Noreast Fresh, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue

Noreast Fresh, Inc. (Noreast), a Massachusetts corporation, applied to the Commissioner of Revenue (commissioner) to be classified under G. L. c. 63, § 38C, as “engaged in manufacturing” for the 1995 tax year, a designation that would exempt its machinery from local property taxation. See G. L. c. 59, § 5, Sixteenth; Fernandes Super Mkts., Inc. v. State Tax Commn., 371 Mass. 318, 319 (1976); York Steak House Sys., Inc. v. Commissioner of Rev., 393 Mass. 424, 424-425 (1984). The commissioner refused, and on review under G. L. c. 58, § 2, the Appellate Tax Board (board), after an evidentiary…