In its latest effort to define the line between a catalog and a periodical, the New York State Division of Tax Appeals has rejected a Chicago company’s claim that imposition of a use tax violates its First Amendment rights.
The crux of the recurring problem is that the State imposes a sales tax on certain services and merchandise, and exempts newspapers and periodicals from that tax, but does not define “periodical” in the applicable statute, Article 28 of the Tax Law. Rather, the State relies generally on a definition adopted by the Division of Taxation.
