Court Opinion

ID: 9552750
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:15:58.172468+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:28:49.849403
License: Public Domain

IRWIN, Chief Justice,
dissenting:
37 O.S.1981, § 553(a) provides that “an excise tax is hereby levied and imposed upon all alcoholic beverages imported or manufactured, for sale, use or distribution, or used or possessed in this state.”
I construe § 553(a) as imposing an excise tax upon all alcoholic beverages sold in this state.
All of the sales in the case at bar were made only under the authority of licenses issued by the State of Oklahoma. There is no contention whatsoever that sellers were acting under any other authority or could have consummated the sales herein involved without their Oklahoma licenses. Therefore, all the sales in the case at bar must constitute sales in this state.
37 O.S.1981, § 554 prescribes the exemptions from the excise tax imposed by § 553(a) supra. The “sales” in the case at bar are not exempted by § 554.
37 O.S.1981, § 562 provides that the excise tax levied by § 553 is declared and intended to be a direct tax upon the ultimate retail consumer of alcoholic beverages in this State.
Although the ultimate retail consumer does pay the excise tax to the retail dealer at the time of purchase, the retail dealer is not liable for the tax to the state. The responsibility and liability for paying the excise tax is upon the person shipping the alcoholic beverage into Oklahoma, or in the case of direct imports from foreign countries by the importer, or in the case of alcoholic beverages manufactured in Oklahoma by the first seller. 37 O.S.1981, § 553(b)(1). When the Legislature enacted § 562, supra, and declared its intention that the excise tax be upon the ultimate consumer in this State, the Legislature recognized, and no one would suggest otherwise, that Oklahoma could not impose an excise tax upon a retail consumer where the retail consumer purchased his alcoholic beverages beyond the Oklahoma boundaries. The mere declaration of intention that the excise tax be upon the ultimate consumer in this state does not grant an exemption to the excise tax specifically levied on all sales in this state by 37 O.S.1981, § 553(a) to out-of-state purchasers.
The sellers who sold to out-of-state purchasers are licensed in Oklahoma; their entire authority to sell alcoholic beverages to in-state or out-of-state purchasers is granted by the State of Oklahoma; their right to sell and do business is protected by the State of Oklahoma; and a sale to an Oklahoma purchaser is taxable. In my opinion the Legislature followed Article XXVII, § 3 of the Constitution which mandates that the Legislature shall enact laws providing for the strict regulation, control and taxation and sale of alcoholic beverages and made no distinction between a sale of alcoholic beverages to an in-state or an out-of-state purchaser in the imposition of an excise tax.
I respectfully dissent.
I am authorized to state that Justice HODGES joins me in this dissent.