United States v. Alfred Dunhill of London, Inc.

12 Cust. Ct. 407, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 481
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMarch 23, 1944
DocketNo. 5991; Entry No. 727944
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 12 Cust. Ct. 407 (United States v. Alfred Dunhill of London, Inc.) 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
United States v. Alfred Dunhill of London, Inc., 12 Cust. Ct. 407, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 481 (cusc 1944).

Opinions

Oliveh, Presiding Judge:

This is an appeal from the decision and judgment of the single judge, reported as Reap. Dec. 5794, which sustained importer’s appeal for reappraisement and found the entered values of the merchandise at bar to be the proper dutiable values.

The merchandise before us consists of smoking pipes manufactured by Alfred Dunhill, Ltd., of London, England, and exported to Alfred Dunhill of London, Inc., of New York City. It was stipulated [408]*408between counsel for the respective parties that the proper basis for finding dutiable value herein was cost of production as defined in section 402’ (f) of the Tariff Act of 1930, it being conceded that there was no foreign value, export value, or United States value.

■ The importer by its evidence established that when these pipes were sold to unregistered dealers in the home market, they were subject to a purchase tax outlined and described in a tax law of the United Kingdom entitled “Finance (No. 2) Act, 1940, 3 & 4 Geo. 6. Ch. 48.” This tax law provided for the imposition of a tax on sales of certain listed items of merchandise, which included pipes, when sold to nonregistered dealers. It further appears that when the pipes were sold to registered dealers or were sold for export, no tax was ipiposed on such sales. When the tax was imposed, as in the case of sales to unregistered dealers, it was set forth on the invoice •as a separate item and was collected by the manufacturer, placed in a separate account, and transmitted to the Government quarterly. The merchandise herein was entered at £0 16s. 2d. each for the ■quality “Standard Bruyere pipes” and at £0 15s. 6d. each for the quality described as “Shell Briar pipes.” They were appraised at £0 23s. 4d. and £0 22s. 4d. each, respectively, net, packed, including taxes. It is conceded that the only difference between the entered and the appraised values is represented by the sales tax hereinbefore mentioned which amounted to approximately 33$ per centum. It is the Government’s contention here, as it was upon the trial before the single judge, that the sales tax is a proper part of the dutiable value under the formula for ascertaining cost of production as set forth in section 402 (f) of the Tariff Act of 1930.

Section 402 (f) of the Tariff Act of 1930 reads aS follows:

(f) Cost of Phodtjction. — For the purpose of this title the cost of production of imported merchandise shall be the sum of—
(1) The cost of materials of, and of fabrication, manipulation, or other process employed in manufacturing or producing such or similar merchandise, at a time preceding the date of exportation of the particular merchandise under consideration which would ordinarily permit the manufacture or production of the particular merchandise under consideration in the usual course of business;
(2) The usual general expenses (not less than 10 per centum of such cost) in the case of such of similar merchandise;
(3) The cost of all containers and coverings of whatever nature, and all other costs, charges, and expenses incident to placing the particular merchandise under consideration in condition, packed ready for shipment to the United States; and
(4) An addition for profit (not less than 8 per centum of the sum of the amounts found under paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subdivision) equal to the profit which ordinarily is added, in the case of merchandise of the same general character as the particular merchandise under consideration, by manufacturers or producers in the country of manufacture or production who are engaged in the production or manufacture of merchandise of the .same class or kind.

[409]*409Appellant does not claim that this tax is any part of section 402 (f) (1), which covers cost of materials and the cost of fabrication, manipulation, or other process employed in the manufacture of the article, nor is it claimed to be any part of section 402 (f) (3), which covers cost of containers, nor as any part of section 402 (f) (4), which provides for the profit to be charged. The Government confines its contention to the provision of section 402 (f) (2) claiming this tax dutiable as part of “the usual general expenses.” This contention that a purchase tax is a proper item of expense under the formula as set forth in section 402 (f) for" ascertaining cost' of production is something new in customs litigation. It has not heretofore been passed upon by our courts. The Government's theory, and it is stated to be just that, is that cost of production is a “constructive foreign value,” that such a sales ta,x as is here under consideration would be properly a part of foreign value, and therefore it should properly be part of cost of production. The importer has particularly directed its proof toward establishing that this purchase tax is not part of the “usual general expenses” incurred in producing the pipes in question. (United States v. Maier, 21 C. C. P. A. 41, T. D. 46378.)

In Lionel Trading Co. v. United States, 24 C. C. P. A. 432, T. D. 48900, the court referred to cost of production as a “substitute for foreign value.” The Treasury Department in T. D. 48860 refers to it as a “constructive foreign-market value.” By whichever term it is more aptly described, the fact remains that value based on cost of production is something different from foreign value as that value is defined in section 402 (c). In the language of the layman, foreign value may be said to be the usual wholesale price at which anyone, can buy the same or substantially the same article in the country of origin with the other elements set forth in section 402 (c) present. The foreign value and the value arrived at by the cost of production method of calculation do not necessarily produce the same monetary result. It might well be that the usual wholesale market price in the foreign market would vary considerably from the value found to be the proper dutiable value under the formula for finding cost of production as set forth in section 402 (f).

It is quite obvious that cost of production as defined by section 402 (f) is not confined to the naked cost of raw materials, labor, and manipulation because specific provision is made in the formula for profit (section 402 (f) (4)). There is nothing, however, in the formula for ascertaining cost of production which directly or inferentially authorizes the inclusion of any items of expense incurred by the purchaser after the article has been manufactured and-is packed ready for shipment. The tax here in question was not a charge arising out of the production of the merchandise. If the merchandise was never sold, this tax item would not even appear oh the books of the manu[410]*410facturer and yet tbe cost of production would bave been determined. If sold for export or to registered dealers, there would not even haye been an entry made of this tax. Even when sold to unregistered dealers in which instances the tax did attach, the tax was billed separately, collected as a separate item, kept separate and apart from the funds representing the proceeds of the sale, and remitted quarterly to the Government. The tax was no part of the cost of producing the article, no profit was figured on it, nor was it figured as part of the sales price by the manufacturer. It was a separate financial transaction collected by the manufacturers from unregistered dealers for the British Government. It was no part of any gross or net income.

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Bluebook (online)
12 Cust. Ct. 407, 1944 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 481, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-alfred-dunhill-of-london-inc-cusc-1944.