Niles-Bement-Pond Co. v. Fitzpatrick

Judge Harlan’s careful and extensive research into the legislative background of the revenue law here involved serves in my judgment to afford strong support for both the reasoning and the decision in General Motors Acceptance Corp. v. Higgins, 2 Cir., 161 F.2d 593, certiorari denied 332 U.S. 810, 68 S.Ct. 112, 92 L.Ed. 388, now largely repudiated in actual result. The narrow distinction of the statute between promissory notes, which are not subject to the stamp tax, and corporate debentures or certificates of indebtedness, which are, is not of our choosing and we have no authority to blot it…