Charles Evans Hughes

“ The carrying on of the business of the corporation in New York, it is urged, has withdrawn its intangibles completely from the tax jurisdiction of New Jersey. With the assumption of a business situs and commercial domicile in New York, that state, under the authorities cited, would have the right to tax intangibles with this relation to its sovereignty. Appellant contends that if New York may levy a property tax on these intangibles, it will violate the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, U.S.C.A.Const., to permit New Jersey to do the same thing; that property cannot be in two places ”

“ The present tax, as administered, is levied upon an assessment of the full amount of capital stock and surplus. It is a tax on the net value of the corporation less allowable deductions, reached by taking liabilities from gross value of assets and subtracting exempt items from the remainder. ”

“ It was provided that a Commissioner should be elected for each department, the Mayor being ex officio Commissioner of Public Health and Safety. In 1921 the terms of office of the members of the Commission Council were fixed at four years, the election to be had in April. Appellant was elected Commissioner of the Department of Public Parks and Streets in April, 1931, for a term which was to expire in May, 1935. But in 1934 the date for the election of officers was postponed to November, 1936, and appellant's term of office was extended accordingly. ”

“ If we assume that the 'general accounts' mentioned are the company's claims against agents, other insurance companies, and similar bills receivable, no progress is made towards their identification with New York business. Nothing is shown as to the volume of New York business in comparison with New Jersey or the other states. We are not told where business is accepted, moneys collected or insurance contracts made. The securities may represent local loans or investments in New Jersey or elsewhere made from funds derived from similar insurance contracts with a business situs at those points. ”

“ Appellant urges error in sustaining the assessment in the face of the conclusion that the tax is a property tax upon intangibles with a business situs in New York, the commercial domicile of the corporation. ”

“ The task of devising means for distributing the burdens of taxation equitably has always challenged the wisdom of the wisest financial statesmen. Never has this been more true than today when wealth has so largely become the capitalization of expectancies derived from a complicated network of human relations. ”

“ While the particular question was not involved in that case, the court stated the familiar principle that 'the legislative power of a State, except so far as restrained by its own Constitution, is at all times absolute with respect to all offices within its reach. It may at pleasure create or abolish them, or modify their duties. ”

“ Appellant stresses the fact that he had selected his terminal in Kansas City, Kansas, at the beginning of his operations as a motor carrier, about 1932, and that it was a convenient and proper location. But that fact does not alter the nature of the transactions under review. There was a variance in the testimony as to the extent of the appellant's business which was conducted in violation of his permit, but there was adequate basis for the court's finding that it was a considerable portion of his operations and justified the action of the Commission. ”

“ This is apparently because capital stock and surplus are treated as invested in the exempt assets. [8] The value thus assessed is not determined by specific items but is the result of a calculation in which all assets are involved except those definitely exempted. Our conclusion makes it unnecessary to resolve doubts as to whether this is a property tax.
When a state exercises its sovereign power to create a private corporation, that corporation becomes a citizen, and domiciled in the jurisdiction, of its creator. ”

“ Apart from that question, the Commonwealth insists that appellants had a plain and adequate remedy by appearing in the attachment suit in the Franklin Circuit Court where all issues as to the validity of the tax and the propriety of the proceedings for enforcement could be litigated and determined, with the ultimate right of review in this court of any federal question raised and decided. ”

“ His duties still distinctly pertained to the performance of the ordinary governmental functions of the City in the supervision of its streets and parks and his position as Superintendent both with respect to duties and tenure may properly be regarded as subject to the control of the legislature and of the Commission Council acting under its authority. ”

“ The Commonwealth points to the provision of the Civil Code of Practice of Kentucky, Section 29, [2] under which any person claiming an interest in property which has been attached may file his petition stating his claim and controverting that of the plaintiff in the attachment whereupon he may be made a defendant, his petition being treated as an answer. ”

“ Louis, Missouri, Kansas City, Kansas, and other places in Kansas and Iowa. Prior to the passage of the Federal Motor Carrier Act of 1935 (49 U.S.C. § 301 et seq., 49 U.S.C.A. § 301 et seq.) , he obtained a permit from the Public Service Commission of Missouri 'to operate as a freight carrying motor carrier over an irregular route' between points in Missouri and points beyond that State, 'exclusively in interstate commerce'. He did not seek or obtain from the Commission an intrastate permit. ”

“ But if he be a non-resident he must give security for costs'.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105) . ”

“ A management corporation handles these companies at a New York office, where accounts are payable. Seven per cent of the business of Universal Insurance Company originates in New Jersey. The corresponding percentage for the other company is not shown. As in No. 449, the record is silent as to the character, source and use of the securities and credits.
Mr. Justice FRANKFURTER announced the following opinion, concurred in by Mr. Justice STONE, Mr. Justice BLACK, and Mr. Justice DOUGLAS.
Wise tax policy is one thing ”

“ His complaint was of the order of the Commission revoking his permit. We confine ourselves to the question thus presented.
Second.-When the Commission revoked the permit, the Interstate Commerce Commission had not acted upon appellant's application under the Federal Motor Carrier Act and meanwhile the authority of the state body to take appropriate action under the state law to enforce reasonable regulations of traffic upon the state highways had not been superseded. H. P. Welch Company v. ”

“ Wisconsin, 103 U.S. 5, 26 L.Ed. 302, upon which appellant relies,-a case of a contract with a State for the performance of specific services of a scientific character under a statute providing for 'a Geological, Mineralogical and Agricultural Survey'-a contract which was held to be within the constitutional protection, and rather that the case was governed by the general doctrine reaffirmed in Newton v. ”