Tax Law Commons^™

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

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 …

Procedural Reform In The Judicial Review Of Controversies Under The Internal Revenue Statutes: An Answer To A Proposal, Montgomery B. Angell

Taxation & Traynor

No abstract provided.

A Program For The People - For The Taxpayers - Communist Party Of The U.S.A., Communist Party Of The U.S.A.

Ina and Noel Harris Collection

Pamphlet campaigning for Albert J. (Mickie) Lima, Candidate for City Council that outlines their plan for labor, general improvements for Eureka and issue to stop monopoly corruption of city government.

Issued By: Eureka Branch, Communist Party of the U.S.A. Election Campaign Headquarters: 1404 Albee St. Eureka, CA.

Proceedings Of The Law Institute Part I, University Of Michigan Law School

Event Materials

Proceedings of the Law Institute held at the University of Michigan Law School, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Thursday, Friday, and Saturday June 22-24, 1939

Intergovernmental Tax Immunity - Liability Of Federal Governmental Employees To State Income Tax - Graves V. People Of State Of New York, Ex Rel O'Keefe

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

What Determines Domicil - Gaver V. County Commissioners For Frederick County. In The Matter Of Charles Delmar

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

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 - 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).

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 …

Taxation - Income Tax - Surtax On Income Of Corporation Where Profits Are Accumulated To Avoid Surtax On Income Of Its Shareholders - Construction, Brackley Shaw

Michigan Law Review

Section 104 of the Revenue Act of 1928 imposed a surtax on the net income of any corporation "formed or availed of for the purpose of preventing the imposition of the surtax on its shareholders through the medium of permitting its gains and profits to accumulate instead of being divided and distributed," and provided that "the fact that the gains or profits are permitted to accumulate beyond the reasonable needs of the business shall be prima facie evidence of a purpose to escape the surtax." Defendant corporation was formed in 1911 with $200,000 capital stock all owned by Kohl. In …

Tax Decisions Of The Supreme Court, 1937 Term, Roger J. Traynor

Taxation & Traynor

No abstract provided.

Western Live Stock V. Bureau Of Revenue, Gustav H. Dongus

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Taxation-Income Tax-Refund For Overpayment-Equitarle Defense By Government When Collection Of Deficiency Barred By Limitations, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Petitioner's deceased sold stock under an installment contract and made a large profit thereon. The deceased died in 1928. Under Sections 44 (d) and 113 of the Revenue Act of 1928 the executor made an underpayment for 1928, and overpayments for 1929, 1930, and 1931. The amount of the 1928 deficiency exceeded the aggregate of the overpayments for the three subsequent years. Petitioner filed a claim for refund of the overpayments. The government was barred by limitations from recovering the tax deficiency for 1928. Held, the petitioner was entitled to recover the overpayments. The government could not assert the …

Constitutional Law - Impairment Of Obligation Of Contracts -Tax On Income Of Bonds Granted Statutory Tax Exemption, Amos J. Coffman

Michigan Law Review

Plaintiffs were holders of certain tax exempt bonds issued under authority of the state of Iowa. After the issue of the bonds a statute was passed imposing a "personal net income tax" upon persons resident within the state. The state board of assessment and review assessed this tax against $36,892.75 interest on the tax exempt bonds. The appellants, alleging that such an application of the law impaired the obligations of contracts of exemption, brought suit. Upon a ruling in favor of the assessment by the Iowa Supreme Court, appellants appealed to the United States Supreme Court. Held, the contract …

Death Taxes On Completed Transfers Inter Vivos, Lorentz B. Knouff

Michigan Law Review

The subjection of transfers inter vivas to the death tax under each of the above categories has been based upon the proposition that, for a transfer inter vivas properly to be subject to the death tax, it must bear some reasonable relationship to transfers at death either by will or under the law relating to intestacy. This rule has been applied both in problems of statutory construction and in problems of constitutionality. The recent decision of the United States Supreme Court in Helvering v. Bullard seems to have abandoned this test for the inclusion of transfers inter vivas within the …

Taxation - Sales - Recovery Of Processing Taxes - Remedies Of The Buyer, Keith P. Bondurant

Michigan Law Review

Defendant, a flour milling company, was subjected to payment of processing taxes under the Agricultural Adjustment Act. It entered into contracts with plaintiffs, by the terms of which the amount of such taxes was included in the purchase price of flour. The contracts provided that the amount of any decrease in processing taxes levied against defendant would inure to the benefit of the buyers and be credited against the contract price. Meanwhile, defendant, contesting the validity of the tax, had deposited in court a sum equal to the amount of accrued taxes. After the Supreme Court invalidated the A. A. …

Taxation - Capital Gains Tax (Revenue Act Of 1928) - Reorganizations - Definition Of A Party To A Reorganization, Milton A. Kramer

Michigan Law Review

Although "certainty" is one of the most desirable features of taxation, that quality has been conspicuously absent in regard to the portions of the 1928 Revenue Act which deal with capital gains in corporate reorganizations. In the four situations which the act sets forth as constituting a reorganization, capital gains arising therefrom are exempt from tax computation, the general purpose being to remove any impediment to normal corporate adjustments and to prevent the recognition of gains or losses until they are actually realized. However, this provision soon became an invitation for ingenious counsel to arrange the sales of corporate assets …

