Midland-Ross Corp. v. United States

214 F. Supp. 631, 11 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1009, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9700
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Ohio
DecidedMarch 11, 1963
DocketCiv. A. No. 36611
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 214 F. Supp. 631 (Midland-Ross Corp. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Midland-Ross Corp. v. United States, 214 F. Supp. 631, 11 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1009, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9700 (N.D. Ohio 1963).

Opinion

KALBFLEISCH, District Judge.

This is a suit to recover income and excess profits taxes for the years 1952, 1953 and 1954. The taxpayer is the Midland-Ross Corporation, successor in interest to the Industrial Rayon Corporation. During the period in question, for the purpose of temporarily investing funds not then currently required for its operation, the taxpayer purchased thirteen notes, the face amounts of which varied from $500,000 to $2,000,000. These notes bore no interest, but rather were purchased at a discount by the taxpayer from the maker. Each of the notes was a time instrument.

Before maturity each note was sold to a financial institution at a price which was in excess of the price which had been paid to the maker but below the face amount.

The price paid by the taxpayer to the maker of each note was calculated by subtracting from the face amount a figure determined by multiplying the face amount by an agreed percentage, dividing the product by 360, and multiplying the result by the number of days from the date of such payment to the maturity of the note. The agreed percentage was determined on the basis of the consideration of several factors, including (1) the prevailing interest rates for notes of such duration made by borrowers with credit standings of the obligor, (2) the availability of such notes to prospective purchasers, and (3) the maker’s need for cash funds. All of the notes were capital assets in the hands of the taxpayer and were sold by it in bona fide sales. In negotiating the sale price of the notes, the following factors were considered: (1) the face amounts of the obligations, (2) the credit rating of the obligor, (3) the period of time between the sale and the maturity of the notes, (4) the prevailing interest rates, and (5) the amount of cash funds available to the purchaser.

In this three-year period the taxpayer realized a total appreciation of more than $280,000 on these notes. It contended that this appreciation was a capital gain, while the Internal Revenue Service contended that it was regular income. The taxpayer paid taxes at the regular income rate, and is here seeking a refund.

The relevant sections of the Internal Revenue Code are: Section 117(a) (1) (2) and (4) and Section 111(a) of the 1939 Code, and their counterparts in the Code of 1954.

Section 117(a) (1) of the 1939 Code defines a capital asset as:

“ -» * -x- property held by the taxpayer (whether or not connected with his trade or business), but does-not include * * *
“(D) an obligation of the United States or of any of its possessions, or of a State or Territory, or any political subdivision thereof, or of the District of Columbia, issued on or after March 1, 1941, on a discount basis and payable without interest at a fixed maturity date not exceeding one year from the date of issue.”

Subsections (2) and (4) of Section 117 (a) provide that a capital gain is a gain from the sale of a capital asset, and Section 111(a) provides that the gain from the disposition of property is the “excess: of the amount realized therefrom over the adjusted basis * *

Plaintiff stresses the fact that the language of the statute, especially of Section 117(a) (1) defining a capital asset, is broad and sweeping. It contends that [633]*633’because these notes were capital assets the gain realized thereon was a capital gain. It contends, further, that in view of Section 117(a) (1) (D), which specifically excludes certain types of discount paper from the category of capital assets, and in view of the failure to exclude such paper as these notes, the Congress clearly indicated its intention that the gain achieved on the sale of such notes constitutes capital gain under the maxim of expressio unius est exclusio alterius.

The taxpayer’s contention is a familiar enough general rule of statutory construction. However, various courts have read certain exceptions into this statute. They have held that, while it might appear that a literal construction of the statutory language would convert all but the specifically excluded gains into capital gains, the provisions must be construed in the light of their general purpose and the surrounding law. After so doing, these courts have read further •exceptions into the statute, which have resulted in the exclusion from capital .gains treatment of certain increments which a literal interpretation might indicate were capital gains. See, for example, Jaglom v. Commissioner, 303 F.2d 847 (2nd Cir., 1962); United States v. Harrison, 304 F.2d 835 (5th Cir., 1962). In view of the fact that these statutory sections have not been interpreted to include all of the transactions which the .sweeping scope of their language might indicate were within their purview, the •Court is constrained to hold that this argument is not dispositive of the case.

The Government contends that the realized increment was in fact interest paid for the use of money, and was therefore regular income to the taxpayer. It contends that this is but another instance for application of the well recognized rule "that when a taxpayer combines the sale of a right to receive ordinary income with the sale of a capital asset the ordinary income is not converted into a capital gain by its sale in combination with the capital asset. Fisher v. Commissioner, 209 F.2d 513 (6th Cir., 1954), cert. den. 347 U.S. 1014, 74 S.Ct. 868, 98 L.Ed. 1136; Commissioner v. Morgan, 272 F.2d 936 (9th Cir., 1959); Rosen v. United States, 288 F.2d 658 (3rd Cir., 1961); United States v. Harrison, 304 F.2d 835 (5th Cir., 1962); and United States v. Langston, 308 F.2d 729 (5th Cir., 1962).

The taxpayer does not dispute the general validity of this proposition. Its principal contention, however, is that the rule is inapplicable on these facts because the increment, for purposes of taxation at least, was not interest. It fully admits that if these notes had borne interest at a stated rate, and if it had then sold such notes before maturity at an increase in price, the amount of such increase allocable to the proportion of the interest earned to the date of sale would have been regular income under the rule of Fisher v. Commissioner and the other cases cited, supra. However, it contends that a different result is achieved when, instead of the notes bearing interest at a fixed rate, they were originally sold at a discount. The taxpayer urges that there has been a continuous history of legislative, administrative and judicial interpretation since 1920 which has consistently held that original issue discount in the hands of a cash basis taxpayer is not income, and that the appreciation resulting therefrom is not taxed as regular income but, rather, as a capital gain.

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Related

United States v. Midland-Ross Corp.
381 U.S. 54 (Supreme Court, 1965)
Midland-Ross Corporation v. United States
335 F.2d 561 (Sixth Circuit, 1964)
Dixon v. United States
333 F.2d 1016 (Second Circuit, 1964)
Dixon v. United States
224 F. Supp. 358 (S.D. New York, 1963)

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Bluebook (online)
214 F. Supp. 631, 11 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 1009, 1963 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9700, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/midland-ross-corp-v-united-states-ohnd-1963.