People ex rel. Pennsylvania Railroad v. Wemple

29 Abb. N. Cas. 85
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 15, 1892
StatusPublished

This text of 29 Abb. N. Cas. 85 (People ex rel. Pennsylvania Railroad v. Wemple) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People ex rel. Pennsylvania Railroad v. Wemple, 29 Abb. N. Cas. 85 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1892).

Opinion

Mayham, P. J.

The relator is a foreign corporation, incorporated under the laws of the State of Pennsylvania as a railroad company, with an authorized capital stock of $151,700.00, having terminal facilities in the State of New York, and owning and leasing real estate therein, where; it receives goods and passengers for transportation in the; transaction of its business as a carrier, and has since-January I, 1880, engaged in business in the State of New York, which business is not of the class or kind exempted, from taxation under chapter 582 of the Laws of 1880.

From. 1880 to 1889 the relator declines to make any" return to the comptroller of this State under the act last referred to, except that it was engaged in interstate commerce, and that any tax imposed upon its business or franchise under this act was in violation of article 1, section 8, subdivision 3, of the Constitution of the United States.

In 1889 the comptroller appointed a special commis[88]*88sioner to examine into the business and capital stock of the relator situate and employed in the State of New York. On the filing of the report of such commissioner, the comptroller imposed and settled a tax upon the corporation for each year from 1880 to 1889, both inclusive, based on the value of the capital stock employed in the State of New York as per report filed, which amounted an the aggregate to the sum of $37,169.90, to which he added a penalty of ten per cent., and gave written notice thereof to said corporation, annexed to which was a statement of the tax so settled.

The corporation, after receiving the notice from the comptroller of the settlement of this tax, applied on petition and affidavit to that officer for a revision and re-adjustment of the several accounts for taxes settled against it, and the comptroller, on September 29, 1891, ■made an order declining to make any revision or re-adjustment of the same, whereupon the relator sued out this writ of certiorari.

It can hardly be denied that from the petition, return .and evidence in this case the relator is shown to be a foreign corporation, doing business in this State, and as such is liable under the provisions of section three of chapter 542 of the Laws of 1880, as amended by chapter 501 of the Laws of 1885, to the tax upon the amount of its capital •stock used in its business in this State, unless as such corporation it has immunity from such tax, under the Federal constitution, relating to interstate commerce. The petition of the relator alleges that no part of its line or lines owned, leased or operated by it is within the State of New York, but admits that it owns and leases land in the State of New York, which it uses in its business. The •answer of the defendant denies that the relator during the years for which the tax is imposed was wholly engaged in commerce in States other than the State of New York, and between different States, and between the State of New York and different States, and that it is not in any [89]*89way engaged in carrying freight and passengers within the State of New York ; and alleges that it appears from the official certificate of the secretary of internal affairs of Pennsylvania that the Eastern terminus of its vast system of transportation is in the city of New York, where it has extensive and valuable terminal facilities and carries on a substantial and important part of its business.

This allegation of the answer seems to be supported by the evidence of one of the officers, of the relator’s company taken before the commissioner, appointed by the •comptroller and made a part of the record of this case. Within the letter of this act, we do not think the relator a foreign corporation doing business in this State (People ex rel. Southern Cotton Oil Co. v. Wemple, 61 Hun, 83).

The statute under which the comptroller assumes to act, authorizes a tax upon the franchise or business of a corporation organized under the laws of any other State or country and doing business in this State, and the comptroller in this case in settling the account of this tax, expressly states that the same is “ for tax on franchise or business, based on the value of the capital stock employed in New York State, pursuant to the Laws of 1880, chapter 542, as amended by the Laws of 1881, chapter 361; Laws of 1882, chapter 151 ; Laws of 1885, chapters 359, 501, and Laws of 1889, chapter 353, for ten years ending November 1, 1889.

It will be seen that this assessment or tax is upon the franchise or business of the relator in this State based upon the value of the capital stock employed therein, and is at the rate per cent, per annum allowed by that act, depending upon the dividends declared upon the stock for these years, as the amount of stock and dividends appear from the report of the special commissioner appointed by the comptroller.

