Opinion ID: 2210491
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Freedom of the Press.

Text: The first amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides that Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.... U.S. Const. amend. I. Section 7 of article I of the Iowa Constitution similarly provides. The language of the first amendment clearly does not prohibit all regulation of the press. Minneapolis Star & Tribune v. Minnesota Comm'r of Revenue, 460 U.S. 575, 103 S.Ct. 1365, 75 L.Ed.2d 295 (1983). In fact, it is beyond dispute that some publications may be subjected to generally-applicable economic regulations by the state and the federal government without creating constitutional problems. Id. at 581, 103 S.Ct. at 1369, 75 L.Ed.2d at 302. Problems arise, however, when a discriminatory tax on the press burdens rights protected by the first amendment. Arkansas Writers' Project, Inc. v. Ragland, 481 U.S. 221, 227, 107 S.Ct. 1722, 1726, 95 L.Ed.2d 209, 218 (1987) (footnote omitted). It is Hope's contention that Iowa's imposition of an excise tax on the use of Bibles, books and other written materials has a chilling effect on the church's right to freedom of the press. We find otherwise. This court recently held in Hearst Corp. that the Iowa structure does not create a special tax that applies only to certain publications protected by the first amendment, nor is it tailored in such a way that it singles out and targets small groups of publications. Id. at 302. Iowa's tax is a generally-applicable retail sales tax whereby gross receipts from retail sales of tangible personal property are taxed. See Iowa Code § 422.43 (1977). In addition, to reach those retail sales that cannot be subjected to state sales tax, Iowa imposes a complementary generally-applicable retail use tax whereby the use in Iowa of tangible personal property is taxed. See Iowa Code § 423.4 (1977); Dain Mfg. v. Iowa State Tax Comm'n, 237 Iowa 531, 534, 22 N.W.2d 786, 788 (1946). Thus, while there are a number of sales and use tax exemptions in Iowa, see generally Iowa Code § 422.43, most retail transactions involving tangible personal property for use or consumption in the State of Iowa are taxed. See Lee Enters., Inc. v. Iowa State Tax Comm'n, 162 N.W.2d 730, 754-55 (Iowa 1969) (holding that Iowa sales and use tax law, as amended, is of general application). The only deviation from this general scheme of taxation is that newspapers and free shoppers guides are granted an exemption from the tax, while other publications are not. Since the tax does not target any small groups of publishers, either directly or indirectly, the tax satisfies the standards set by the Supreme Court in Minneapolis Star. Hearst Corp., 461 N.W.2d at 302-03. In reference to its decision in Minneapolis Star, the Court stated in Jimmy Swaggart Ministries that [i]ndeed, our cases have consistently recognized that nondiscriminatory taxes on the receipts or income of newspapers would be permissible. Id., ___ U.S. at ___, 110 S.Ct. at 695, 107 L.Ed.2d at 808 (quoting Minneapolis Star, 460 U.S. at 587 n. 9, 103 S.Ct. at 1373 n. 9, 75 L.Ed.2d at 305 n. 9 (citations omitted)). A comparison of first amendment rights concerning religion and the press was made this year by the Court in Smith as follows: It is no more necessary to regard the collection of general tax, for example, as prohibiting the free exercise [of religion] by those citizens who believe support of organized government to be sinful, than it is to regard the same tax as abridging the freedom ... of the press of those publishing companies that must pay the tax as a condition of staying in business. It is a permissible reading of the text, in the one case as in the other, to say that if prohibiting the exercise of religion (or burdening the activity of printing) is not the object of the tax but merely the incidental effect of a generally applicable and otherwise valid provision, the First Amendment has not been offended. Id., ___ U.S. at ___, 110 S.Ct. at 1599-1600, 108 L.Ed.2d at 885 (citations omitted). Hope has failed to cite any authority in support of its proposition that Iowa's consumer use tax has a chilling effect on a church's right to freedom of the press. We agree with the department that Hope has not been denied any of its constitutional rights under the freedom of speech and press clauses to the United States and Iowa Constitutions.