Speiden v. United States

14 Cust. Ct. 121, 1945 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 19
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 12, 1945
DocketC. D. 924
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 14 Cust. Ct. 121 (Speiden v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Speiden v. United States, 14 Cust. Ct. 121, 1945 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 19 (cusc 1945).

Opinion

Tilson, Judge:

Tbe merchandise the subject of this suit consists of a product known as wool wax which was classified by the collector of customs as an animal wax, not specially provided for, and accorded free entry for normal tariff purposes under paragraph 1796 of the Tariff Act of 1930, but a tax of 3 cents per pound was levied upon the merchandise under the first provision of section 601 (c) (8) of the Revenue Act of 1932, as amended by section 701 of the Revenue Act of 1936, which has been codified as section 2491 (a) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Two claims are made in the protest, the first being that the merchandise is not taxable under the revenue code provision referred [122]*122to, arid trie second that if so taxable, tax was taken upon an excessive weight. The second claim was not pressed, and reliance is evidently-placed on the first claim.

The record before us consists of the report of a Government chemist, who analyzed a sample of the imported merchandise, and the record in the case of P. Biersdorf & Co., Inc. v. United States, reported in 69 Treas. Dec. 564, T. D. 48230.

The chemist’s report, exhibit 1, reads as follows:

The sample is wool wax, similar to merchandise subject of T. D. 48230. In our opinion taxable under I. R. C. 2491 (a) — Sample retained.

The incorporated case involved the question of whether wool-fat wax, which is made from wool grease, was dutiable as an animal grease, not specially provided for, under the provision therefor in paragraph 52 of the Tariff Act of 1930, or was entitled to free entry under the provision in paragraph 1796 for animal wax, not specially provided for.

The uncontradicted testimony of a witness for the plaintiff in that case established the process of manufacture of the wool-fat wax involved as follows:

The wool grease is dissolved in ether and treated with bone char, and the ether solution of the fats is evaporated and the residue in the bone is dissolved out of the bone char — this residue is non-saponifiable matter — and then again, by-means of solvents taken out of the bone char, the solvents .are evaporated, and the yoolfat wax, or the resultant property is the woolfat wax.

Put more simply, the fats in the wool grease are removed, leaving wool-fat wax.

The provisions of the revenue code under which the tax complained of wa’s levied read so far as pertinent, as follows:

SEC. 2490. IMPOSITION OF TAX.
In addition to any other tax or duty imposed by law, there shall be imposed . upon the following articles imported into the United States, unless treaty provisions of the United States otherwise provide, a tax at the rates set forth in section 2491, to be paid by the importer.
SEC. 2491. RATE OF TAX.
(a) * * * inedible animal greases, fatty acids derived from any of the foregoing, and salts of any of the foregoing; all the foregoing, whether or not refined, sulphonated, sulphated, hydrogenated, or otherwise processed, 3 cents per pound * * *.

The position of the plaintiff is that the article before us is not an inedible animal grease, but an animal wax, and is entitled to entry free of the tax imposed, citing the decision in the incorporated case and the decision of the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals in Beiersdorf & Co., Inc. v. United States, 31 C. C. P. A. 158, C. A. D. 267.

The defendant has two alternative contentions: First, that the article at bar is an inedible animal grease, to wit, wool grease, which has been refined, and hence is squarely within the provisions of section [123]*1232491 (a), above quoted, or, second, tbat if not taxable under said section 2491 (a), it is nevertheless taxable under the provisions of section 2491 (c), which provides, among other things, that on—

Any article, merchandise, or combination * * * 10 per centum or more of the quantity by weight of which consists of, or is derived directly or indirectly from, one or more of the products specified above in this paragraph * * *.

a tax shall be imposed — ■

* * * at the rate or rates per pound equal to that proportion of the rate or rates prescribed in this paragraph * * * in respect of such product or products which the quantity by weight of the imported article, merchandise, or combination, consisting of or derived from such product or products, bears to the total weight of the imported article, merchandise, or combination * * *.

As hereinbefore stated, the contest in the incorporated case was between a tariff classification for animal grease, not specially provided for, and animal wax, not specially provided for. The First Division of this court held that the merchandise was an animal wax and not an animal grease (Biersdorf v. United States, T. D. 48230).

Beiersdorf & Co., Inc. v. United States, C. A. D. 267, cited by the plaintiff, and sought to be distinguished by the defendant, involved merchandise produced, according to the statement therein, as follows:

* * * Wool grease or lanolin (which is a purified wool grease) is distilled or saponified to obtain wool grease fatty acids. These fatty acids are heated together with glycerine, which is of animal origin, in a process known as esterifi-cation. The product then becomes a glycerine ester of wool grease fatty acid. After cooling, it is skimmed off the glycerine and boiled in a charcoal solution to purify it, and it is then evaporated. The product at bar remains.

That merchandise was a waxy material and the court held that by reason of its physical properties and chemical constituents it came within the definition of the term “wax” as used in the Tariff Act of 1930. With reference to the tax which had been imposed under the revenue act provision here involved, the court found that the merchandise was more than an animal grease and more than a fatty acid derived therefrom, having been processed beyond those states, and further found that it had been neither refined, sulphonated, sulphated, or hydrogenated. As to whether it had been “otherwise processed,” the court concluded that to come within that designation the inedible animal greases or fatty acids derived from the same—

* * * must still remain, after processing, greases or fatty acids.

whereas the merchandise before it was something else, viz, a wax.

We think it is clear from the record that .the article here in issue is not an inedible animal grease which has been sulphonated, sulphated, or hydrogenated. Since the article before us is, like the article involved in the later Beiersdorf case just referred to, a wax, as distinguished from a grease, we think that under that decision it must be [124]*124held. that it is not an inedible animal.grease which, has been “otherwise processed.”

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

Related

Beacon Cycle & Supply Co. v. United States
81 Cust. Ct. 46 (U.S. Customs Court, 1978)
Sumitomo Shoji New York, Inc. v. United States
64 Cust. Ct. 299 (U.S. Customs Court, 1970)
A. W. Fenton Co. v. United States
61 Cust. Ct. 437 (U.S. Customs Court, 1968)
Rausch v. United States
60 Cust. Ct. 654 (U.S. Customs Court, 1968)
C. J. Tower & Sons of Buffalo, Inc. v. United States
57 Cust. Ct. 20 (U.S. Customs Court, 1966)
Randolph Rand Corp. v. United States
53 C.C.P.A. 24 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1966)
Randolph Rand Corp. v. United States
52 Cust. Ct. 107 (U.S. Customs Court, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
14 Cust. Ct. 121, 1945 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 19, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/speiden-v-united-states-cusc-1945.