Petroleum Sales & Service Inc. v. Bouchard

Mahoney, P. J., and Levine, J.,

dissent and vote to annul in the following memorandum by Levine, J. Levine, J. (dissenting). In our view, the majority’s holding, which places the burden on the taxpayer to establish the accuracy of its records at the risk of having the Tax Commission estimate sales solely from purchases, is erroneous in that it places the cart before the horse. By statute and case law, the Tax Commission does not have open-ended discretion to disregard a taxpayer’s records and then base its determination of taxable sales on alternative methods, such as purchases of a commodity…