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Full-Text Articles in Law

Taxation - Jurisdiction To Tax - Multiple Taxation Of Intangibles, Richard Brawerman Nov 1939

Taxation - Jurisdiction To Tax - Multiple Taxation Of Intangibles, Richard Brawerman

Michigan Law Review

In two recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court, Curry v. McCanless, and Graves v. Elliott, a majority of the justices refused to adhere to the doctrine that the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits taxation of intangibles by more than one state, and subscribed instead to the view that control and benefit are together the only test of jurisdiction of the states to tax. In Curry v. McCanless, the decedent, a resident of Tennessee, had created a trust of intangibles, reserving control over the income during her life and power to revoke the trust by will. The trust …


Taxation - Income Tax - Whether Purchase And Retirement By Corporation Of Own Bonds At Less Than Amount Of Issue Constitutes A Taxable Gain Where Corporation Is Insolvent, S. R. Stroud Jun 1939

Taxation - Income Tax - Whether Purchase And Retirement By Corporation Of Own Bonds At Less Than Amount Of Issue Constitutes A Taxable Gain Where Corporation Is Insolvent, S. R. Stroud

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner, a railway corporation, in 1906 leased all its property to an operating company for a term of fifty years. At the same time petitioner issued $434,000 in first mortgage bonds which were used to refund a prior issue of $350,000 and to provide for certain improvements on the road. Interest on the bonds was to be met by lessee's payment of the greater part of the rental directly to the trustee of the mortgage bonds, but no provision for a sinking fund was made. In October, 1932, petitioner purchased $19,000 par value of aforesaid mortgage bonds for $4,750, and …


Constitutional Law - Taxation Of Salaries Of Judges Of The United States, Thomas K. Fisher Jun 1939

Constitutional Law - Taxation Of Salaries Of Judges Of The United States, Thomas K. Fisher

Michigan Law Review

The Revenue Act of 1932 provided that "In the case of Presidents of the United States and judges of courts' of the United States taking office after June 6, 1932, the compensation received as such shall be included in gross income; and all Acts fixing the compensation of such Presidents and judges are hereby amended accordingly." A United States circuit judge, appointed in 1933, was required to include in his tax return the amount of his salary, under the Revenue Act of 1936, which re-enacted the above provision. His claim for refund being rejected, the present suit was brought, and …


Taxation-Income Tax-Dealings By Corporation In Its Own Stock, John N. Seaman Jun 1939

Taxation-Income Tax-Dealings By Corporation In Its Own Stock, John N. Seaman

Michigan Law Review

From 1921 to 1929, appellee corporation bought shares of its own stock, not for retirement, but to sustain the market, to increase the number of shareholders by resale in smaller blocks, and for other reasons. This stock was held as treasury stock. In 1929 it was sold by the corporation, at a profit. From 1920 to 1934 the Treasury Regulations exempted the proceeds of such a transaction from income tax, treating the purchase and sale as separate decrease and increase in the capital, and not as resulting in income. But in 1934 the regulation was changed, so as to tax …


Constitutional Law - Taxation - Curtailment Of Intergovernmental Tax Immunities, Allan A. Rubin May 1939

Constitutional Law - Taxation - Curtailment Of Intergovernmental Tax Immunities, Allan A. Rubin

Michigan Law Review

In the recent well-publicized decision of Graves v. O'Keefe, the United States Supreme Court, following a path adequately cleared by Helvering v. Gerhardt, again enlarged the scope of the governmental powers to impose non-discriminatory taxes. In so doing, the Court clarified the fundamental principles underlying intergovernmental tax immunities by eliminating inconsistencies and resolving confusion persisting in this field of law. The Gerhardt case had sustained the imposition of a federal income tax on the salaries of employees of the Port of New York Authority, a state instrumentality created by New York and New Jersey. But it had not …


Legal Institute, Michigan Law Review May 1939

Legal Institute, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A legal institute for practicing lawyers will be held at the Law School of the University of Michigan on June 22 to 24. The student dormitories in the classic Law Quadrangle will be open to those attending the Institute. Subjects to be discussed will include Taxation, Labor Law, and Wills and Trusts. Members of the law faculty and several practicing lawyers specializing in the topics to be considered will be the lecturers.


