Commercial meaning of "coal" applied to hold coal ash a covered form, invalidating separate sales tax treatment.

The expression "coal in all its forms but excluding charcoal" was construed in its ordinary and commercial sense, so words of common use in taxing statutes were given their market parlance meaning. Coal ash was treated as a form or variety of coal rather than a distinct commodity, and the specific exclusion of charcoal reinforced that no similar exclusion was intended for coal ash. The sales tax demands treating coal ash as separately taxable under the local sales tax law and the Central Sales Tax law were therefore set aside in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether coal ash is to be treated as coal, so that sales tax demands raised under the local sales tax law and the Central Sales Tax law treating it as a different commodity were valid.

Analysis: The statutory expression "coal in all its forms but excluding charcoal" was construed in its ordinary and commercial sense. In taxing statutes, words of common use are to be understood as they are understood in market parlance, and the inclusive phraseology showed that all varieties of coal were meant to be covered unless expressly excluded. Coal ash, though a residue and of lower combustible value, was held to be a form or variety of coal rather than a distinct commodity. The exclusion of charcoal, without any similar exclusion for coal ash, supported the conclusion that the Legislature intended a broad generic meaning of coal.

Conclusion: Coal ash was held to fall within coal, and the tax demands treating it as distinct from coal were set aside in favour of the assessee.

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