Married Couple Owes Tax on ‘Yard Sales,’ Mississippi Judges Rule

A couple that ran a Christmas tree and fireworks stand failed to convince the Mississippi Court of Appeals on Tuesday to drop a tax bill of about $45,000 on income from what they called “yard sales.”

Mississippi law excludes “isolated or occasional sales” from sales tax, but Billy and Karen Parrott’s sales at Santa’s Tree Land & Wholesale Fireworks LLC were more sizable than the typical yard sale, the court ruled. “The scope, location, expenses, and frequency all indicate the ‘yard sales’ were a ‘substantial operation’ and not casual, isolated, or infrequent,” Chief Judge Donna M. Barnes wrote for the ...