Court Opinion

ID: 9767994
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 05:37:49.430892+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:35.412173
License: Public Domain

BLACKMAR, Judge,
concurring.
The Court does not overrule Kansas City Power and Light Company v. Smith, 342 Mo. 75, 111 S.W.2d 513 (Mo. banc 1938), and the companion case, but simply cautions that they are not to be followed to the extent that they conflict. To me the cases are clearly distinguishable. Natural gas is the taxpayer’s product, and, in furnishing gas to its customers, the taxpayer is engaged in the “... selling ... of commodities.” The storage is an integral part of a commercial operation, and power furnished to fulfill this obligation is furnished for a “commercial” use, fully as much as the furnishing of power to light and air condition a warehouse in which sacks of flour are stored would be. The Court properly indicates that Smith is not to be unduly extended and applies the statute as it is written, using words in their ordinary sense.