A response letter to a taxpayer’s inquiry stated that the purchase of new printing presses for use in a new facility (as upgrades to the printer’s operations) qualified for the manufacturing exemption from Utah sales and use tax under both current law and prior law. Under the current version of the law, new printing presses for manufacturing printed materials would qualify as “machinery and equipment” used in a manufacturing facility to manufacture an item sold as tangible personal property, having an economic life of three years or more and, therefore, qualify for the exemption. Under prior law, although the statute made a distinction between equipment for “new and expanding operations” and “normal operating replacements”, the printing presses would still have been exempt regardless of their characterization as new equipment or operating replacements. (Private Letter Ruling, Opinion No. 06-001, Utah State Tax Commission)