Cincinnati Reds Score Bobblehead Tax Home Run in Ohio High Court

The Ohio Supreme Court handed the Cincinnati Reds a big victory in ruling bobbleheads and other promotional items aren’t subject to sales tax.

The 5-2 opinion Nov. 21 said that bobbleheads fit under an exemption for resold items, meaning teams won’t have to collect and remit sales tax on the value of the pregame freebies. Now the team is out of the pickle in which the Department of Taxation demanded more than $80,000 in back taxes on promo items over a two-year period.

While the amount of money involved isn’t game-changing, the Reds argued the imposition of tax could be ...