Pawnbroker sales tax liability on auctioned pledged goods: statutory auction treated as ancillary business sale, not auctioneer's sale.

A pawnbroker who causes unredeemed pledged goods to be sold by an approved auctioneer is treated as carrying on business and effecting a sale under the Sales Tax Act. The statutory auction is not an independent sale by the auctioneer; the auctioneer only conducts the sale machinery, while the pawnbroker retains the power to transfer title when redemption fails. Because the sale is incidental or ancillary to the pawnbroker's principal business, the wide definitions of dealer, business and sale capture the transaction. The pawnbroker is therefore the taxable seller, and the auctioneer is not liable as the seller for sales tax purposes.

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Issues: Whether a pawnbroker, who causes sale of unredeemed pledged articles through an approved auctioneer under the pawn brokers law, is a 'dealer' carrying on 'business' and effecting a 'sale' so as to be liable to sales tax under the State Sales Tax Act; and whether the auctioneer alone is the seller for tax purposes.

Analysis: Under the pawn brokers legislation, the pawnbroker has special property in the pledged goods and, upon default in redemption, statutory authority to bring the goods to sale by public auction through an approved auctioneer. The sale is not an independent transaction of the auctioneer: the auctioneer merely conducts the sale machinery under statutory control, while the pawnbroker retains possession and the statutory power to transfer title. The definitions of 'business', 'dealer' and 'sale' under the Sales Tax Act are wide enough to cover a transaction that is incidental or ancillary to the principal business of pawnbroking. The pawner has no role in the sale once redemption time expires, and the pawnbroker's liberty to bid does not alter his character as seller when the goods are sold to a third party.

Conclusion: The pawnbroker is a dealer carrying on business and is liable to sales tax on sales of unredeemed pledged articles; the auctioneer is not the taxable seller.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory sale of unredeemed pledged goods conducted by an approved auctioneer at the instance of the pawnbroker is an incidental or ancillary part of the pawnbroker's business, and the pawnbroker, not the auctioneer, is the person who transfers property in the goods for sales tax purposes.

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