In re Parisi

8 Misc. 2d 260, 167 N.Y.S.2d 249, 1957 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2319

• Court: New York Supreme Court
• Decided: October 24, 1957
• Status: Published

Opinion

James C. O’Brien, J.

The three warrants filed are for amounts of contributions to the State Unemployment Insurance Fund due from petitioner, unpaid.

Although these contributions are not called “ taxes ” in the Labor Law, they have been held to be taxes. (W. H. H. Chamberlin, Inc. v. Andrews, 271 N. Y. 1, affd. 299 U. S. 515; Matter of Bank of Manhattan Co. [Murphy], 293 N. Y. 515; Guaranty Trust Co. v. State of New York, 299 N. Y. 295.)

Whether or not unpaid contributions of this character are “ taxes ” within the meaning of section 35 of title 11 of the United States Code is a Federal question. If they are such they are not provable debts and were not discharged by the petitioner’s bankruptcy discharge. Neither counsel has, nor have I, been able to find a controlling precedent.

However, on the basis of the language of section 35 and of the cases hereinafter cited I have concluded that these contribution are “taxes” within the meaning of the bankruptcy statute (Matter of Lange Co., 159 F. 586; City of New York v. Feiring, 313 U. S. 283; United States v. New York, 315 U. S. 510) and were not discharged.

The motion is denied, without costs.