Hughes Fawcett, Inc. v. United States

2 Cust. Ct. 982, 1939 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1714
United States Customs Court·Decided June 2, 1939·No. No. 4587; Entry No. 67146, etc.·Published

Opinion

Cline, Judge:

This is an application for review of the decision of the trial judge (Reap. Dec. 4360) in finding the value of flax yarn imported from Czechoslovakia at various dates during the period from September 1934 to March 1937. Appeals for reappraisement covering twenty-eight separate shipments were consolidated and tried together.

The United States appraiser added 13 per centum of the value to the unit invoice price of the merchandise covered by reappraisement appeal 110420-A and to that value he added the same packing charges which were added on the invoice and included in the entered value. In all of the other cases the importer added 13 per centum to the unit invoice values to meet the advance made by the appraiser in the test case covered by the entry in reappraisement appeal 110420-A.

At the hearing before the trial judge it was agreed between counsel that the merchandise should be appraised at the foreign value thereof, and the only question for decision is whether the foreign value of the goods includes the additional 13 per centum added by the appraiser.

The trial judge found that there was no export value of the merchandise and that the unit invoice values, plus 13 per centum of such value and plus the packing charges noted on the invoices, were the foreign values of the goods.

The appellant contends that the trial judge erred in finding that the unit invoice values of the yarn should have been increased by the addition of 13 per centum. It appears that a manufacturer’s 13 per centum sales tax, known as a “pauschal” (lump sum) tax was assessed when manufactured goods were sold in the markets of Czechoslovakia and that flax yarn manufactured in Czechoslovakia was subject to this tax. The plaintiff points out, however, that the law provided for a refund of this 13 per centum tax when yarn upon which such tax had been paid was woven into cloth or other manufactured articles and such articles sold in the markets of Czechoslovakia, which articles themselves were subject to a sales tax of 6¾ per centum. This 13 per centum tax on the yam was remitted when the 6¾ per centum tax was paid on the woven article. The appellant contends that inasmuch as the 13 per centum tax is remitted or refunded under such circumstances it should not have been included in the foreign-market value of the yarn.

The importers introduced the testimony of Mr. Max Buxbaum, a member of the firm that manufactured the yam in Czechoslovakia. He testified that his firm is engaged both in spinning yams and in weaving them into manufactured articles; that occasional sales of yams were made by the firm to other weavers in Czechoslovakia; that on such sales they were compelled by law to add to the invoice 13 [984]*984peí1 centum of the price, representing the above-mentioned pauschal tax, and, having collected such tax from the purchaser, to pay it over to the local tax collector; that, upon payment of the tax thus collected from the purchaser, the spinner was given a receipt for that amount by the tax collector, which receipt he turned over to the purchaser of the yarns; that the same pauschal tax law also fixes a tax of 6⅝ per centum on the selling price of articles woven or manufactured from such yarns; that a weaver paid this latter tax each quarter on woven articles sold by him during the preceding three months, and in making this payment he was allowed to deduct as a credit from the total of all of the 6¾. per centum taxes the total of all of the 13 per centum taxes for which he could produce receipts; that it was not necessary that any of the woven articles upon which he paid the 6½ per centum tax should have been woven from the yams for which he had receipts. The oral testimony was somewhat confused and in order that the record might clearly set forth the facts regarding these taxes, the following statements were made a part of the record:

Mr. Young. Your Honor, for the clarity of the case, I am willing to concede that the man who pays the 6% percent tax, has a tax to be paid to the government.
Judge Kinchbloe. On manufactured stuff?
Mr. Young. On anything he manufactured, any tax he has to pay off, he has a 6⅝> percent tax to pay, and then he can deduct the 13 percent he paid to the spinner.
Judge Kinchbloe. And only then.
Mr. Young. And only then, is that right?
The Witness. Yes.
Judge Kinchbloe. You concede that on the record?
Mr. Young. Yes.
*******
Mr. Young. I would like also to get on the record that the 13 percent paid to the spinner may be deducted from any tax that the weaver owes to the government.
Mr. ■ Austeb. After manufacturing.
Mr. Young. Whether it is from that yarn or any other yarn, it is immaterial, he can deduct it from any 6⅝ percent tax.
Mr. Austeb. Any 6⅝ percent manufacturer’s tax, whether it is manufactured from the particular individual manufacturer or any others.
Mr. Young. Any others, yes, it is only a turnover tax.
Mr. Austeb. It is a manufacturer’s tax.
Judge Kinchbloe. Do you want to concede that, too, Mr. Auster?
Mr. Austeb. I believe that is the circumstances, but as your Honor knows, I came into this in a hurry-

At the next hearing of the case, counsel for the importer introduced three affidavits; namely, the first of Max Buxbaum who testified in the original hearing, the second of Otto Posselt and the third of Oskar Pfefferkorn. These affidavits were marked Collective Exhibits 1, 2, and 3. He introduced also a statement of the Union of Czechoslovak [985]*985Textile Industries, signed by the chairman and the secretary, the signatures having been certified by the United States consul. This document was marked Collective Exhibit 4.

These exhibits add little to the orál testimony introduced at the first hearing but annexed to them are certain documents, consisting of authenticated copies of tax returns which corroborate the statements of the witness as to the method of collection and payment of the 13 per centum and the 6½ per centum taxes. It appears from Exhibit 1 that on cloth manufactured by Buxbaum Bros, from yarns spun in the mill of the same firm the only tax collected was 6⅝ per centum on the manufactured cloth, but where the firm sold yarns to other weavers a. tax of Í3 per centum was added to the sales value of the yarn. The exhibit contains also an acknowledgment of the revenue administration office showing that where the amount of the refund of the 13 per centum tax exceeded the total assessment of the 6¾ per centum tax for any period the Government agency acknowledged a credit balance due the taxpayer.

Exhibit 2 is an affidavit of a dealer in flax yarns. It appears from this exhibit that the dealer was required to pay the 13 per centum tax to the seller when the yarns were bought and he collected the 13 per centum from the person who bought the yarns from him, so that the dealer did not have to pay any tax, the amount of tax collected from his customer equaling the amount he had to pay when he purchased the yarns.

i • Exhibit 3 is an affidavit -of a manufacturer of cotton and linen cloth.

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Hughes Fawcett, Inc. v. United States, 2 Cust. Ct. 982, 1939 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1714 (cusc 1939).

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