Before the amendment of 1885 above referred to, the whole amount of capital stock of the corporation could be taken as the basis of estimating and making the [90]*90account of this tax by the comptroller. By that amendment nine additional sections were added to the original act of 1880. By section 11, which is the first of the added sections, the comptroller is authorized and empowered to-ascertain, fix and determine the amount of capital stock employed within the State, and to settle an account of the taxes and penalties due thereon.

In the case People ex rel. Southern Cotton Oil Co. v. Wemple (42 State Rep. 634), O’Brien, J., says : The basis of the tax is the amount or proportion of the capital used here in the transaction of its ordinary business. How much that may be in any particular case is generally a question of fact to be determined by the comptroller-under the procedure pointed out by the statute.”

If this corporation is within the taxing power of the-State, and the statute under which it is sought to be taxed when applied to it, is not in conflict with the provisions-of the Federal constitution, which confers upon Congress-the exclusive power to regulate commerce between the States; then, we think that the determination of the comptroller upon the question of fact as to what proportion of the capital of the relator was used in this State in the transaction of its business should not be disturbed by this-court.

The rule has long been settled, that when a taxing officer is charged with the duty of determining the amount of an assessment -for taxation, his determination will not be disturbed, unless clearly shown to have been erroneous (Runk v. St. John, 29 Barb. 585 ; Hibernian Nat. Bank v. Lacombe, 84 N. Y. 367, 385 ; Kelly v. Crapo, 45 Id. 86; People ex rel. Am. Contracting & Dredging Co. v. Wemple, 60 Hun, 234, affirmed and the doctrine restated, 129 N. Y. 565 ; People ex rel. American Contracting and Dredging Co., 129 N. Y. 558).

We are then left to consider the remaining question, as to the power of the State to tax the relator on its franchise or business, based upon its capital and stock employed in [91]*91this State. If we are right in the conclusion we have reached above, the only ground upon which this tax can be set aside in these proceedings, is that of want of power in the State to impose tax upon the relator on the ground that the relator’s only business in this State is that of conducting interstate commerce.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gloucester Ferry Co. v. Pennsylvania
114 U.S. 196 (Supreme Court, 1885)
Home Insurance v. New York State
134 U.S. 594 (Supreme Court, 1890)
People v. Equitable Trust Co. of New London
96 N.Y. 387 (New York Court of Appeals, 1884)
The People v. . the Home Insurance Co.
92 N.Y. 328 (New York Court of Appeals, 1883)
People Ex Rel. American Contracting & Dredging Co. v. Wemple
29 N.E. 812 (New York Court of Appeals, 1892)
Whitford v. . the Panama Railroad Company
23 N.Y. 465 (New York Court of Appeals, 1861)
Merrick v. . Van Santvoord
34 N.Y. 208 (New York Court of Appeals, 1866)
Demarest v. . Flack
28 N.E. 645 (New York Court of Appeals, 1891)
Hibernia National Bank v. . Lacombe
84 N.Y. 367 (New York Court of Appeals, 1881)
People v. . Horn Silver Mining Co.
11 N.E. 155 (New York Court of Appeals, 1887)
Runk v. St. John
29 Barb. 585 (New York Supreme Court, 1859)
Merrick v. Brainard
38 Barb. 574 (New York Supreme Court, 1860)
People ex rel. Southern Cotton Oil Co. v. Wemple
15 N.Y.S. 446 (New York Supreme Court, 1891)
Demarest v. Flack
11 N.Y.S. 83 (New York Court of Common Pleas, 1890)
Campbell Etc. Co. v. Hering
20 A. 1061 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1891)
Farrior v. New England Mortgage Security Co.
88 Ala. 275 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1889)
Christian v. American Freehold Land Mortgage Co.
89 Ala. 198 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1889)
Boulware v. Davis
90 Ala. 207 (Supreme Court of Alabama, 1890)
Scruggs v. Scottish Mortgage Co.
16 S.W. 563 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1891)
Colorado Iron-Works v. Sierra Grande Mining Co.
15 Colo. 499 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1890)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 Abb. N. Cas. 85, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-ex-rel-pennsylvania-railroad-v-wemple-nysupct-1892.