Ezel / Tax Rulings / TX
TX 9007L1031F13 Sales and/or Use Tax (State,Local,MTA) 1990-07-26

Did electricity used for color-corrected lighting in a print-shop pressroom count as exempt use when calculating the predominant use of electricity?

Short answer: Yes. The Comptroller concluded that color-corrected pressroom lighting used to process color was necessary and essential to that printing process, so the electricity powering it qualified as exempt use in the predominant-use calculation.

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This page answers the general question as of 1990. Ezel answers yours, under current Texas tax law, with citations.

Currency note: this ruling is from 1990
Subsequent statutory amendments, regulation changes, court decisions, or later rulings may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current tax advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, rate, or position mentioned here.
Disclaimer: This is an official Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts letter published on the State Tax Automated Research (STAR) system. Letters on STAR can be the basis of a detrimental reliance claim only for the taxpayer to whom the letter was directly issued (see 34 Tex. Admin. Code Rules 3.1 and 3.10); documents on STAR may no longer represent current policy even if not marked superseded. Taxpayer-identifying details are redacted. This summary is informational only and is not legal or tax advice. Consult a licensed Texas tax professional about your specific situation.
About this page: The plain-English summary, reader guidance, and Q&A below were written by Ezel based on the official state tax ruling. The original ruling (linked on this page) is the authoritative source for any reliance.

Plain-English summary

Electricity used to power color-corrected lighting in print-shop pressrooms qualified as exempt use when computing predominant use.

The Comptroller concluded that the specialized lighting was necessary and essential to the process of producing color printing.

Common questions

Did the lighting qualify as exempt use? Yes.

Why? It was necessary and essential to the color-printing process.

What calculation did the ruling affect? The predominant-use computation for electricity.

Source

Original ruling text

COMPTROLLER OF PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
STATE OF TEXAS
AUSTIN, TEXAS 78774

BOB BULLOCK
Comptroller July 26, 1990

Dear **:

This concerns your request for a ruling on electricity used
to power color corrected lighting in a printing operation.

After further review, we have concluded that the color cor-
rected lighting used in print shop pressrooms to process
color qualifies as necessary and essential to that particu-
lar process. As a result, electricity used to power color
corrected lighting will qualify as exempt use when computing
predominant use of electricity.

I want to thank you for your patience during the time that
we have been working on your request.

If you have further questions or need more information feel
free to call me at 1- 800- 531-5441. The regular number is
(512) 463-4502. You may write me at Taxability, Legal Ser-
vices Division. [FAX (512) 475-0900]

Sincerely,
Gilbert Zamora
Taxability, Legal Services Division

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