AGO 90-03.

• Case Date: February 21, 1990
• Court: Maine

Maine Attorney General Opinions 1990. AGO 90-03. State of Maine Opinion No. 90-3February 21, 1990Honorable Cushman AnthonyHouse of Representatives State House Station #2Augusta, ME 04333Dear Representative Anthony: You have asked whether a seller of snack foods from cardboard "vending boxes"' must collect Maine sales tax on his sales or may, under the so-called "vending machine exemption"', 36 M.R.S.A. s 1760(34), pay sales tax on his "wholesale"' purchase of the food only. For the reasons which follow, it is the opinion of this Department that the exemption does not apply, and that the sales tax must be collected and paid. As this Department understands it, the vending device in question is a cardboard box with a money slot into which the purchaser, on the "honor system"', deposits the selling price upon taking one of the items for sale. Unlike a typical vending machine, it is not necessary for money to be placed in the box to operate the machine. The vending machine exemption provides specifically that [n]o tax on sales, storage or use shall be collected upon or in connection with ... [s]ales of products for internal human consumption when sold through coin-operated vending machines by a person more than 50% of whose gross receipts from the retail sale of tangible personal property are derived from sales through vending machines. [emphasis added] 36 M.R.S.A. s 1760(34). The term "coin-operated vending machine"' is not defined in the Sales and Use Tax Law, and, therefore, the scope of the exemption must be determined by the plain meaning of the language used. Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary defines "vending machine"' as "a slot machine for vending merchandise"'. " 'Slot machine"', in turn, is defined as "a machine whose operation is begun by dropping a coin into a slot"'. That most relevant definition of "machine"' is "an assemblage of parts that transmit forces, motion and energy one to another in a predetermined manner"'. Based upon these dictionary definitions, it is clear that the vending box is not a "coin-operated vending machine"'. In addition, the legislative intent in enacting the vending machine exemption does not support its extension to the selling arrangement at issue. In 1973, an exclusion from sales tax of all sales for 10 cents or less by persons primarily engaged in making such sales was...