Opinion ID: 3021849
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Meaning of the Word “And”

Text: Our role in interpreting a statute is to give effect to Congress’ intent. Rosenberg v. XM Ventures, 274 F.3d 137, 141 (3d Cir. 2001) (citations omitted). Because we presume that Congress’ intent is most clearly expressed in the text of the statute, we begin our analysis with an examination of the plain language of the relevant provision. Id. Section 4252(b)(1) provides that toll telephone services are those for which the 10 amount varies by “distance and time.” The Government contends–and we agree–that the word “and” can be either conjunctive or disjunctive. See, e.g., Slodov v. United States, 436 U.S. 238 (1978) (concluding that the word “and” was used disjunctively in 26 U.S.C. § 6672 which imposed a tax penalty on “[a]ny person required to collect, truthfully account for, and pay over any tax imposed by this title”); Peacock v. Lubbock Compress Co., 252 F.2d 892 (5th Cir 1958), cert. denied, 356 U.S. 973 (1958) (holding that “and” was disjunctive in the context of a statute that required an employer to pay overtime wages to employees “engaged in the ginning and compressing of cotton”). In fact, the word “and” is used to mean “or” within § 4252 itself. As the Sixth Circuit explained: Section 4252(b)(1) requires that the toll charge vary in amount with distance and elapsed time of each individual communication “and” that the charge be paid within the United States. Both sides of this “and”. . . must be satisfied for the telephone service to be taxable. . . . At times, however, Congress used the word differently. Take 4251: it defines “communications services” as “local telephone service, toll telephone service, and teletypewriter exchange service.” No one doubts the disjunctive (or cumulative) nature of this usage because these definitions of the services in 4252 are generally mutually exclusive and because no service exists that can satisfy all three definitions at once. Section 4252 likewise uses “and” to connect a list of alternative definitions found in 4252(b)(1) and (b)(2). Here, too, no one contests that a “toll charge which varies in amount with the distance and elapsed transmission time of each individual communication,”. . . cannot simultaneously be a 11 “periodic charge (determined as a flat amount or upon the basis of total elapsed transmission time) [for] the privilege of an unlimited number of telephonic communications.” OfficeMax, 428 F.3d at 588. The usual meaning of the word “and,” however, is conjunctive, and “unless the context dictates otherwise, the ‘and’ is presumed to be used in its ordinary sense. . . .” Am. Bankers, 408 F.3d at 1332; see also OfficeMax, 428 F.3d at 588 (citing in part Crooks v. Harrelson, 282 U.S. 55, 58 (1930); Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 80 (2d ed. 2002); 1A Norman J. Singer, Statutes and Statutory Construction 21.14, at 179-80 (6th ed. 2002)). The Government argues that applying the ordinary definition of the word “and” would not make sense because “Congress could not possibly have meant to allow telephone companies to opt their customers out of the tax through nothing more than a change in billing methods.” Appellant’s Br. at 12, 32. Applying the ordinary definition of the word “and” in § 4252(b)(1), however, does not lead to an anomalous or absurd result. In fact, such a reading is entirely consistent with AT&T’s billing practices in 1965 when Congress adopted the definition.3 The Supreme Court addressed and rejected an analogous argument in Iselin v. United States, 270 U.S. 245 (1926). At 3 As the Sixth Circuit noted in OfficeMax, however, “[t]here is something odd . . . about giving the distance-and-time requirement a disjunctive interpretation.” 428 F.3d at 590. It would be strange indeed “to impose a toll charge that varies solely by distance, with all calls from, say, Columbus, Ohio to Bozeman, Montana costing the same amount regardless of whether they last 60 seconds, 60 minutes or 60 days.” Id. 12 issue in that case was a Revenue Act provision which imposed a tax on the sale of theater tickets sold at places other than a ticket box office. The amount of the tax was based on the difference between the “established price” at the ticket office and the actual sale price. The taxpayer, Georgine Iselin, as a stockholder in the producing company, held a license to a designated theater box and sold the license to use her box to forty-seven of the season’s seventy performances. Iselin argued that because the tickets she sold did not have an “established price,” they were not taxable under the Revenue Act. The Government, by contrast, argued: that Congress clearly intended to tax all sales of tickets; that there is in the section no indication of intention to exempt from the tax any sale of tickets or any resale at a profit; that the receipts here taxed are in character substantially similar to those specifically described in paragraph 3; that this general purpose of Congress should be given effect, so as to reach any case within the aim of the legislation; and the act should, therefore, be extended by construction to cover this case. Iselin, 270 U.S. at 250. The Iselin Court rejected the Government’s argument, declining to expand the statute’s reach. It explained: It may be assumed that Congress did not purpose to exempt from taxation this class of tickets. But the act contains no provision referring to tickets of the character here involved; and there is no general provision in the act under which classes of tickets not enumerated are subjected to a tax. Id. Likewise, in this case, the express language of the 13 statute–understood in its ordinary sense–does not include communications which are based only on elapsed time and whether they are interstate, intrastate, or international. Following the Supreme Court’s analysis in Iselin, we will therefore decline to extend the scope of § 4252(b)(1). We also note that Congress clearly understood how to draft a more expansive definition if it so chose. For example, in defining “teletypewriter exchange service,” Congress did not limit the tax to services based on the distance-and-time billing method alone. Rather, it imposed a tax on teletypewriter services “whether such charge or charges are determined as a flat periodic amount, on the basis of distance and elapsed transmission time, or some other manner.” 26 U.S.C. § 4252(c). Had Congress desired to tax toll telephone services based on a broader variety of billing methods, it could have so indicated. Reading the statute as a whole, we conclude that “and” is used in its conjunctive sense in § 4252(b)(1). Accordingly, in order to be taxable under that provision, charges for longdistance telephone services must be based on both distance and elapsed transmission time.