A VICTORY FOR BUSINESS TAXATION

This newspaper and its parent company, Concord Publishing House of Cape Girardeau, recently won an important legal battle in the Missouri Supreme Court.

In a 22-page decision, the court ruled that computer equipment used in the production of newspapers are exempt from sales taxes.

The state's Administrative Hearing Commission last March ruled in favor of the Southeast Missourian, but the Missouri Department of Revenue appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court. The Missouri Press Association and 29 newspapers filed briefs with the court supporting the Missourian's position.

The case can be traced to a 1993 Department of Revenue audit that showed the newspaper hadn't paid sales taxes on some computer equipment.

The Southeast Missourian, later joined by the Missouri Press Association, cited a Supreme Court ruling in the 1980s that said newspapers essentially are a manufacturing industry and, while subject to sales taxes, deserve the same exemptions on production machinery as manufacturing companies.

In today's newspapers, that machinery is computer equipment. The Supreme Court ruling allows the Missourian and newspapers across the state to get back the taxes in dispute.

Unfortunately, the tax refund is much less than the tens of thousands of dollars the Missourian, with Missouri Press Association's help, paid making its case in the courts.

The tax case is a microcosm of what goes on when the little guy tries to challenge a big federal agency like the IRS or EPA. Often it is more expensive to fight the system -- even when you are right -- than it is to simply comply with the overbearing rule or regulation.