MRT Exploration Co. v. McNamara

648 So. 2d 1108, 94 La.App. 1 Cir. 0063, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 3611, 1994 WL 735615
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 29, 1994
DocketNo. 94 CA 0063; 94 CA 0064
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 648 So. 2d 1108 (MRT Exploration Co. v. McNamara) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
MRT Exploration Co. v. McNamara, 648 So. 2d 1108, 94 La.App. 1 Cir. 0063, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 3611, 1994 WL 735615 (La. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

JaPITCHER, Judge.

Plaintiffs1 filed this action to recover severance taxes paid under protest for a period beginning in October of 1982. Plaintiffs argued that the Louisiana Severance Tax Statutes were unconstitutional as applied to oil and gas production from the Barksdale Air Force Base, a federal enclave. In response, defendant, the Louisiana Department of Revenue and Taxation, filed a reconventional demand for severance taxes covering the period from December of 1979 through September of 19822. The trial court dismissed plaintiffs’ claims, holding that the Louisiana Severance Tax Statutes were valid and enforceable. The trial court also granted judgment in favor of defendant on its reconventional demand. We affirm.

FACTS

The facts of these two consolidated cases were adduced by written stipulation and excellently summarized in the trial court’s written reasons for judgment. We will adopt those reasons as our own. They are as follows:

The State of Louisiana, the City of Shreveport and the Bossier Levee District conveyed 22,000 acres located in Bossier Parish to the United States in 1930 for the construction of Barksdale Air Force Base. The Bureau of Land Management leased the mineral rights in the portion of the base known as the “Parcel 3 Lands” to Union Producing Company in 1961. Ark-la, Inc., Arkla Exploration Company, Pennzoil Producing Company, Total Mina-tome Corporation and Murphy Oil USA, Inc. are the successors of Union Producing Company’s rights. The Bureau leased rights in the property known as the “Miss
Murphy USA Lease” to W.R. Stephens and Natural Gas and Oil Corporation. Arkla Exploration Co. and Murphy Oil USA, Inc., are the successors of the leasehold rights of W.R. Stephens and Natural Gas and Oil Corporation. These seven lessees are the plaintiffs in Suit Number 262,928.
UThe Bureau of Land Management leased the mineral rights in the property known as the “Parcel 1” and “Parcel 4” land to Shell Oil Company in 1961. Rosewood Resources, Inc., is the successor in interest of the leasehold rights of Shell Oil Company and is the plaintiff in Suit Number 323,597.
The State of Louisiana notified the Suit Number 262,928 plaintiffs that $38,535.37 was owed in accordance with L.S.A.-R.S. 47:631 as a tax on the severed oil and gas for the period beginning October 1982. That amount was paid under protest pursuant to L.S.A.-R.S. 47:1576 and Suit Number 262,928 was filed for the recovery of that amount and all amounts paid since, which is in excess of $1,858,000.00.
The State notified Rosewood Resources that oil and gas severance taxes in the amount of $123,772.65 for the period March, 1986 through June, 1987, were being assessed from Rosewood in connection with the Barksdale leases in accordance with L.S.A.-R.S. 47:631. Rosewood paid the assessment under protest on October 15, 1987. Suit Number 323,597 was then filed by Rosewood to recover those amounts plus the assessments paid from July, 1987 through the present, an amount in excess of $314,000.
Two federal court proceedings were intstigated [sic] a week prior to the filing of the first state court action. The cases were dismissed based upon the Tax Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. Sec. 1341 which [1111]*1111denies Federal Court jurisdiction in a proceeding of this nature.
Appeals were taken to the Fifth Circuit in both cases and the dismissal was affirmed. The Court held in MRT Exploration v. McNamara, 731 F.2d 260 (Ct.App. 5th Cir.1984), that the Louisiana Department of Revenue and Taxation is taxing only the revenues of the plaintiffs and not the royalty going to the United States and that there is no reason why Louisiana should be any less free from federal interference in the administration or [sic] its own fiscal affairs because these plaintiffs extracted mineral, which came beneath federal lands. The Fifth Circuit then directed the matter to state courts for a determination of the validity of the tax. MRT Exploration, 731 F.2d at 264.

After taking the matter under advisement, the trial court determined that the Louisiana Severance Tax was an “income tax” within the meaning of the Buck Act. The trial court further determined that the 1976 amendment to the 1947 Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands governed the leases at issue.

In supplemental written reasons for judgment, the trial court determined that plaintiffs in Suit Number 262,928 were liable for severance taxes for the period of December, 1979 through September, 1992. From this decision, plaintiffs have appealed, raising two sets of issues.

ISSUES

MAIN DEMAND

The first set of issues addresses the trial court’s reasons | gfor judgment entered on the main demand on January 18,1990, and are as follows: (1) whether the State of Louisiana may impose a severance tax upon the minerals severed from within the confines of Barksdale Air Force Base without infringing upon the limitations established by Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the Constitution of the United States; (2) whether the Louisiana Severance Tax, as in effect for the years at issue in these proceedings, is an “income tax” within the meaning of the Buck Act; and (3) whether the 1976 Amendment to the Mineral Leasing Act for Acquired Lands of 1947 is applicable to the leases in the instant case.

I.

Plaintiffs argue that the Louisiana Severance Tax3 infringes upon Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the Constitution of the United States. Plaintiffs contend that the cases of Humble Pipe Line Company v. Waggonner, 376 U.S. 369, 84 S.Ct. 857, 11 L.Ed.2d 782 (1964), and Mississippi River Fuel Corporation v. Gocreham, 382 F.2d 929 (5th Cir. 1967), cert, denied, 390 U.S. 1014, 88 S.Ct. 1264, 20 L.Ed.2d 164 (1968) and 390 U.S. 1015, 88 S.Ct. 1264, 20 L.Ed.2d 164 (1968), effectively settled this issue; therefore, the trial court erred in failing to follow the dictates of these cases.

Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 of the United States Constitution permits the United States to obtain exclusive jurisdiction over lands within a State. It provides as follows:

The Congress shall have Power ...
To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, doek-Yards, and other needful Buildings....

In Waggonner, the United States Supreme Court rejected Louisiana’s attempt to impose an ad valorem tax on the property located on Barksdale Air Force Base, a federal enclave. The Court concluded that Congress had exclusive legislative power within the | ¡¡confines of a federal enclave.

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Related

Shell Oil Co. v. Secretary
683 So. 2d 1204 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1996)
Shell Oil Co. v. Secretary, Revenue & Taxation
671 So. 2d 1026 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)
MRT Exploration Co. v. McNamara
669 So. 2d 1338 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1996)

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648 So. 2d 1108, 94 La.App. 1 Cir. 0063, 1994 La. App. LEXIS 3611, 1994 WL 735615, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mrt-exploration-co-v-mcnamara-lactapp-1994.