The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-20
RULING BY A. W. WISHARD
BREWERS AFFECTED TO EXTENT OF
MANY THOUSAND DOLLARS.
War Revenue Act Construed-Decisio ion
That OverruIes an Opinion by the
Attorney General.
to the indianapolis Journal.

Special to the Indianapolis Journal.
WASHINGTON, July 19.-Solicitor of In
ternal Revenue A w. Wishard. of Indian
apolis, has given his opinion on the act
relative to the discount on revenue tax on
all beer under the original revenue act
and the Spanish-American war revenue act.
which overrules an opinion of the assistant
attorney general and the attorney general.
The opinion will be OF great interest TO all
brewers, as it will compel them to pay sew
eral hundred thousand dollars which they
expected to avoid paying under the ruling Of
the attorney general. Wishard's opinion,
which has been approved by the commits
sioner of internal revenue, follows
Il have carefully gone over the matter
presented by the letter Of DR.. j. Lee Adams,
chief OF the abatement and refunding sec
ton, addressed TO you on June "A, 1902, and
your note to me accompanying DR.. Adams's
letter. The section referred to follows
- Be II enacted by the senate ana House
of Representatives of the United States
of America in Congress assembled, That
there shall be paid, in lieu OF the tax OF
81 now imposed by law, tax of 81 on all
beer. lager beer, ale, porter, and other
similar fermented liquors, brewed or manu-
featured and sold, or stored in warehouse.
or removed for consumption or sale, within
liquors may be called, for every barrel
containing not more than thirty-one gal
Ions; and at a like rate for any other
quantity or for the fractional parts or a
barrel authorized and defined by law And
Section 1888 of the Revised Statutes is here
by amended accordingly. Provided, That a
discount of ~ per cent. shall be allowed
upon all sales by collectors TO brewers of
the stamps provided for the payment of
said tax. Provided further, That the adj
ditional tax imposed in this section on all
in a0sar. 70
which a stamp had been affixed shall be
assessed and collected in the manner now
provided by law for the collection of taxes
not paid by stamps
1.-THE question presented is, What shall
be the tax imposed on fermented liquors
stored in warehouse and on which the 81
tax had been paid prior TO the adoption
of the section of the law above quoted?
While it is true that on June ,, 1900, the
Hon. James e. Boyd, assistant attorney
general, addressed an opinion upon this
subject 10 the secretary of the treasury,
which was approved by the attorney gen.
eral that a discount of IA per centum
would be allowed on the additional tax to
be paid, and also on the tax paid at the
liquors, in my opinion, under the last pro-
VlsO In the above quoted section, ferment-
ed liquors stored in warehouse at the time
of the adoption of the law OF which the
above quoted section is a part, and on
which 81 of tax had been paid prior
to warehousing. are also subject to the
with no discount The discount was to be
allowed only in the event of the purchase
of stamps after the adoption of the war
revenue law of 1895 The discount of ~ per
centum had been repealed in 1897 and after
the passage of the act of 1897, therefore, no
right to discount could be claimed until
after the passage of the act of 1895
THE language of the last proviSo to
which reference is made is as follows: PRO
vided further, That the additional tax i'm
posed in this section an all fermented
liquors stored I'm warehouse to which a
stamp had been affixed shall be assessed
and collected in the manner now provided
by law for the collection of taxes not paid
by stamps Under this proviso fermented
liquors stored in warehouse were subject
first, TO the tax of 81 assessed by the
law prior to the act of June 13, 1898. and
they were also subject to the payment OF
the additional tax Of 81 provided by the
act of June Is. 1898. Under the express
terms of the act itself. that additional dol
lar could not be paid by stamps but
was required TO he assessed and collected
in the manner now provided by law for the
collection of taxes not paid by stamps
which means the payment of 81 in money
making the aggregate tax Of s., with nc
discount"