Towne v. McElligott
District Court, S.D. New York
At Raw. Action by Henry R. Towne against Richard J. McElligott, Acting Collector of Internal Revenue. On demurrer to complaint. This case arises upon demurrer to a complaint by a taxpayer for money paid on income taxes. It raises two questions: First, whether the profits realized upon the sale of the plaintiff’s shares of stock were correctly computed ; second, whether a surtax of 72 per cent, on such profits was confiscatory.
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At Raw. Action by Henry R. Towne against Richard J. McElligott, Acting Collector of Internal Revenue. On demurrer to complaint. This case arises upon demurrer to a complaint by a taxpayer for money paid on income taxes. It raises two questions: First, whether the profits realized upon the sale of the plaintiff’s shares of stock were correctly computed ; second, whether a surtax of 72 per cent, on such profits was confiscatory. The first question depends upon these facts: The plaintiff owned sitares in a corporation before March 1, 1913, and bought other shares thereafter. Later he received a…
1Opinion of the CourtRfarnfd Hand, District Judge
(after stating the facts as above). j 1 ] I shall take up the second point- first, since, if it were sound, it would dispose of the whole case. In brief it comes to this: That a tax of 72 per cent, on the last increment of the plaintiff’s income, and a tax of SO per cent, upon his whole income, is confiscatory, and, if so, void, under the Fifth Amendment. The term “confiscatory,” when so used, is clearly one of degree, because literally all taxes are pro tanto condscatory. Except as it imports some inequality of burden, not here suggested, it can mean nothing but that there is a measure to…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Eisner v. MacOmberSupreme Court of the United States · 1920
- Brushaber v. Union Pacific RailroadSupreme Court of the United States · 1916
- Eisner, Internal Revenue Collector v. MacOmberSupreme Court of the United States · 1919
- Safe Deposit & Trust Co. of Baltimore v. MilesDistrict Court, D. Maryland · 1921
3Cited by36 opinions
- Howbert v. PenroseCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit · 1930
- Burdick v. CommissionerUnited States Board of Tax Appeals · 1930
- Skinner v. EatonCourt of Appeals for the Second Circuit · 1930
- Stewart v. CommissionerUnited States Board of Tax Appeals · 1929
- Horner v. CommissionerUnited States Board of Tax Appeals · 1933
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