Ohio Supreme Court puts brakes on taxing NASCAR

Jessie Balmert, The Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
15
NASCAR doesn't need to pay nearly $550,000 in taxes thanks to an Ohio Supreme Court decision.
NASCAR doesn't need to pay nearly $550,000 in taxes thanks to an Ohio Supreme Court decision.

The Ohio Supreme Court put the brakes on the state's attempts to tax NASCAR for fans watching races and buying licensed merchandise here.

The Ohio Tax Commissioner initially ordered NASCAR to pay the state nearly $550,000 in back taxes from 2005 to 2010 and penalties. It argued NASCAR owed commercial activity tax for broadcast revenue, licensing fees and merchandise sold in Ohio ranging from flags and barbeque sets to fuzzy dice.

The Ohio Supreme Court disagreed, ruling unanimously that NASCAR's $1.6 billion, multiyear contract with FOX Broadcasting Company to broadcast its races nationwide didn't mention Ohio.

"By its plain terms, the CAT applies to the right to use intellectual property only to the extent that receipts are 'based on' the right to use the property in Ohio," wrote Ohio Supreme Court Justice Pat DeWine in the court's opinion. "The sample contract plainly does not base what NASCAR is paid on the right to use NASCAR’s property in Ohio."

NASCAR maintained that the Florida-based company should pay its taxes there.

The court split 4-3 on whether Ohio could tax licensing fees that NASCAR gives to banks, insurance companies and other companies. The majority ruled that Ohio couldn't but three Democratic justices disagreed.

"If a homeowner hires a plumber to fix his sink and pays the plumber with earnings that Ohio has already taxed, Ohio is fully justified in also taxing what the homeowner paid the plumber as part of the plumber’s earnings," wrote Justice Melody Stewart in a dissenting opinion joined by Justices Jennifer Brunner and Michael Donnelly.

The Ohio Supreme Court ordered the Ohio Tax Commissioner to review whether NASCAR owed any taxes for races held in Ohio during those years. NASCAR did not dispute that it owed taxes for sanctioning seven races in Ohio and the associated membership fees − about 0.25% of the $186 million it earned in Ohio.

Read the ruling here:

Jessie Balmert is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio.

Get more political analysis by listening to the Ohio Politics Explained podcast

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: NASCAR doesn't need to pay back taxes, Ohio Supreme Court rules