Taxation-Income Tax -Jurisdiction -Trusts - State Tax On Resident Beneficiary's Net Income From Trust Established And Administered By Non-Resident Trustee, Allan A. Rubin May 1939

Taxation-Income Tax -Jurisdiction -Trusts - State Tax On Resident Beneficiary's Net Income From Trust Established And Administered By Non-Resident Trustee, Allan A. Rubin

Michigan Law Review

The state of Virginia imposed an income tax upon the income received by a resident of Virginia as beneficiary of a discretionary trust established and administered in New York by a resident of New York, which state had levied and collected an income tax on the entire income of the trust fund. Petitioner protested the payment of the Virginia tax, alleging the taking of property without due process of law and the denial of equal privileges in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. Held, that the tax was valid, since it was ascertained by the beneficiary's …


Taxation - Income Tax - Improvements Made By Lessee As Income To Lessor, Ralph E. Helper May 1939

Taxation - Income Tax - Improvements Made By Lessee As Income To Lessor, Ralph E. Helper

Michigan Law Review

The recent decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in M. E. Blatt Co. v. United States has fairly settled the conflict that has ranged for over twenty years between the Commissioner of Internal Revenue and the Board of Tax Appeals on one side, and the courts on the other. The commissioner's contention that improvements made by a lessee should be taxed as income to the lessor was denied, and by dictum the Court approved the reasoning of Judge Learned Hand in Hewitt Realty Co. v. Commissioner, wherein he said that the judicial concept of "income" did …


Taxation - Social Security - Dissolution Of Corporation And Formation Of Partnership As Means Of Avoiding Tax, Arthur P. Boynton Apr 1939

Taxation - Social Security - Dissolution Of Corporation And Formation Of Partnership As Means Of Avoiding Tax, Arthur P. Boynton

Michigan Law Review

The O Company surrendered its corporate charter and began operating under an agreement purporting to establish a partnership relation between the former officers and employees whereby complete management including the power to employ, discharge and control the duties of its members was vested in a "board of control" elected by and subject to changes made by the majority in interest. Net profits and losses were shared in proportion to the respective interests. The firm could be dissolved only by a vote of the majority in interest and not by transfer of interest, death or resignation of a member. Advice was …


Taxation - Income Tax - Deductions - Ordinary And Necessary Business Expenses - Commissions Paid To Senator For Securing Public Contracts, Ralph E. Helper Apr 1939

Taxation - Income Tax - Deductions - Ordinary And Necessary Business Expenses - Commissions Paid To Senator For Securing Public Contracts, Ralph E. Helper

Michigan Law Review

Taxpayer, a gravel company, employed as salesman a state senator, who obtained several contracts with the State Highway Commission of Louisiana. The Board, of Tax Appeals disallowed deductions for the commissions paid therefor, on the ground that the payments were for using personal influence with a governmental department, pursuant to a contract which is contrary to public policy. Held, in absence of evidence that the state senator agreed to or attempted to use any personal or political influence, the commissions paid to him are deductible business expenses. Alexandria Gravel Go., Inc. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, (C. C. …


Taxation - Income Taxes - Deduction For Uncompensated Damages To Non-Business Property, Anthony L. Dividio Mar 1939

Taxation - Income Taxes - Deduction For Uncompensated Damages To Non-Business Property, Anthony L. Dividio

Michigan Law Review

Several years prior to 1934, the taxpayer purchased a pleasure automobile for $1,825. Its value in 1934 was $225; after a collision its value was $190. The Circuit Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the taxpayer's contention that inasmuch as a taxpayer is not allowed an annual deduction for depreciation on non-business property, the original cost of such property constituted the basis for measuring the "uncompensated loss" allowed as a deduction for income tax purposes under section 113 (b) (1) (B) of the Revenue Act of 1934. Held, the decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals should …


Some Indicia Of Capital Transfers Under The Federal Income Tax Laws, Paul Harvey Mar 1939

Some Indicia Of Capital Transfers Under The Federal Income Tax Laws, Paul Harvey

Michigan Law Review

The fundamental difference between capital and income is recognized throughout the entire structure of the income tax law, and many decisions have distinguished between the two for the purpose of determining whether a given transaction comes within the meaning of the term "income" as used in the Sixteenth Amendment. But while recognizing the fundamental differences between capital and income, apparently the courts have been somewhat doubtful about advancing any broad, general statements by which specific transactions might be classified. While they have sometimes hesitated to call a specific item a capital transfer, they have, nevertheless, held numerous transactions involving the …


Automobiles - Registration Of Title And Transfer - Effect On Ownership, Gerald M. Stevens Mar 1939

Automobiles - Registration Of Title And Transfer - Effect On Ownership, Gerald M. Stevens

Michigan Law Review

Who owns this automobile? is a question of frequent interest both to the state and to its citizens. Identification of it and its owner may be a leading clue to the solution of crime; its owner must often be apprehended as the first step toward punishment of one of the considerable list of offenses peculiar to the operation of motor vehicles; it constitutes an important item of taxable property. The private citizen is interested in its ownership to identify the proper defendant in his tort action; it is an obvious source of satisfaction of his claim against a debtor; or …


