ARKANSAS WRITERS' PROJECT, INC. v. RAGLAND

Legal Principle at Issue

Whether a state sales tax scheme that taxes general interest magazines, but exempts newspapers and religious, professional, trade, and sports journals, violates the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press

Action

Reversed and remanded. Petitioning party received a favorable disposition.

Facts/Syllabus

Arkansas imposed a tax on receipts from sales of tangible personal property, but exempted numerous items, including newspapers and "religious, professional, trade, and sports journals and/or publications printed and published within this State" (magazine exemption). Appellant publishes in Arkansas a general interest magazine that includes articles on a variety of subjects, including religion and sports. In 1984, relying on Minneapolis Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Comm'r of Revenue (1983), appellant sought a refund of sales tax it had paid since 1982, asserting that the magazine exemption must be construed to include its magazine, and that subjecting its magazine to the sales tax, while sales of newspapers and other magazines were exempt, violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments. 

After appellee denied the refund claim, appellant sought review in State Chancery Court, stating an additional claim under 42 U.S.C. §§ 1983 and 1988 for injunctive relief and attorney's fees. That court granted appellant summary judgment, construing the magazine exemption to include appellant because its magazine was published and printed in Arkansas. The Arkansas Supreme Court reversed, holding that the magazine exemption applies only to religious, professional, trade, or sports periodicals. The court rejected the claim that the exemption granted to other publications discriminated against appellant, ruling that success on this claim would avail appellant nothing, since it would still be subject to tax even if the exemption fell. The court also refused to find that appellant's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights had been violated, ruling that the sales tax was a permissible "ordinary form of taxation" to which publishers are not immune. Accordingly, the court did not consider appellant's attorney's fees claim.