Request By:
Lowell V. Thompson, Jr.
Legal Counsel, Jefferson County Refuse
Collectors Association, Inc.
401 Kentucky Home Life Building
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: William S. Riley, Assistant Attorney General
In your recent letter it is stated that you represent the Jefferson County Refuse Collectors Association, Inc., an association of independent haulers of solid waste. The question is whether trucks and other equipment used by the association members in the hauling of solid waste are tax exempt under the definition provisions of KRS 224.850(c). KRS 224.850(1)(c) reads as follows:
"(c) Any disposal system or any appliance, equipment, machinery or installation constructed, used or placed in operation primarily for disposing of solid waste or converting solid waste into an item of real economic value;"
KRS 139.485(10) exempts from sales tax property which has been certified as a pollution control facility as defined in KRS 224.850. KRS 224.850 pertains to materials and equipment which have been incorporated into real property for purposes of pollution control, either commercial or industrial premises.
Under such circumstances, any trucks or other vehicles that are used to haul solid waste are not exempt from sales tax. Such vehicles are also subject to the motor vehicle usage tax found in KRS 138.450 through 138.470 if they are to be licensed for use on the public highways.