Tax deed

“ Board of Assessors, 121 La. 116, 46 So. 122, where open accounts arising on the sale of merchandise were the subject of the assessment, the court said: 'There can be no serious question but that the legislature has provided that credits due upon open accounts arising out of business done in this state by nonresidents shall be taxed. . . . The state imposes this tax because of her need of the revenue to be derived from it; she extends to the business the protection of her laws, and seeks to make the business bear its just proportion of the burden of taxation. ”

“ To me it seems plain that a tax imposed upon an ordinary gift, to be measured by the value of the property given and without regard to any qualifying circumstances, is a tax by indirection upon the property, as much, for example, as a tax upon the mere possession by the owner of a farm, measured by the value of the land possessed, would be a tax on the land. To call either of them an excise is to sacrifice substance to a mere form of words. ”

“ The adoption of the taxing act, as recommended by the commission, may therefore be taken, as appellant contends, to evidence a definite and specific legislative purpose to levy a new type of franchise tax, measured by corporate net income, including the tax exempt income from federal and state bonds. ”

“ It is customary in most countries, as before named, to impose taxes on particular professions and trades or businesses, as well as on property; and whether in the shape of a license or fee, or an excise or poll-tax, or any other form, it is of little consequence when the object of the tax is legitimate, as here, and its amount reasonable. ”

“ On the one side, the proposition is that the command that duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States relates to the inherent and intrinsic character of the tax; that it contemplates the operation of the tax upon the property of the individual taxpayer, and exacts that when an impost, duty, or excise is levied, it shall operate precisely in the same manner upon all individuals ”

“ The block of buildings we have supposed is liable to taxation only upon its value in proportion to the value of the entire property, to be ascertained by assessment, and when the proportion is ascertained and paid, it is no longer or further liable. It is discharged. The residue of the tax is to be obtained from other sources. ”

“ Second, public rates and taxes.' This, we think, is conclusive that, for the purpose of proof and payment out of the estate, a personal tax is a debt.' The court further held that a tax list or tax duplicate, duly certified by the county auditor, as required by statute, was prima facie evidence of the due levy of the taxes in it. ”

“ As to residents it may, and does, exert its taxing power over their income from all sources, whether within or without the state, and it accords to them a corresponding privilege of deducting their losses, wherever these accrue. As to nonresidents, the jurisdiction extends only to their property owned within the state and their business, trade, or profession carried on therein, and the tax is only on such income as is derived from those sources. ”

“ If any person 'liable to tax' fails to pay the taxes assessed against him within the time prescribed, the collector may 'make distraint therefor as provided by law.' Section 3185. The tax so due from any person 'liable to pay' it, together with the interest, penalties, and costs that may accrue in addition thereto, is a lien in favor of the government upon all property, and rights of property, 'belonging to such person.' Section 3186. ”

“ He must first find the cash for a liability for which he may not have provided. * * * The first interest of all of the people is, of course, that the Government continue to function, and to do this it must have the means of prompt collection of the necessary supplies to keep it going, that is, taxes. The method was, therefore, the determination by the Commissioner of the amount of tax due, its collection and suit to recover. * * * (T) he tax as assessed had to be paid and the taxpayer was left to his remedy in the courts. ”

“ Circumstances wholly fortuitous may determine the year in which income, whenever earned, is taxable, and may thus affect the amount of tax. Receipt of income or accrual of the right to receive it within the tax year is the test of taxability, not the time it has taken the taxpayer to earn it nor the duration of his investments which have finally resulted in profit. ”

“ A tax is an enforced contribution for the payment of public expenses. It is laid by some rule of apportionment according to which the persons or property taxed share the public burden, and whether taxation operates upon all within the state, or upon those of a given class or locality, its essential nature is the same. ”

“ The tax was not eo nomine on the notes, but was expressed to be on 'credits, money loaned, bills receivable,' etc., and its amount was ascertained by computing the sum of the face value of all the notes held by the company at the time of the assessment.
The purpose of the taxing law was said to be to lay the burden of taxation equally upon those who do business within the state. ”

“ Congress has passed no tax statutes which compel me to conclude that it intended to reward ingenuity in paper work by granting multiple tax deductions for a single money payment to discharge a single corporate obligation. ”

“ But the person occupying the property or conducting the enterprise, and paying the assessment in the first instance, is authorized and required to deduct the tax from the income as it is distributed among the persons entitled to share in it either as proprietors, landlords, creditors, or employees. Under the English system, an industrial corporation, for instance, pays the income tax upon its gross earnings and then deducts it from the dividends, interest, salaries, and rents as these payments are made. ”

“ Taxes shall be levied and collected for public purposes only. They shall be uniform upon all property subject to taxation within the territorial limits of the authority levying the tax; and all taxes shall be levied and collected by general laws.' By § 172: 'All property, not exempted from taxation by this Constitution, shall be assessed for taxation at its fair cash value, estimated at the price it would bring at a fair voluntary sale ”

“ Coming now to the provisions for its enforcement, it is entirely clear that, as to the person actually carrying on the business, no notice of the assessment or levy of the tax is necessary. If the person carries on the business, the imposition of the tax follows as a matter of course. ”

“ But, wholly apart from extrinsic circumstances, the statute itself in terms seems clearly to impose an income tax. The tax is not one upon the privilege of doing business, but it is an annual tax for the privilege of doing business, to be computed upon the basis of the net income for the year next preceding. ”

