Philadelphia Life Insurance v. Commonwealth

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Nix,

The narrow issue presented by this appeal is whether the Gross Premiums Tax Act of 19611 is unconstitutional when applied to renewal premiums received by insurance companies from non-participating life insurance *159policies2 written prior to January 1, 1961, the effective date of the tax.

The appellant, Philadelphia Life Insurance Company, is a Pennsylvania stock life insurance company which receives 80% of its revenues from non-participating policies. On June 21, 1961, appellant instituted this equity action seeking to restrain the collection of the tax.3 After a trial,…