Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/269/315/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 15:42:01+00:00

Document:
2. The whole income from community property in California was returnable by and taxable to the husband under the Revenue Act of Feb. 24, 1919. Id.
So held in view of the power of the husband over community property, its liability for his debts, etc., under the law of that state, without deciding whether the wife's interest is "a mere expectancy" or something more.
Error to a judgment of the district court in favor of the executors of Robbins, in an action against the United States to recover money paid by the decedent as income tax.
This is a suit to recover $6,788.03 income tax for the year 1918, paid by R. D. Robbins, late of California. Mr.
Robbins was married, and the income taxed came from community property in California, acquired before 1917, when some changes were made in the law, and from the earnings of R. Robbins. He was required by the Treasury Department to return and pay the tax upon the whole income, against the effort of Mr. and Mrs. Robbins to file returns each of one-half. The result was that he had to pay the amount sued for, above what would have had to be paid if his contention had been allowed. The district court found the facts as agreed by the parties, and upon them ruled that the plaintiffs, the executors of Robbins, were entitled to recover as matter of law. Robbins v. United States, 5 F.2d 690. A writ of error was taken by the United States before the Act of February 13, 1925, c. 229, 43 Stat. 936, went into effect. Greenport Basin & Construction Co. v. United States, 260 U. S. 512, 260 U. S. 514.
Elaborate argument was devoted to the question whether the interest of a wife in community property has the relatively substantial character in California that it has in some other states. That she has vested rights has been determined by this Court with reference to some jurisdictions, Warburton v. White, 176 U. S. 484; Arnett v. Reade, 220 U. S. 311, and the Treasury Department has carried those rights to the point of allowing a division in the return of community income in other states where the community system prevails. Regulations 65, relating to the Income Tax under the Revenue Act of 1924, Art. 31. Its adoption of a different rule for California was based, we presume, upon the notion that, in that state, a wife had a mere expectancy while the husband was alive.
the Supreme Court of California, at least with reference to the time before the later statutes, is that the wife had a mere expectancy while living with her husband. The latest decision that we have seen dealing directly with the matter explicitly takes that view, says that it is a rule of property that has been settled for more than 60 years, and shows that Arnett v. Reade, 220 U. S. 311, would not be followed in that state. Roberts v. Wehmeyer, 191 Cal. 601, 611, 614. In so doing, it accords with the intimations of earlier cases, and does no more then embody the commonly prevailing understanding with regard to California law as shown by commentators and the action of the Treasury Department, as well as by the declarations of the Court. McKay, Community Property, § xi, p. 44. 35 Harvard Law Review, 47, 48. Treasury Regulations 65 Relating to the Income Tax under the Revenue Act of 1924, Art. 31. Rice v. McCarthy (Cal.Ct.App.), 239 P. 56.
husband the most obvious target for the shaft, but the fund taxed, while liable to be taken for his debts, is not liable to be taken for the wife's, Civil Code, § 167, so that the remedy for her failure to pay might be hard to find. The reasons for holding him are at least as strong as those for holding trustees in the cases where they are liable under the law. Section 219. See Regulations 65, Art. 341.

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