Commonwealth v. Bell Telephone Co.

12 Pa. D. & C. 617, 1929 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 291
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedMarch 18, 1929
DocketNo. 124
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 12 Pa. D. & C. 617 (Commonwealth v. Bell Telephone Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Bell Telephone Co., 12 Pa. D. & C. 617, 1929 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 291 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1929).

Opinion

Wickersham, J.,

By agreement of counsel this case was submitted to the court without a jury under the provisions of the Act of 1874. The learned Attorney-General and counsel for the defendant have agreed upon the following stipulation of

Facts.

1. The Bell Telephone Company of Philadelphia is a corporation incorporated under the laws of Pennsylvania on Sept. 18, 1879, under the Act of April 29, 1874, P. L. 73, for the purpose of constructing, maintaining and operating a line or lines of telegraph, and all such other business as may be authorized by said act of assembly and its supplements relating to the use of electricity. The name of The Bell Telephone Company of Philadelphia was changed to The Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania on Dec. 21, 1907. The said company was engaged in the telephone business in the State of Pennsylvania during the six months’ period ending June 30, 1923.

2. On Aug. 11, 1923, the above-named defendant filed in the office of the Auditor General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, under the provisions of section 23 of the Act of June 1, 1889, P. L. 420, its gross receipts report for the six months’ period ending June 30, 1923, wherein was reported “Gross receipts within the State from all sources, $19,796,411.84. On Aug. 22, 1923, the Auditor General made a settlement of gross receipts tax thereon, which was approved by the State Treasurer Aug. 23,1923, imposing a gross receipts tax upon the total receipts in the amount of $19,715,050.25, with the resultant tax in the amount of $157,720.40. Subsequent thereto, resettlement of the said tax was made by the Auditor General Feb. 25, 1924, and approved by the State Treasurer Feb. 26, 1924, wherein a gross receipts tax was imposed upon the gross receipts in the amount of $19,715,049.25, with the resultant tax in the amount of $157,720.39. From this resettlement the instant appeal was taken.

3. Included within the said report was the item “From Directory Advertising, $542,834.62,” and the item “From charges for material furnished and for work done by the reporting company’s employees, the answer hereto including all receipts from custom work, or for installation of reporting [618]*618company’s own equipment or service, $157,978.27.” These two items of gross receipts, totaling $700,812.89, were included within the said amount of $19,715,049.25. To the taxation of these two items of receipts objection is made on the part of the defendant, the defendant contending that said receipts are not receipts subject to taxation under the provisions of the said section 23 of the said Act of June 1, 1889.

4. The defendant, upon Oct. 19, 1923, paid into the State Treasury the sum of $152,113.90, being the tax imposed under the provisions of section 23 of the said Act of June 1, 1889, upon the total amount of gross receipts as set forth in said report, to wit:

Prom transmission and delivery of telephone or telegraph messages from points within the State to points within the State — the amount set down in answer hereto including receipts from tolls, charges, for use of instruments and extensions in connection with exchange service, charges for private branch exchanges, and termination charges; and in case of mutual or rural companies, it includes all payments required of stockholders or subscribers to meet the cost of maintenance of service...........$18,742,174.09
Prom removal charges............................. 42,545.50
Prom charges to mutual or rural companies for exchange service................................ 57,414.37
Prom rental of wires.............................. 172,103.40
Total.......................................$19,014,237.36

The defendant denies liability for tax upon the gross receipts in the said amount of $700,812.89, with the resultant tax of $5606.50.

5. The said amount of receipts reported, to wit, $542,834.62, “Prom Directory Advertising,” is money received by the defendant during the period of time covered by the report from advertising inserted in its directories; $541,384.12 of the said $542,834.62 was received from subscribers to telephone service of the defendant; the remaining $1450.50 was received from advertisers who were not such subscribers. Approximately 100 advertisers were not subscribers to telephone service. The total number of subscribers to telephone service was approximately 545,000, of whom approximately 18,000 were advertisers in its directories. A copy of the directory issued by the defendant company in the City of Philadelphia in the fall of 1925, which is typical of the directories issued for the Cities of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Erie during the period covered by the gross receipts report for the six months’ period ending June 30, 1923, attached hereto and made a part hereof, is marked Exhibit “A;” a copy of the directory issued by the defendant company in the Borough of Coudersport in the fall of 1925, which is typical of the directories issued by the defendant company for all other places throughout the State of Pennsylvania during the period covered by the said gross receipts report, also attached hereto and made a part hereof, is marked Exhibit “B.” The said receipts from such directory advertising include the amounts received from:

(a) Advertising in directory..........................$461,389.69
(b) Charged extra listing in the classified section of directory ..................................... 73,337.89
(c) Sale of company’s own directories................. 8,107.04
Total $542,834.62

[619]*619By the phrase “Advertising in Directory,” identified above as “a,” is meant:

(1) Margins on alphabetical section listing pages, to wit: Space of Guy A. Willey Motor Co., on white page No. 397 of Exhibit “A,” Space of Hotel Bloss, on white page No. 9 of Exhibit “B.”

(2) Insert page, to wit: “Abbotmaid” ice cream advertisement between the alphabetical (first group of white pages) and classified (yellow pages) sections of Exhibit “A.” Only one insert page appeared, and such insert page appeared in the Pittsburgh directory.

(3) All classes of display space in the classified sections, to wit: Advertisements of Burns & Speakman, F. E. Decker, etc., on yellow page No. 1 of Exhibit “A;” advertisements of Geo. E. Owens, etc., on yellow page No. 1 of Exhibit “B.”

(4) All classes of display space following the last listing page of the alphabetical section, to wit: Advertisements of Taubert’s Hardware on white page No. 48, and of S. Mette & Co. on white page No. 51, etc., of Exhibit “B.”

(5) All advertising spaces on the inside front cover, inside back cover, back cover and bolt or backbone of Exhibits “A” and “B.”

By the phrase “Charged extra listings in the classified sections of the directory, identified above as “b,” is meant:

The bold type listing of Amsterdam Bros, under the heading of “Abdominal Supporter Mfgrs.” on yellow page No. 1 of Exhibit “A;” the display listing of Smith & Smith under the heading of “Stationery and Wall Paper,” on yellow page viii of Exhibit “B.”

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Bluebook (online)
12 Pa. D. & C. 617, 1929 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 291, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-bell-telephone-co-pactcompldauphi-1929.