Source: http://www.chanrobles.com/usa/us_supremecourt/219/250/case.php
Timestamp: 2018-06-21 04:52:46
Document Index: 575078089

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 3213', '§ 7', '§ 10', '§ 13', '§ 7', '§ 15', '§ 13', '§ 13', '§ 3214']

Applying this principle, it was held in the Lyman case, supra, and in @ 38 U. S. 493):
The statute in the Savings Bank case contained a provision (now in § 3213, Rev.Stat.) which expressly authorized the bringing of an action. But the court also found a sufficient basis for its judgment in the general power of the government to collect by suit taxes that are due, where the statute imposing the tax does not deny that remedy. chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
This point was presented, considered, and decided in the determination of the cause, and the decision is nonetheless authoritative because there was another ground for the ultimate conclusion. Railroad Co. v. Schutte, 103 U.S. p. 103 U. S. 143; Union Pacific Co. v. Mason City Co., 199 U.S. p. 199 U. S. 166.
A tax may or may not be a "debt" under a particular statute, according to the sense in which the word is found to be used. But whether the government may recover a personal judgment for a tax depends upon the existence of the duty to pay, for the enforcement of which another remedy has not been made exclusive. Whether an action of debt is maintainable depends not upon the question who is the plaintiff or in what manner the obligation was chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
incurred, but it lies whenever there is due a sum either certain or readily reduced to certainty. Stockwell v. United States, 13 Wall. p. 80 U. S. 542.
It is insisted, however, that the provision for penalties excludes the idea of a personal liability. Thus, it is made a misdemeanor to sign or issue one of the described instruments to which a stamp has not been affixed, punishable under § 7 by a fine of not more than $100, and not exceeding $200 under § 10, in the case of a bill or note. And under § 13, where there is intent to evade the law, the offense is punished "by a fine not exceeding $50, or by imprisonment not exceeding six months, or both, in the discretion of the court." The unstamped instrument is made inadmissible in evidence (§§ 7, 14), is not allowed to be recorded (§ 15), and by the provision of § 13 is to "be deemed invalid and of no effect." chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
This argument proceeds upon a misconception of the statute. The provision under which unstamped instruments are made invalid is found in § 13, which also provides a method of validation on making the prescribed payment. The portion of this section which imposes the penalty is of comprehensive scope, and must be deemed to include a conveyance of land, as well as the other instruments within the purview of the statute. While the chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
"Provided, That hereafter, in all cases where the party has not affixed to any instrument the stamp required by law thereon at the time of issuing, selling, or transferring the said bonds, debentures, or certificates of stock or of indebtedness, or any instrument, document, or paper of any kind or description whatsoever mentioned in Schedule A of this Act, and he or they, or any party having an interest therein, shall be subsequently desirous of affixing such stamp to said instrument, or, if said instrument be lost, to a copy thereof, he or they shall appear before the collector of internal revenue of the proper district, who shall, upon the payment of the price of the proper stamp required by law, and of a penalty of ten dollars, and, where the whole amount of the tax denoted by the stamp required shall exceed the sum of fifty dollars, on payment also of interest at the rate of six percentum, on said tax from the day on which such stamp ought to have been affixed, affix the proper stamp to such bond, debenture, certificate of stock or of indebtedness, or copy, or instrument,
If the case is not one within the second proviso permitting the remission chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
This provision authorizing suit, with the sanction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (Rev.Stat. § 3214), chanroblesvirtualawlibrary
"Stamp Taxes"