Commercial classification of goods controls sales tax treatment where blades lacked stainless steel characteristics

Classification under a sales tax notification depends on the common or commercial meaning of the goods, not on a scientific description. The mere printing of "stainless steel" on the package was not decisive. On the record, the blades were magnetic, susceptible to corrosion, and lacked the ordinary characteristics associated with stainless steel articles. Earlier notification history also showed that shaving blades had been separately dealt with rather than treated as stainless steel goods. Applying popular understanding, material characteristics, and legislative treatment, the blades were held not to fall within the stainless steel entry and were taxable as an unclassified item.

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Issues: Whether Erasmic blades were classifiable as articles made wholly or principally of stainless steel under the relevant sales tax notification, or were liable to tax as an unclassified item.

Analysis: Classification of an item not defined in the sales tax statute must be determined by the meaning attached to it in common or commercial parlance by traders and customers, not by a merely scientific or technical description. The printing of the words "stainless steel" on the package was not ative. The material on record showed that the blades were magnetic and susceptible to corrosion, and lacked the characteristics ordinarily associated with stainless steel goods. The legislative history of earlier notifications also indicated that shaving blades had been separately dealt with and were not treated as stainless steel articles. On that basis, the popular understanding, scientific characteristics, and legislative treatment all pointed away from the blades being stainless steel wares.

Conclusion: Erasmic blades did not fall within the entry for articles made wholly or principally of stainless steel and were taxable as an unclassified item at 8 per cent; the assessee succeeded.

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