Federated Distributors, Inc. v. Johnson

Federated Distributors initiated this action as a challenge to the Department of Revenue’s ruling that Federated, a distributor of a low-alcohol-content beverage, must pay taxes on that beverage based solely on the method of production of the alcohol it contained. The trial court granted the Department of Revenue’s (the Department’s) motion for summary judgment and thereby upheld the constitutionality of the Department’s classification of appellees’ low-alcohol beverage (New Products) as “alcohol and spirits” and its tax of New Products at the rate of $2 per gallon under the Liquor Control…