Opinion
No. 80-549
Decided December 23, 1980.
Taxation — Sales and use tax — Assessments — Claimed exceptions — Board of Tax Appeals — Decision not unreasonable or unlawful, when.
APPEAL from the Board of Tax Appeals.
Appellant Tax Commissioner appeals as of right to this court, pursuant to R.C. 5717.04, from the decision of the Board of Tax Appeals as to the taxability of certain items in a sales and use tax assessment made against appellee-taxpayer, Logan-Long Company, a manufacturer of dry felt, roofing materials and automotive mastic at a plant in Franklin, Ohio.
The errors complained of relate to the exception from taxation of three items: (1) "thermal liquid heater" components, (2) a "talc application system," and (3) "safety devices installed on elevators."
Messrs. Bodiker Holland and Mr. David H. Bodiker, for appellee.
Mr. William J. Brown, attorney general, and Ms. Barbara E. Vest, for appellant.
The Board of Tax Appeals, after consideration of an extensive record, determined that the safety devices on the elevators were not "normal maintenance items" as claimed by the commissioner, and that the other two items were within the purview of the exceptions contained in R.C. 5739.01(E)(2).
As this court delineated its own duties under R.C. 5717.04 in 3535 Salem Corp. v. Lindley (1979), 58 Ohio St.2d 210, it is "***limited to determining whether the board's decision is reasonable and lawful, and not to act as a trier of fact de novo."
The decision of the board in reversing the commissioner's assessments as to the three items at issue herein is neither unreasonable nor unlawful, and it is, therefore, affirmed.
Decision affirmed.
W. BROWN, P. BROWN, SWEENEY, HOLMES and DOWD, JJ., concur.
CELEBREZZE, C.J., and LOCHER, J., concur in the judgment only.