King County v. Tax Commission

(dissenting) — I dissent. The majority rely on Norman v. Department of Labor & Industries (1941), 10 Wn. (2d) 180, 116 P. (2d) 360, which holds that a workman engaged in eradicating poison ivy was engaged in “land clearing,” and therefore entitled to benefits under the Workmen’s Compensation Act (then Rem. Rev. Stat. (Sup.) § 7676, now RCW 51.20.010). We construed that act liberally for the benefit of injured workmen, as the act requires.

We are now construing “clearing of land” under the provisions of the sales tax statute (RCW 82.04.050). The majority conclude that the legislature intended…