Banks And Banking - Taxation Of National Bank - Safe Deposit Vault As Integral Function Of National Bank, Marcus L. Plant

Michigan Law Review

The council of the city of Portland passed an ordinance declaring it unlawful to carry on certain businesses without securing an appropriate license from the city. Among the business activities specified was "Safe Deposit Vault" for which an annual license fee of forty dollars was imposed. The plaintiff, a national bank, and other national banks, all of which operated safe deposit vaults, brought an action to restrain the city and its officers from collecting the fee. It was held that the safe deposit business is a necessary and integral function of a national bank, and therefore the city was without …

Declaratory Rulings, A Brief Sketch Of A Possible Administrative System Offered, Roger J. Traynor

Taxation & Traynor

No abstract provided.

Taxation--Priorities--Loss Of Federal Tax Lien, E. H. B.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Jurisdiction To Tax-Power Of The Settlor's Domicillary State To Subject To An Inheritance Tax The Corpus Of A Trust Elsewhere Existing

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Taxation - Compensating Use Tax - Theory - Burden On Interstate Commerce, Brackley Shaw

Michigan Law Review

The California Use Tax Act of 1935 imposes an excise tax on the storage or use of personal property purchased in other states and brought into California. Plaintiff railroad bought materials and supplies in other states and stored them in California before installation on its interstate railroad system, and the tax was assessed on them. Held, the tax is unconstitutional as applied to such property as a direct burden on interstate commerce. Where the property was purchased for the sole purpose of being reserve equipment in an interstate commerce plant it is employed in interstate commerce from the time …

Carriers - Federal Regulation Of Motor Transportation Brokers, Charles E. Nadeau

Michigan Law Review

A broker is, in general, an intermediary or "go-between" in the business of negotiating contracts for others. His economic function is that of bringing buyer and seller together. A motor transportation broker is engaged in the business of arranging for contracts dealing with motor transportation service. His function is to bring together a prospective passenger or shipper seeking service and a carrier willing to provide the service demanded. "Tourist agency," "travel bureau," and "share-the-expense agency" are familiar terms used to designate the passenger transportation broker. There is a larger, but not so wellknown, group of brokers dealing in the hauling …

Taxation - Real Property Assessment, Wayne E. Bahler

Michigan Law Review

Based upon the cost-depreciation method applicable to adjacent property, the assessment of the Detroit-Windsor tunnel and terminal resulted in taxes equal to forty-one per cent of the gross revenue for the depression years of 1931-1934; The federal district court enjoined the collection of such amount, and assessed the property by the capitalized income method (seven per cent) plus $3,500 for the value of possible future increased earnings. Upon appeal it was held that the injunction on the original levy be affirmed since the cost-depreciation method was erroneous and offensive to the Fourteenth Amendment in not taking account of depressions or …

Taxation - Stevedoring As Interstate Commerce - Constitutionality Of Occupation Tax, Ralph Winkler

Michigan Law Review

The state of Washington enacted a business privilege tax, the amount of which was to be determined on a gross income basis. A domestic corporation had been servicing vessels engaged in interstate commerce in two ways-it supplied stevedores to the vessels, and it did the work of loading and unloading. In a bill to enjoin the collection of this tax the Supreme Court of Washington dismissed the suit on the ground that the corporation was not engaged in interstate commerce. On appeal, held (1) furnishing stevedores to the vessels without maintaining control over the operations of the workmen is a …

Trusts - Validity - Subject Matter - Profits To Be Acquired In The Future, Paul R. Trigg

Michigan Law Review

The plaintiff contemplated trading in the stock market and in 1927 declared a trust of the proceeds of his stock trading for the year 1928 in favor of various members of his immediate family, agreeing to assume all losses personally and to distribute all profits equally among the beneficiaries after deducting a reasonable compensation for his services. At the expiration of the year 1928, plaintiff deducted $10,000 as compensation, which he reported in his tax return for that year, and credited the named beneficiaries with the remainder on his books, these amount being reported in their respective tax returns for …

Internal Revenue--Administrative Law--Finality Of Findings Of The Board Of Tax Appeals, H. A. W. Jr.

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Depletion Of Oil And Gas Properties For Income Tax Purposes, John W. Beveridge

Michigan Law Review

The Revenue Act of 1936 provides that in computing net income from oil and gas properties there shall be allowed as a deduction from gross income a reasonable allowance for depletion, according to the peculiar conditions in each case. The allowance is made under regulations prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.

The first problem is to fix the amount the taxpayer is entitled to recover before he is considered as earning income which is not in essence a mere return of his capital investment. The difficulty of clearly defining the difference between a return of capital and of income …

Taxation - Constitutionality Of Federal Admissions Tax As Applied To State Universities, Ralph W. Aigler

Michigan Law Review

In declaring invalid the federal tax so far as it applied to admissions to athletic contests conducted under the auspices of the Regents of the University System of Georgia, the United States District Court has added another very interesting case to the many involving immunity from taxation growing out of our dual system of government. The question arose early, and scores of cases have since been decided.