Owen J. Roberts

“ The sole question for decision is whether the petitioners voluntarily paid someone's else tax. If they did they may not maintain the action. [6]
The respondent insists that, by the terms of the Act, the tax is imposed upon the ginner and not upon the producer. The petitioners, on the other hand, point to the provisions of the Act which make the levy of the tax dependent upon the vote of cotton producers and not upon any act of the ginners; which base exemptions from the tax upon the time, manner, and character of production and not upon the time, manner, or character of ginning ”

“ The collector was part of the machinery for compelling the farmer to pay the tax, for immobilizing the cotton and making it unusable until the assess ment he had made against the ginner was satisfied by payment of the tax. Whether or not the tax was imposed upon the petitioners, they are, according to accepted principles, entitled to recover unless they were volunteers, which they plainly were not because they paid the tax under duress of goods. ”

“ Section 20 (b) of the Bankhead Act [3] stated the conditions upon which a proceeding might be maintained for the recovery of any sum alleged to have been erroneously or illegally assessed or collected under its terms. ”