Hannaford Bros. Co. v. State Tax Assessor

SCOLNIK, Justice.

This case presents another example of the recurring problem of defining a transaction as a lease or a sale. In this case the State Tax Assessor has assessed a tax on the use of certain vehicles that Hannaford Bros., Co. acquired from the Hertz Corporation. Hannaford argues that the transaction avoids that tax. If the transaction was a sale, Hannaford’s subsequent use of the vehicles was properly taxed under 36 M.R.S.A. § 1861 (1978). 1 If, on the other hand, it was a lease, then the assessment was improper. Despite the parties’ best efforts to label the transaction a “lease”…