Partner Ted Bernert has authored a Sept. 25 Tax Notes State analysis titled “A Clear Lens for Tax Statutes,” in which he discusses a recent Supreme Court of Ohio decision that announced a change in how the court will interpret tax statutes moving forward.
Through Justice R. Patrick DeWine, the court’s majority wrote, “Our task is not to make policy but to provide a fair reading of what the legislature has enacted.... Thus, we make clear today that henceforth we will apply the same rules of construction to tax statutes that we apply to all other statutes.”
At issue in the case was how to interpret a new state statute providing sales and use tax exemptions for items used directly in oil and gas production. Rather than examining the specifics of the case that prompted the court’s statement, Bernert’s article focuses on the history behind this decision, its significance and the impact it is likely to have.