Ryder Student Transp. Services, Inc. v. Director of Revenue, State of Mo.

• Decision Date: 25 April 1995
• Docket Number: No. 77493,77493
• Citation: 896 S.W.2d 633
• Parties: RYDER STUDENT TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, INC., Respondent, v. DIRECTOR OF REVENUE, STATE OF MISSOURI, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Supreme Court

Page 633

896 S.W.2d 633

RYDER STUDENT TRANSPORTATION SERVICES, INC., Respondent, v. DIRECTOR OF REVENUE, STATE OF MISSOURI, Appellant.

No. 77493.

Supreme Court of Missouri,

En Banc.

April 25, 1995.

Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Atty. Gen., Norman E. Siegel, Asst. Atty. Gen., Jefferson City, for appellant.

Juan D. Keller, John P. Barrie, Carole Lewis Iles, St. Louis, for respondent.

HOLSTEIN, Judge.

The director of revenue (director) appeals a decision by the Administrative Hearing Commission (AHC). Ryder Student Transportation Services, Inc. (Ryder) provides charter bus and shuttle bus services. Those services were held not to involve the sale of "tickets" and not to be subject to sales tax under Chapter 144. ¹ The director seeks review of that decision. Review of a decision of the AHC involving the construction of a revenue law falls within the jurisdiction of this Court. Mo. Const. art. V, § 3. Affirmed.

FACTS

Ryder's primary business is providing school bus transportation in Missouri. Ryder also charters its buses to individuals and organizations. The charter fee is based on a per hour and per mile rate or a flat rate based on estimated mileage and hours of service. Ryder also provided shuttle services for Maritz, Inc., to transport its employees between a parking lot and work places. The shuttle service fee was based on a fixed daily rate with an additional amount assessed if the buses accrued more than 6,500 miles per month. The contract also permitted Maritz to use the buses for charter services at an hourly rate.

During the audit period of April 1, 1987, through March 31, 1992, the passengers of the chartered and shuttle buses did not receive any ticket or token from Ryder, and Ryder did not require them to present papers or passes to ride the buses. On July 9, 1993, the director assessed Ryder $348,238.06 in sales tax, interest and additions for the audit period based on the charter and shuttle contracts. Ryder successfully challenged the applicability of the tax to those contracts, claiming it was not liable for sales tax because it sold no "tickets" as that word is used in §§ 144.010.1(8)(f) and 144.020.1(7).

Each of the three points on appeal is a variation on a theme that the word "ticket" should be broadly construed to include the contracts for charter or shuttle bus service. The director argues (1) that the AHC's construction of the sales tax on tickets statute is contrary to legislative intent and the legislative history relating to §§ 144.010.1(8)(f) and 144.020.1(7), (2) that the contracts here were in the nature of group ticket sales, and (3) that the AHC erred in requiring the transfer of a written token as a prerequisite to a taxable sale.

I.

Ryder holds a license for charter bus services under § 390.020. Section 144.010.1(8)(f) defines a "sale at retail" to include "[s]ales of tickets by every person operating ... buses ... licensed by the transportation division of the department of economic development of Missouri, engaged in the transportation of persons for hire." Section 144.020.1(7) imposes "[a] tax equivalent to four percent of the amount paid or charged for intrastate tickets by every person operating ... buses ... licensed by the transportation division of the department of economic development of Missouri, engaged in the transportation of persons for hire." The purpose of Chapter 144 is to "impose a tax upon the privilege of engaging in the business, in this state, of selling ... those Statutory terms are considered in their plain or ordinary and usual sense. § 1.090. Where the language of a statute is clear and unambiguous, there is no room for construction. Jones v. Director of Revenue, 832 S.W.2d 516, 517 (Mo. banc 1992). If the statute imposing a tax is ambiguous, it is read favorably to the taxpayer. Moore Leasing, Inc. v. Director of Revenue, 869 S.W.2d 760, 761 (Mo. banc 1994).

services listed in section 144.020." § 144.021.

The director acknowledges that the word "ticket" is ambiguous but urges that the intent of the legislature in enacting § 144.010.1(8)(f) was to tax the thing really sold, in this case a bus ride, not the ticket. The short response to that argument is that had the legislature intended to impose a sales tax on all charges for bus rides, including charter or shuttle bus service contracts, the legislature was free to use clear language to do so. Instead, it chose to impose a tax only on the sale of tickets. This Court cannot resort to canons of construction to add words to the statute which are not there.

The director also argues that the legislative history of § 144.010.1(8)(f) indicates an intent to impose taxes on charter passenger bus service. The law in effect just prior to 1937 established a sales tax on the "[s]ales of tickets, fares and services by every person operating ... buses...." 1935 Mo. Laws 414 (emphasis added). However, in 1937, the legislature removed the emphasized words, imposing a sales tax only on "the amount paid or charged for tickets by every person operating ... busses...." 1937 Mo.Laws 558. The director argues that the legislature's intent in removing the words "fares and services" from the statute was to exclude sales tax on charges for freight. While that is...