“ But, where the taking of property is in the enforcement of a tax, the proceeding is necessarily less formal, and whether notice to him is at all necessary may depend upon the character of the tax and the manner in which its amount is determinable. ”

“ When any person who has paid the special tax for any trade or business dies, his wife or child, or executors or administrators or other legal representatives, may occupy the house or premises and in like manner carry on, for the residue of the term for which the tax is paid, the same trade or business as the deceased before carried on in the same house and upon the same premises, without the payment of any additional tax. ”

“ It has unhesitatingly brushed aside all legislation of the State impairing their obligation. When a tax has been authorized by law to meet them, it has compelled the officers of assessment to proceed and levy the tax, and the officers of collection to proceed and collect it, and apply the proceeds. ”

“ An excise tax, which the Constitution requires to be uniform, laid upon the shifting at death of some of the incidents of property, could hardly be thought to be a direct tax which must be apportioned. ”

“ Wherever you find an article, a product, a trade, a profession, a sale, or a source of income, tax it! And so an edict went forth to this effect, and the people cheerfully submitted. Incomes under five thousand dollars were taxed five per cent, with an exemption of five hundred dollars and house rent actually paid. Incomes in excess of five thousand dollars and not in excess of ten thousand dollars were taxed two and a half per cent in addition, and incomes over ten thousand dollars, five per cent additional, without any allowance or exemptions whatever. ”

“ When a tax is levied, the need by the State levying it of a certain sum of money must first be ascertained by competent authority, legislative or executive, as the case may be, and the law-making power must then, according to a prescribed form, enact that to raise such a sum a certain tax shall be levied on designated property or occupations. ”

“ The rule, founded on administrative convenience, is only one of postponement of the tax to the final event of enjoyment of the income, usually the receipt of it by the taxpayer, and not one of exemption from taxation where the enjoyment is consummated by some event other than the taxpayer's personal receipt of money or property. ”

“ That there shall be levied, assessed, collected and paid annually upon the entire net income arising or accruing from all sources in the preceding calendar year to every citizen of the United States, whether residing at home or abroad, and to every person residing in the United States, though not a citizen thereof, a tax of 1 per centum per annum upon such income, except as hereinafter provided. ”

“ At the outset appellant contends that the tax, although stated in the Taxing Act to be on corporate franchises, is in reality a tax on income, and as such falls within the class of taxes which concededly may not be directly imposed on federal instrumentalities. ”

“ If no mode is provided for assessing and collecting the tax, the law is imperfect and cannot, as to such interests, be executed.' A tax cannot be legally imposed unless the statute, in addition to creating the tax, provided for an officer or tribunal who shall appraise and assess the property on notice to the owner. ”

“ And the amount of the taxation may be determined by the value of the property, or its use, or its capacity, or its productiveness. It may touch business in the almost infinite forms in which it is conducted, in professions, in commerce, in manufactures, and in transportation. Unless restrained by provisions of the Federal Constitution, the power of the State as to the mode, form, and extent of taxation is unlimited, where the subjects to which it applies are within her jurisdiction. ”

“ It is next argued against the payment of this tax that, if these payments by the employer constitute income to the employee, the employee will be called upon to pay the tax imposed upon this additional income, and that the payment of the additional tax will create further income which will in turn be subject to tax, with the result that there would be a tax upon a tax. ”

“ The findings of fact do not show the rate of taxation for any one of the four years for which the taxes were recovered, and it is impossible for us to say that anything was included in the judgment but the simple taxes. It is true that the court said in its conclusion of law that judgment would be rendered for the tax, with the damages prescribed by statute, and interest and costs. ”

“ Single transactions, it is well known, may be susceptible to different, and inconsistent, theories of taxation. In the case before us, the taxpayer treated moneys derived from her deceased employer's estate as a gift and paid gift tax on the transfer. ”

“ We do not mean to say that an act laying by apportionment a direct tax on all real estate and personal property, or the income thereof, might not also lay excise taxes on business, privileges, employments, and vocations. ”

“ Another objection to the system of taxation by the State is, that the rolling-stock, capital stock, and franchise, are personal property, and that this, with all other personal property, has a local situs at the principal place of business of the corporation, and can be taxed by no other county, city, or town, but the one where it is so situated. ”

“ A tax may be imposed only upon certain callings and trades, for when the state exerts its power to tax, it is not bound to tax all pursuits or all property that may be legitimately taxed for governmental purposes. ”

“ If, as claimed. they are able to procure better management, a tax upon gains will uniformly reflect the effects of such management. And the same principle holds true of every advantage said to adhere in the magnitude of a business.
As we have said, the statute does not purport to levy a tax on incomes. ”

“ For the purposes of the additional tax he will be required to declare his income from all sources, and therefore any relief from the obligation of making a complete revelation of income which may be secured to him through the application of the principle of assessment at the source in connection with the normal tax will be entirely sacrificed. ”

“ The power to tax real and personal property, and the income from both, there being an apportionment, is conceded; that such a tax is a direct tax in the meaning of the constitution has not been, and, in our judgment, cannot be, successfully denied ”

“ To illustrate, § 3232, which precedes the others and is more or less a key to their meaning, declares: 'No person shall be engaged in or carry on any trade or business hereinafter mentioned until he has paid a special tax therefor in the manner hereinafter provided.' On the other hand, the sections in chapters 1 and 2 are, with minor exceptions, so general in their terms as to leave no doubt of their applicability to taxes imposed by subsequent legislation containing no provision to the contrary. ”