Ragland v. Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc.
| Decision Date | 14 October 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 85-115,85-115 |
| Citation | 697 S.W.2d 94,287 Ark. 155 |
| Parties | , 12 Media L. Rep. 1223 Charles D. RAGLAND, Commissioner of Revenues, Appellant, v. ARKANSAS WRITERS' PROJECT, INC., Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Revenue Legal Counsel by Joseph V. Svoboda, Little Rock, for appellant.
House, Wallace, Nelson & Jewell by Anne Owings Wilson, Little Rock, for appellee.
The appellee, Arkansas Writers' Project, is the publisher of the Arkansas Times Magazine, a monthly magazine devoted to matters of general interest. Claiming a tax exemption, the appellee brought this suit for the refund of $15,838.22 which it had paid as sales tax on the sale of its magazine during a period of three years. The chancellor held that the sales were tax exempt and ordered a refund. The appeal comes to this court under Rule 29(1)(c).
The sales tax statute, as revised in 1941, contained an exemption for the proceeds from the sale of newspapers. Ark.Stat.Ann. § 84-1904(f) (Repl.1980). It also contained an exemption for the proceeds from the sale of advertising space in newspapers and publications and billboard advertising services. § 84-1904(j). By Act 152 of 1949 the legislature added to that subsection the following proviso, the proper construction of which is the decisive question in this case:
Provided, further, that religious, professional, trade and sports journals and/or publications printed and published within this State, shall be exempt when sold through regular subscriptions.
In the trial court it was stipulated that the Arkansas Times Magazine is not a newspaper nor a religious, professional, trade, or sports journal. The magazine, however, is printed and published in Arkansas and is sold primarily by mail subscriptions.
The chancellor concluded that in the controlling sentence the words "and/or" have the effect of creating two separate exempt categories, which he paraphrased in his written opinion as follows: "(1) Religious, professional, trade and sports journals; and (2) publications printed and published within Arkansas." In that view the Arkansas Times is a publication printed and published in Arkansas, so that the proceeds from its sale are tax exempt.
We cannot agree with the trial court's conclusion. As we read the sentence, the legislature intended to create not two exemptions but only one, which was fully described. In several opinions we have joined many other courts in condemning the lack of precision in the phrase "and/or." Boren v. Qualls, 284 Ark. 65, 680 S.W.2d 82 (1984), citing prior cases. Here we are not persuaded that "and/or" was used to awkwardly divide the whole sentence and create separate...
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Arkansas Writers Project, Inc v. Ragland
...jurisdiction over appellant's claims under §§ 1983 and 1988, this Court remands to give them an opportunity to do so. Pp. 233—234. 287 Ark. 155, 697 S.W.2d 94 and 698 S.W.2d 802, reversed and remanded [Fastcase Editorial Note: The Court's reference to 287 Ark. 155, 697 S.W.2d 94 and 698 S.W......
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Emmis Pub. Corp. v. Indiana Dept. of State Revenue, 49T05-9011-TA-00059
...to magazines that were "religious, trade, or sports periodical[s]." Id. at 226, 107 S.Ct. at 1726, 95 L.Ed.2d at 217 (quoting 287 Ark. 155, 157, 697 S.W.2d 94, 95).6 The Florida Supreme Court first addressed the sales tax scheme in Department of Revenue v. Magazine Publishers of America, In......
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Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc. v. Ragland
...on state statutory grounds, ignoring the §§ 1983 and 1988 issues. We reversed on statutory grounds, Ragland v. Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc., 287 Ark. 155, 697 S.W.2d 94 (1985), and, on rehearing, on federal constitutional grounds, 287 Ark. 155, 698 S.W.2d 802 (1985). In 1987, the Supreme......
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Bosworth v. Pledger
...Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Comm'r of Revenue, 460 U.S. 575, 103 S.Ct. 1365, 75 L.Ed.2d 295 (1983); Ragland v. Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc., 287 Ark. 155, 697 S.W.2d 94 (1985), reh'g denied, 287 Ark. 155, 698 S.W.2d 802 (1985), rev'd, 481 U.S. 221, 107 S.Ct. 1722, 95 L.Ed.2d 209 (198......