Kopp v. Baird

313 P.2d 319, 79 Idaho 152, 8 Oil & Gas Rep. 148, 1957 Ida. LEXIS 203
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedJune 25, 1957
Docket8532
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 313 P.2d 319 (Kopp v. Baird) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kopp v. Baird, 313 P.2d 319, 79 Idaho 152, 8 Oil & Gas Rep. 148, 1957 Ida. LEXIS 203 (Idaho 1957).

Opinions

[156]*156SMITH, Justice.

Appellants commenced this proceeding in the first instance as a declaratory judgment action some time prior to rendition of respondent State Tax Commissioner’s formal order affirming respondent State Tax Collector’s determination of a tax deficiency. Respondent State Tax Commission had entered said order by the time appellants filed their second amended complaint.

Appellants in their second amended complaint set forth that at all the times alleged they were and now are residents of the State of Idaho; that they own lands in the State of Wyoming to which appellant Thomas R. Kopp received patent October 24, 1924, from the United States; that, quoting appellants, “said lands were not put to any use until the Phillips Petroleum Company drilled a discovery well on said lands for oil and thereafter discovered paying oil deposit on said lands,” and that appellants “receive as their share of said oil extracted from said land one-eighth of the value of the oil extracted therefrom.”

Appellants then allege notice to them by respondent, State Tax Collector, of his determination of a deficiency of $1,356.50 in the amount of the tax shown by their tax return for the year 1951, to which they entered their formal protest for a re-determination by respondent State Tax Commission; that upon review, said Commission affirmed the determination of the deficiency as made by respondent, State Tax Collector.

Appellants then assert that the determination is illegal because an assessment pursuant thereto would result in taxation of “royalties from oil lands located in Converse County, Wyoming,” and constitutes, an attempt to tax the Wyoming land, whereas, the State of Idaho has no authority to tax said income assertedly arising from the land so situate outside this State.

The trial court sustained respondents’ general demurrer to appellants’ second amended complaint without leave to amend, and thereupon awarded judgment in favor of the respondent State Tax Collector for the amount of the deficiency, together with interest, until paid. Plaintiffs appealed from the judgment.

Appellants assign error of the trial court in determining in effect that the amount of the royalties, assertedly by appellants received pursuant to an oil lease in the State of Wyoming, is taxable in the State of Idaho.

The decisive question presented for determination is one of law, i. e., the validity of the deficiency tax determination. The second amended complaint shows such jus[157]*157ticiable controversy, which should be settled. Appellants have requested this Court to pass upon such question and both parties have argued the merits. The record discloses sufficient facts upon which to base a decision, thereby to obviate another appeal. In Taggart v. Latah County, 78 Idaho 99, 298 P.2d 979, 980, this Court said:

“Although the trial court found the complaint did not state a cause of action, a justiciable issue is presented in this case, and the record discloses sufficient facts to base a decision upon and to obviate another appeal. We deem it proper to state our views upon the merits. Grayot v. Summers, 75 Idaho 125, 269 P.2d 765. The decisive question to be determined is not one of fact, but is purely one of law.”

The tax provided by the Property Relief Act of 1931, ordinarily referred to as Idaho’s income tax act, Idaho Sess.Laws 1931 (E.S.), c. 2; I.C., Tit. 63, c. 30, is a tax “upon every individual * * * which shall be according to and measured by his net income.” I.C. § 63-3011. This Court, in Diefendorf v. Gallet, 51 Idaho 619, 634, 10 P.2d 307, 313, holding that the tax, measured by the amount of the net income is an excise, and not an imposition upon the property from which it is derived, or upon the source of the income, quoted from and adopted the reasoning of State ex rel. Sallie F. Moon Co. v. Wisconsin Tax. Comm., 166 Wis. 287, 163 N.W. 639, 165 N.W. 470, as follows:

“ * * * It is the recipient of the income that is taxed, not his property; and the vital question in each case is, Has the person sought to be taxed received an income during the tax year? If so, such income, unless specifically exempted, is subject to a tax though the property out of which it is paid may have been exempt from an income tax in the hands of the payor. It is the relation that exists between the person sought to be taxed and the specific property claimed as income to him that determines whether there shall be a tax. I^the person sought to be taxed is the recipient during the tax year of such specific property as income in its ordinary significance, then the person is taxed. But the tax is upon the right or ability to produce, create, receive, and enjoy, and not upon specific property. Hence the amount of the tax is measured by the amount of the income, irrespective of the amount of specific property, or ability necessary to produce or create it. In the ordinary acceptation of the term this may be said to be a tax upon income as the statute denominates it. But the tax does not seek to reach property, or an interest in property as such. It is a burden laid upon the recipient of an income.”

[158]*158In 85 C.J.S., Taxation, § 1090 b, pp. 701-703, is set forth certain principles in regard to the imposition upon the domiciliary taxpayer of a.tax measured by his income received from whatever source, as follows:

“ * * * Domicile or residence within the state is a valid basis for the imposition of an income tax by the state. It is competent for a state to impose a tax on the income of a resident thereof, or a domestic corporation, whether such income be derived from sources within or outside the state. The enjoyment of the privileges of residence within the state and the attendant right to invoke the protection of its laws are inseparable from responsibility for sharing the costs of government, and a tax measured by the net income of residents is an equitable method of distributing the burden of government among those privileged to enjoy its benefits. The tax is founded on the protection afforded by the state to the recipient of the income in his person, in his right to receive the income, and in his enjoyment of it when received; these are rights and privileges which attach to domicile within the state and the economic advantage realized by the receipt of income and the power to control it bear a direct relationship to the rights and privileges attached to domicile and to the equitable distribution of the tax burden. Neither the privilege nor the burden is affected by the character of the source from which the income is derived and for that reason income is not necessarily clothed with the tax immunity enjoyed by its source. * * * It may also tax the income derived from land located outside the state although it is without power to tax the land; although where an income tax is regarded as a tax on the property from which the income is derived, an income tax may not be imposed on income from property located outside the state.”

I.C. § 63 — 3013(b), subd. 7 exempts from taxation:

“Income of resident persons and domestic corporations of the state of Idaho * * * from the conducting and carrying on of their professions, vocations, trades or businesses, when derived from sources outside of the state of Idaho.”

I.C. § 63-3019 provides in part:

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Kopp v. Baird
313 P.2d 319 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1957)

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Bluebook (online)
313 P.2d 319, 79 Idaho 152, 8 Oil & Gas Rep. 148, 1957 Ida. LEXIS 203, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kopp-v-baird-idaho-1957.