Opinion ID: 1179839
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the historical relationship between the use tax [5] and sales tax [6] statutes

Text: To resolve the primary issue whether Globe's purchase of magnetic tapes encoded with mailing lists represents a taxable event within the meaning of 68 O.S.1991 § 1402 [7] or whether, as the taxpayer asserts, it is a nontaxable use of intellectual property, the relationship between the Sales Tax Code and the Use Tax Code must be examined. It is against this backdrop, as supplemented by the common law, [8] that the tape's characterization as tangible, intangible or mixed personal property [9] is to be made and the tendered question answered. The historical antecedents of Oklahoma's current Sales Tax Code lie in the 1937 Sales Tax Act. [10] There the Legislature levied a tax on sales  which were defined to include the exchange, barter, lease or rental of tangible personal property where such exchange, barter, lease or rental results in either the transfer of the title or the possession. [11] In the same year (1937) a use tax [12] also was imposed with the intent that tangible personal property purchased outside Oklahoma should be subject to taxation if (1) this property was used or consumed here and (2) it would have been subject to a sales tax if it had been purchased in this state. [13] While the Sales Tax and Use Tax Codes are complementary and supplementary to one another, [14] they are neither identical nor coterminous. The Sales Tax Code [15] provides for a sales tax on tangible and intangible personal property and certain services identified in the statute. The Use Tax Code imposes a tax solely on tangible personal property purchased outside Oklahoma and brought into the state. Neither intangible personal property nor services fall within the current scope of the Use Tax Code.