Swank v. United States

These three tax refund suits, consolidated for argument, all present the single question of whether a provision in a coal-mining lease permitting termination by either party (or by the lessor alone) on 30 days’ notice precludes the plaintiff-lessees from having an "economic interest” in the coal in place which would entitle them to a percentage allowance for depletion under sections 611 and 613 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. The Government admits that, in the absence of this 30-day termination provision, the lessees would all be entitled to such a depletion allowance.1

Though they all…