Morrison Waite

“ The question in this case is, whether, if a distiller uses material for distillation in excess of the estimated capacity of his distillery, according to the survey made and returned under the provisions of the law regulating that subject, and in the regular course of his business pays the taxes upon his entire production, he can be again assessed at the rate of seventy cents on every gallon of spirits which the excess of material used should have produced, according to the rules of estimation prescribed by the internal-revenue law. There is no pretence of bad faith. ”

“ But if an excess of material is used, a different rule is to be applied, and the tax for the excess is not to be paid on the actual product, but on what it should have been according to the statutory estimate of the producing capacity of the material. ”