Wisconsin Cheese Maker Stuck Paying Taxes on Its Machinery

Some equipment used by a Wisconsin cheese manufacturer isn’t exempt from taxation under an provision for “machinery, tools, and patterns, not including such items used in manufacturing,” the Wisconsin Court of Appeals said Wednesday.

After finding the text of the exemption ambiguous, Judge Lisa S. Neubauer looked at its legislative history to conclude it didn’t apply to Master’s Gallery Foods Inc.'s equipment.

The Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission ruled that the exemption wasn’t ambiguous and exempted “machinery, tools, and patterns so long as they are not used in any way in a manufacturer’s production process,” Neubauer said. Under that reading of ...