Ainsworth v. Bryant

Plaintiff, a retail seller of intoxicating liquor, brought this action to enjoin defendants from enforcing against him the “Purchase and Use Tax Ordinance” of the city and county of San Francisco. Defendants’ demurrer to the complaint was sustained and an injunction was denied. From the judgment accordingly entered, plaintiff appeals.

Duly enacted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and approved by the mayor in July, 1947, with the tax levy effective as of October 1, 1947, the ordinance—No. 4537—is one “imposing [an] excise tax on the retail purchase, use or other consumption of tangible…