Title: Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems, Inc. & AWACS, Inc. v. Commonwealth of PA (Dissenting Statement)

State: pennsylvania

Issuer: Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Document:

[J-81-2003] IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA MIDDLE DISTRICT BELL ATLANTIC MOBILE SYSTEMS, INC., Appellant v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, Appellee BELL ATLANTIC MOBILE SYSTEMS, INC., Appellant v. COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, Appellee : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : : No. 103 MAP 2002 Appeal from the Order of the Commonwealth Court entered 7/10/02 at No. 252 FR 1998 which denied Petitioner's exceptions to the Order entered on 5/28/02 from the Order of the Board of Finance and Revenue entered on 1/30/98 at Nos. 9613463 and 9613468 No. 105 MAP 2002 Appeal from the Order of the Commonwealth Court entered 7/10/02 at No. 1123 FR 1998 which denied Petitioner’s exceptions to the Order entered on 5/28/02 from the Order of the Board of Finance and Revenue entered on 11/20/98 at No. 9430303 ARGUED: May 15, 2003 DISSENTING STATEMENT MR. JUSTICE SAYLOR Filed: March 23, 2004 However incongruous it may seem, the General Assembly had defined the term “tangible personal property,” for sales and use tax purposes, to include cellular [J-81-2003] - 2 telecommunications service. See 72 P.S. §§7201(m), 7201(rr) (superseded). Therefore, and since the Legislature has also defined the term “manufacture” in terms of the production of “tangible personal property,” see 72 P.S. §7201(c), I agree with Appellants’ position that, under the manufacturing exclusion applicable to sales and use taxation, see 72 P.S. §7201(k), (o), they are entitled to relief from sales and/or use tax assessments related to machinery, equipment, and supplies used in their cellular telecommunications businesses in the relevant taxing periods.1 As Appellants explain, the Commonwealth Court’s central reliance on Suburban Cable TV Co. v. Commonwealth, 131 Pa. Cmwlth. 368, 570 A.2d 601 (1991), aff’d, 527 Pa. 364, 591 A.2d 1054 (1991), and Suburban Cable TV Co. v. City of Chester, 685 A.2d 616 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1996), in denying relief was misplaced, since the former concerned a now- superseded taxing scheme that did not extend the manufacturing exclusion to production of electrical or electronic impulses, and the latter involved a local business privilege tax that did not define the term “manufacturing.”2 I therefore respectfully dissent to the per curiam affirmance of the Commonwealth Court’s order. 1 As Appellants acknowledge, the General Assembly subsequently and prospectively modified the Tax Code so that, after the periods in question, they would no longer be eligible to invoke the manufacturing exclusion. See Act of June 29, 2002, P.L. 416, No. 89, §1 (amending, inter alia, the definition of “telecommunications service” in Section 7201(rr) to exclude “mobile telecommunications services”). 2 In light of the above, I would not reach the question concerning whether Appellants are separately entitled to relief under the exclusion for rendering a public utility service. See 72 P.S. §7201(k), (o). Nevertheless, I note my disagreement with the Commonwealth Court’s approach in this regard, as I believe that it should have considered the range of constitutional concerns raised by Appellants, including those raised under the Supremacy and Commerce Clauses of the United States Constitution, pursuant to the principle of statutory construction that requires courts to presume that the General Assembly did not intend to violate constitutional precepts. See 1 Pa.C.S. §1922(3).