Hillstrom v. Commissioner of Revenue

270 N.W.2d 265, 1978 Minn. LEXIS 1488
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedJuly 7, 1978
DocketNo. 47959
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 270 N.W.2d 265 (Hillstrom v. Commissioner of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hillstrom v. Commissioner of Revenue, 270 N.W.2d 265, 1978 Minn. LEXIS 1488 (Mich. 1978).

Opinion

YETKA, Justice.

Certiorari to the Tax Court to review its decision of June 17, 1977, affirming an order of the commissioner of revenue, who disallowed appellants’ deduction of out-of-state gambling winnings on the 1974 state tax return of appellant Donald A. Hill-strom. We affirm.

The facts were stipulated, and are set forth in the Tax Court’s opinion as follows:

“1. Appellants, Donald A. and Lynda Hillstrom, were at all times during the taxable year 1974 domiciled in the State of Minnesota with their place of residence being 2914 Dorman Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55406.

“2. Donald A. Hillstrom was, at all times during the taxable year 1974, employed as an attorney, licensed to practice law in Minnesota. At no time during 1974 was gambling the business of Donald A. Hillstrom, nor was he employed in the business of gambling.

“3. Lynda C. Hillstrom was a housewife during the taxable year 1974 and at no time during 1974 was gambling her business nor was she employed in the business of gambling.

“4. Donald A. Hillstrom has never had clients in the State of South Dakota, has never practiced law in the State of South Dakota, and has never had employment in the State of South Dakota.

“5. On the weekend of September 13,14 and 15, 1974, Donald A. Hillstrom was on vacation in the State of South Dakota. On September 15, 1974, Donald A. Hillstrom attended the dog races at the Southern Dakota Racing Club, Sodiac Park, North Sioux City, South Dakota. While at the track he placed a bet by buying a $3 ticket on what was entitled the ‘Big Perfecta.’ As a result of this bet he won $6,074.40, which was paid to him by check. The winnings were disposed of by taking a vacation to California and for other luxurious items.

“6. Donald A. Hillstrom, after deducting $2,070 representing gambling losses, declared a total of $4,004 of his gambling winnings as income on his 1974 federal income tax return and paid federal income tax on that amount.

“7. On his 1974 Minnesota income tax return, Donald A. Hillstrom deducted his [net] winnings, a total of $4,004, in arriving at his 1974 Minnesota gross income and consequently did not pay any Minnesota income tax on his [net] winnings.

“8. The Commissioner of Revenue, by his Order dated September 15, 1975, disallowed Donald A. Hillstrom’s deduction of his [net] gambling winnings on his 1974 Minnesota state income tax return.”

The Tax Court, in affirming the commissioner, held that the money appellant won was income derived “from intangible personal property” not employed in appellant’s business, and thus was assignable to Minnesota under the terms of Minn.St.1976, § 290.17(2), or, in the alternative, Minn.St. [267]*2671976, § 290.17(5).1 The Tax Court also held that the application of this statute to appellants’ winnings did not deny appellants due process of law or violate the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

The issue simply stated is whether income from out-of-state gambling is assignable to Minnesota.

This question involves three sub-issues: Application of the statute; due process problems which might result from the application of the statute; and possible arguments involving interstate commerce or the right to travel.

A. Application of the statute.

The Tax Court’s application of the statute was correct. Appellants are domiciled here, and they are not in the business of gambling. The issue, then, is whether the “Big Perfecta” ticket represented “intangible personal property.”

The United States Supreme Court has defined intangibles, generally, as “ * * * legal relationships between persons [; intangibles] have no geographical location, [they] are so associated with the owner that they * * * are taxable at the place of his domicile where his person and the exercise of his property rights are subject to the control of the sovereign power.” Graves v. Schmidlapp, 315 U.S. 657, 660, 62 S.Ct. 870, 873, 86 L.Ed. 1097, 1100 (1942). Other courts have construed the specific phrase intangible personal property to include assets such as:

—notes and bonds, even if secured by liens on property located outside thé taxing state, Genesee Corporation v. Owens, 155 Fla. 502, 20 So.2d 654 (1945);
—the right to receive payments due under a real estate sales contract, In re Plasterer’s Estate, 49 Wash.2d 339, 301 P.2d 539 (1956), and see also, Dept. of Revenue v. GAC Properties, Inc., 324 So.2d 167 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App.1975); and
—the right to withdraw contributions to a retirement fund, In re Endemann’s Estate, 201 Misc. 1077, 106 N.Y.S.2d 849 (1951).

All of these are rights, represented by tangible documents, to receive money under certain circumstances. The “Big Perfecta” ticket embodied this kind of right, contingent on the winning of a race or races by some dog or combination of dogs. When this contingency was satisfied, appellants received a check, which it is hard to characterize as anything other than “income * * from intangible personal property.”

Thus the result reached by the Tax Court may be attributed to Minn.St. 290.17(2). Minn.St. 290.17(5) is really superfluous, except as an indication of the legislature’s intent to pursue its taxing power to whatever limits are set by the constitution.

B. Due process.

Appellants’ main argument is that allocation of income for tax purposes must be “fair,” and that this principle precludes taxing appellants in Minnesota on income derived from a transaction which took place in South Dakota. Dictum from Harris v. Commissioner of Revenue, 257 N.W.2d 568, 570 (Minn.1977), is quoted: “* * * Minnesota has no power to tax income that is not earned within its borders.”

[268]*268The context of this statement might limit its application to the present case, however; in Harris, the taxpayer moved to Georgia during the tax year and began to earn income there. The court denied the taxpayer’s claim that his moving expenses should be deductible in Minnesota, reasoning that these expenses were incurred for the purpose of enabling him to earn Georgia income which Minnesota could not tax. This is a case, in other words, admitting that Minnesota cannot tax income from labor wholly performed in Georgia by a Georgia resident. See, Minn.St. 290.17(1), which assigns income from labor or services of nonresident taxpayers to this state “if, and to the extent that, the labor or services are performed within it.”2 Harris should not be read broadly as denying the state’s power to tax its domiciliaries on income from out-of-state sources; as the court stated in Bolier v. Commissioner of Taxation, 233 Minn. 72, 75, 45 N.W.2d 802, 804 (1951), “[i]t is well settled that a state may constitutionally tax a resident or a domestic corporation on income derived from sources outside of the state or may exempt such income from tax in the absence of unreasonable discrimination.”

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Bluebook (online)
270 N.W.2d 265, 1978 Minn. LEXIS 1488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hillstrom-v-commissioner-of-revenue-minn-1978.