Garbage Hauler Asks Ohio Justices for Sales Tax Refund on Fuel

A Republic Services Inc. subsidiary wants the Ohio Supreme Court to grant it a sales and use tax refund of about $724,000 on fuel its garbage trucks use to power their lifting arms.

The state’s sales tax statute includes an exemption for “items attached to or incorporated in” motor vehicles that taxpayers use to transport the property of others by highway for hire. The fuel contained in and consumed by the company’s exempt trucks to power attached equipment falls under that exemption, Republic Services of Ohio Transportation LLC told the court Monday.

• The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals upheld Ohio ...