plastic Tooling Aids Laboratory, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue Services, 213 Conn. 365, 369, 567 A.2d 1218 (1990). The trial court carefully examined the record before it and concluded that the plaintiff had failed to establish that its sales of photocopies to the general public qualified for an exemption either as sales “to charitable and religious organizations,” pursuant to § 12-412 (8), or as sales “by public libraries,” pursuant to § 12-412 (24). The thoughtful and comprehensive memorandum of decision filed by the trial court thoroughly canvassed the applicable statutory language, its legislative history and relevant case holdings. See Advanced Business Systems, Inc. v. Crystal, 43 Conn. Sup. 253, 650 A.2d 641 (1994). Because that memorandum of decision fully states and meets the arguments raised in the present appeal, we adopt the trial court’s well reasoned deci
The judgment is affirmed.
General Statutes § 12-412 provides in relevant part: “exemptions. Taxes imposed by this chapter shall not apply to the gross receipts from the sale of and the storage, use or other consumption in this state with respect to the following items ....
“(8) charitable and religious organizations. Sales of tangible property or services to charitable and religious organizations. . . .
“(24) MUNICIPAL PUBLICATIONS, SALES BY PUBLIC LIBRARIES OR BY municipal auction. Sales of municipal publications such as information booklets and zoning regulations, tangible personal property sold by public libraries and the sale of any property at auction by a municipality, whenever the sale of any such foregoing item is in an amount of less than five dollars. . . .”