Taxation - Interstate Commerce - Use Tax On Gasoline, M. D. Blackwell Feb 1939

Taxation - Interstate Commerce - Use Tax On Gasoline, M. D. Blackwell

Michigan Law Review

A statute provided that it was unlawful to operate an automobile over the state highway without paying a certain tax on the sale or use of gasoline. Plaintiff operated a common carrier between two cities which were not in the state, the route taken by the carrier, however, running through the state. Plaintiff habitually brought gasoline into the state in the tanks of its motor carriers, and in this suit it sought to enjoin collection of the tax, alleging that as applied to its business the statute was unconstitutional because the tax thus imposed was an unreasonable burden on interstate …


Taxation - Income Tax - Exempt Reorganizations - When Is A Reorganization Bona Fide Under The Rule Of Gregory V. Helvering, Ralph E. Helper Feb 1939

Taxation - Income Tax - Exempt Reorganizations - When Is A Reorganization Bona Fide Under The Rule Of Gregory V. Helvering, Ralph E. Helper

Michigan Law Review

An individual wished to buy certain patents from a corporation, and at his instigation, the corporation transferred them to a newly-organized patent holding company, which issued its shares directly to the stockholders of the transferor corporation. On discovery of disadvantages from this scheme, the buyer requested that the new corporation be dissolved and that the patents be assigned by the original patentee individually. Petitioner and all other shareholders sold their stock in the new corporation to the patentee in exchange for his notes, and he dissolved the corporation, receiving the patents on liquidation. The patents were then sold for cash, …


Obligatory Jurisdiction Of The Supreme Court: Appeals From State Courts Under Section 237(A) Of The Judicial Code, Seymour J. Rubin, Sidney H. Willner Feb 1939

Obligatory Jurisdiction Of The Supreme Court: Appeals From State Courts Under Section 237(A) Of The Judicial Code, Seymour J. Rubin, Sidney H. Willner

Michigan Law Review

In two ways, a case decided by the state court of last resort may come to the Supreme Court of the United States: by certiorari, or by appeal. Certiorari is discretionary; and the considerations which will lead the Court to grant a writ of certiorari are set out in Rule 38 of the Supreme Court Rules, and are well-known to the practicing bar. Appeal, however, is directed to the obligatory jurisdiction of the Court. Rule 12 merely sets out the procedure to be followed in seeking an appeal; and for his decision as to whether he has substantive basis for …


Taxation - Income Tax - Settlement Of Will Contest As Taxable, Anthony L. Dividio Jan 1939

Taxation - Income Tax - Settlement Of Will Contest As Taxable, Anthony L. Dividio

Michigan Law Review

Taxpayer commenced suit to contest the probate of his grandmother's will, by which she had made nominal bequests to her grandchildren, and had created a charitable trust with the large residue. The parties agreed upon a settlement, as a result of which taxpayer received $141,404.03, all of which the tax commissioner claimed was taxable income. Held, the amount received by taxpayer came to him because he was an heir and did not constitute taxable income. Lyeth v. Hoey, (U. S. 1938) 6 U. S. Law Week 421 (Dec. 6, 1938).


The Windfall Tax And Processing Tax Refund Provisions Of The Revenue Act Of 1936, Keith P. Bondurant Jan 1939

The Windfall Tax And Processing Tax Refund Provisions Of The Revenue Act Of 1936, Keith P. Bondurant

Michigan Law Review

The proposition that a seller who has collected from his vendees but has not paid to the government taxes imposed under an unconstitutional statute is unjustly enriched, and the correlative principle that a taxpayer has no right to recover invalid taxes paid by him if he has shifted the burden of such taxes to others, are embodied in title II and title VII, respectively, of the Revenue Act of 1936. Title VII prohibits refunds to processors and other vendors of amounts collected from them as tax under the Agricultural Adjustment Act unless the claimant can establish that he bore the …


Taxation -Income Tax - Profit On Sale Of Securities - Identification Of Shares Sold, Milton A. Kramer Jan 1939

Taxation -Income Tax - Profit On Sale Of Securities - Identification Of Shares Sold, Milton A. Kramer

Michigan Law Review

The taxpayer ordered his broker to sell certain shares of stock purchased in March, 1929, which were on deposit at a bank. He then ordered the bank to deliver a thousand shares from certificates numbered 80250 to 80258 inclusive, and 80264. It does not appear whether the instructions were written or oral. The bank, however, delivered by mistake certificates from another lot which had a considerably lower cost basis and had been held as collateral since 1925. The Board of Tax Appeals concluded that the shares delivered to the broker as represented by the certificates were the shares actually sold …