Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/326/265.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 19:15:49+00:00

Document:
Mr. Fred B. Trescher, of Greensburg, Pa., for petitioner.
In 1941 the petitioner bank obtained a judgment in a Pennsylvania State Court against one Frank A. Maddas, for about $19,000.00. The United States had unpaid, judicially established, income tax claims against Maddas for the years 1920, 1921, and 1922,1 which exceed [326 U.S. 265, 266] $1,000,000. Maddas v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 40 B.T.A. 572; 114 F.2d 548. Because of Maddas' past services as a State court receiver of a brewing company, the trustee of that company, now in bankruptcy, owes Maddas $3,228.53. The issue here is whether the bank or the government may recover on the debt owed to Maddas. The bank claims under a lien alleged to have been created by an attachment-execution issued on its State court judgment and served on the trustee in bankruptcy February 21, 1941. The United States claimed priority, by virtue of a tax lien under 26 U.S.C. 3670, 3671, 26 U.S.C.A. Int.Rev.Code, 3670, 3671,2 which both parties admit arose in 1935, five years prior to the taxpayer's services as receiver. The contention of the bank in the District Court3 was that the statutory tax lien, which became effective in 1935, did not cover Maddas' claim since it did not exist when the lien arose but only thereafter, and that the government, therefore, could reach the debt only by garnishment or distraint as provided by other sections of the Internal [326 U.S. 265, 267] Revenue Code. The Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that the statutory tax lien did cover after-acquired property and accordingly affirmed the District Court's judgment for the United States. 146 F.2d 831. We granted certiorari because of statements made in the opinions of other courts which seemed to conflict with the conclusion below. United States v. Long Island Drug Co., 2 Cir., 115 F.2d 983; United States v. Pacific Railroad, C.C., 1 F. 97.
The bank's arguments on behalf of a statutory construction supporting its claims are without merit. We are told that to increase unduly the scope of the government's lien is unwise. But most of the objections raised would apply not merely to liens that cover after-acquired property, but also with equal force to most other types of liens. At any rate the wisdom of legislation is a question for Congress. We are further told that the tax lien cannot attach to Maddas' claim because the law of Pennsylvania, where this obligation arose, does not treat 'future earning capacity' as 'property rights to property.' But the question of whether the tax lien covers future earning capacity is not before us. For the government here seeks to reach an already existing obligation for services rendered, which clearly falls within the statutory language. Cf. Matter of Rosenberg, 269 N.Y. 247, 199 N.E. 206, 105 A.L.R. 1238. Moreover, the Congressional meaning is not to be determined by resorting to the local law of Pennsylvania. United States v. Snyder, 149 U.S. 210 , 13 S.Ct. 846; Helvering v. Stuart, 317 U.S. 154, 161 , 162 S., 63 S.Ct. 140.
Our conclusion is that the lien applies to property owned by the delinquent at any time during the life of the lien. [326 U.S. 265, 269] This is in accord with all the cases that have directly passed upon this question. 5 As previously noted, there are two cases, which contain language which might lead to another conclusion. But nothing there said offers any persuasive reason for restricting the scope of the lien.
I am unable to find in the applicable statutes the clear expression of Congressional intent which I think is required to extend the tax lien to after-acquired property. Under 3670 the lien is imposed as to taxpayers delinquent after demand 'upon all property and rights to property, whether real or personal, belonging to such person.' By 3671 the lien arises, unless another date is specifically fixed by law, 'at the time the assessment list was received by the collector' and continues 'until the liability for such amount is satisfied or becomes unenforceable by reason of lapse of time.' Nothing in these sections gives any indication that Congress intended the lien to reach after-acquired property. The language used, whether in 3670 or in 3671, is fully satisfied if the lien is held to attach to property belonging to the taxpayer as of the time the lien arises. 1 Had Congress intended to reach not only [326 U.S. 265, 270] every description of property then owned by the taxpayer, but also every species which might later come into his hands, clearer words than 'all property' and 'belonging to' were readily available to express this purpose. The harshness of the consequences, not only for the taxpayer but for others dealing with him, which this case dramatically exemplifies, gives reason beyond the ambiguity of the language used for thinking there was no such intent.
Nor is such an intent supplied by use of the present tense of the verb 'has' in the final clause of 3678(a).2 That section merely provides for the manner in which the lien defined by 3670 and 3671 shall be enforced. Section 3678(a), in my opinion, was not intended to add to the scope of the lien or extend its definition beyond the limits defined by those sections. If the lien was designed to reach after-acquired property, the alternative method specified in 3678(a) for reaching the property then owned by the debtor would seem to be redundant.
I find nothing in the legislative history which discloses any intention, more clearly than the words of the statute themselves, to include after-acquired property within the coverage of the lien. In the absence of clearer statutory foundation, the comparatively recent administrative con- [326 U.S. 265, 271] struction cannot supply the required Congressional intent; and the scanty evidence of established and accepted practice is neither so wholly consistent nor so convincing as to furnish this necessary element.
Accordingly I would reverse the judgment and remand the cause to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the consideration and disposition of the issues presented to but not determined by it in view of its disposition upon the matters now determined here.
[ Footnote 1 ] There is also a claim for 1936 taxes which raises different questions that need not be considered here.
[ Footnote 2 ] "Sec. 3670. Property subject to lien.
"If any person liable to pay any tax neglects or refuses to pay the same after demand, the amount (including any interest, penalty, additional amount, or addition to such tax, together with any costs that may accrue in addition thereto) shall be a lien in favor of the United States upon all property and rights to property, whether real or personal, belonging to such person.
"Sec. 3671. Period of lien.
"Unless another date is specifically fixed by law, the lien shall arise at the time the assessment list was received by the collector and shall continue until the liability for such amount is satisfied or becomes unenforceable by reason of lapse of time."
Section 3672 provides that the lien shall not be valid against any mortgagee, pledgee, purchaser, or judgment creditor until notice is filed in an office designated by State law or in the office of the clerk of the United States District Court. Here such notice was duly filed.
[ Footnote 3 ] The District Court acquired jurisdiction because the indebtedness to Maddas was due from the trustee. The procedure by which that jurisdiction was acquired is sufficiently set forth in the opinions belaw and need not be repeated here. 54 F.Supp. 11; 146 F.2d 831.
[ Footnote 4 ] 14 Stat. 98, 107; 15 Stat. 125, 167; 37 Stat. 1016; 45 Stat. 791, 875.
[ Footnote 5 ] Citizens Nat. Trust & S. Bank of Los Angeles v. United States, 9 Cir., 135 F.2d 527; Nelson v. United States, 9 Cir., 139 F.2d 162; Investment & Securities Co. v. United States, 9 Cir., 140 F.2d 894; United States v. Worley, D.C.S.D.Ind., 64 F.Supp. 271; Minnesota Mut. Life Ins. Co. v. United States, D.C.N.D.Tex., 47 F.2d 942, 944. See also United States v. Warren R. Co., 2 Cir., 127 F.2d 134; Matter of Rosenberg, supra.
[ Footnote 1 ] Although by 3671 the lien 'arises' as of the time the assessment list is received by the collector, it relates back to the time of notice and demand, 3670, as against the taxpayer, though by virtue of 3672(a) it is not valid as against any mortgagee, pledgee, purchaser, or judgment creditor 'until notice thereof has been filed by the collector' as provided.
[ Footnote 2 ] 'Sec. 3678. Civil action to enforce lien on property.

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