Fraternal Order of Police v. South Carolina Department of Revenue

FINNEY, Chief Justice:

This is a tax refund case brought by bingo operators. The Department denied the refund, and that ruling was affirmed by the administrative law judge and the circuit court. We affirm in part and reverse in part.

This appeal requires the Court to construe several statutes which were repealed effective October 1, 1997. The parties have stipulated, however, that our decision will govern liability and refunds for the period July 1, 1992 to September 30,1997.

The first issue is whether bingo taxes collected pursuant to S.C.Code Ann. §§ 12-21-3440(B) and 12-21-3441 (Supp.1997)…