Timm Aircraft Corp. v. Byram

Defendants levied ad valorem taxes for the year 1944-1945 on a bank deposit of plaintiff Timm Aircraft Corporation assessed to it as a solvent credit. Timm paid the taxes under protest and then brought this action to recover them, contending that the deposit was owned by the United States and was constitutionally exempt from taxation by a state or its subdivisions. Judgment was entered for Timm, and defendants appeal.

Under a contract with the War Department Timm manufactured military aircraft on a cost-plus-a-fixed-fee basis. The contract provided that Timm was not an agent of the United…