Cook, Commissioner of Revenues v. Wilson

The question presented is whether the State may collect from the purchaser and severer the severance tax on timber cut from lands belonging to the United States in a national forest.

Appellees are partners trading under the firm name of Wilson Lumber Company; and at various times they have severed timber in the United States national forest under “Timber Sale Agreement” with the United States Department of Agriculture. One such agreement was introduced; it is quite lengthy, but the salient provisions are: (1) The “purchaser” (appellees) agreed to purchase from a certain area in the national…