Brown & Zortman Machinery Co. v. Pittsburgh

Opinion by

Me. Justice Musmanno,

The plaintiff company seeks to have this Court declare it to be a broker and not a dealer. This preferred nomenclature is desired not for academic reasons but for the very practical purpose that a broker pays a lower mercantile tax than a dealer.

Under the provisions of an ordinance of the City of Pittsburgh passed by virtue of Act No. 481 of June 25, 1947, P. L. 1145 (53 PS 2015.1 et seq) the plaintiff was classified as a retail dealer or vendor, to pay a mercantile tax at the rate of 2 mills per dollar on its gross annual sales. Through the operation of the…