Sun Oil Co. v. Lindley (56 Ohio St. 2d 313, 1978)

Per Curiam.

The issue to be resolved in this cause is whether the determination of the Board of Tax Appeals not to exempt from taxation various components and costs of appellant’s “pollution control facility,” was reasonable and lawful. B. C. 5717.04; Transue & Williams, Inc., v. Lindley (1978), 54 Ohio St. 2d 351, 376 N. E. 2d 1341.

R. C. 5709.21, in applicable part, authorizes the Tax Commissioner to exempt from taxation facilities “designed primarily for the control of air * * * pollution,” if such facilities are reasonably adequate and intended for such purpose. The statute provides further that the amount of +he exemption shall be calculated based upon the value of that portion or part of the facility “used exclusively for air * * * pollution control.”

At the outset, appellant contends that the General As‘sembly, in providing that only property “used exclusively for air * * * pollution control” is eligible for exemption from taxation pursuant to R. C. 5709.21, did not intend to tax property whose purpose is primarily pollution control but which also provides incidental benefits to the taxpayers ’s production processes.

The constitutional requirement of tax uniformity is pro tanto violated by statutes which exempt property from taxation. Statutory language, when construction is required, must be construed most strongly against the exemption. Transue & Williams, Inc., v. Lindley, supra; Ohio Ferro-Alloys Corp. v. Donahue (1966), 7 Ohio St. 2d 29, 218 N. E. 2d 452.

Thus, this court has generally disallowed a tax exemption when property required to be “used exclusively for charitable purposes,” under R. C. 5709.12, serves both a charitable purpose and an incidental private one (