Court Opinion

ID: 9687708
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:42:57.296907+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:30.268147
License: Public Domain

FINE, J.
(concurring). I agree with the majority that the Wisconsin legislature did not authorize the state to tax the sale and consumption of beverages on overflights, and that the Tax Appeals Commission properly decided the use-tax exemption issue. I write separately *259because I believe the majority's skirting references to the Wisconsin Constitution and to federal preemption unnecessarily flirt with the issue of whether the legislature could have authorized such taxation, which is a highly complex issue that we need not decide. This case merely requires us to apply the applicable statutes as they are written.
Section 77.52, Stats., imposes a retail sales tax on "the sale ... of tangible personal property [that is] sold . . . at retail in this state.” (Emphasis added.) Section 77.53, Stats., imposes an excise tax on the "use or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property . . .." (Emphasis added.) The phrase "in this state" is defined to mean "within the exterior limits of the state of Wisconsin." Section 77.51(6), Stats. The words the legislature has chosen to express its purpose are clear.1 Thus, we may neither add to nor subtract from their meaning. State v. Bruckner, 151 Wis. 2d 833, 844-845, 447 N.W.2d 376, 381 (Ct. App. 1989). In a transparent effort to expand its taxing authority beyond that authorized by sections 77.52 and 77.53, however, the Department of Revenue promulgated Wis. Admin. Code sec. Tax 11.87(2) (j):
The sale of meals and liquor by transportation companies (e.g., airlines or railways) to a customer while operating in or over Wisconsin for a specific charge shall be taxable.
(Emphasis added.) This attempt at "independent legislation" is void, see Department of Revenue v. Howick, 100 *260Wis. 2d 274, 280-281, 303 N.W.2d 381, 384 (1981), and cannot authorize the state to tax the sale and consumption of beverages on overflights when that is not permitted by statute, see sec. 227.10(2), Stats. ("No agency may promulgate a rule which conflicts with state law.").

 As the majority points out, Chapter 114, Stats., which concerns aeronautics and the responsibilities of the Department of Transportation, has absolutely nothing to do with the state's authorization to tax the sale, use, or consumption of tangible personal property on overflights.