Court Opinion

ID: 9651711
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 16:32:06.280872+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:37.797699
License: Public Domain

On Petition for Rehearing.
In support of its petition for rehearing, plaintiff in error calls our attention to section 612 of the Internal Revenue Act of 1928 (Act May 29, 1928, e. 852), which repeals section 1106 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1926, as of the date of its enactment.
The 1928 act was enacted subsequent to the oral argument and, of course, subsequent to the judgment which fixed the rights of the parties, and it was not considered by counsel or court. The argument is now made by plaintiff in error that this repeal wiped out the taxpayer’s only defense. The validity of such legislation is maintained on the ground that it is a purely limitation statute, dealing only with the remedy.
In our opinion, section 1106 (a) of the Revenue Act of 1926 ( 26 USCA § 1249) was something more than a limitation statute. It not only operated to bar the remedy but specifically extinguished the cause of action. Such being the character and effect of this statute, it was not within the power of Congress to enact legislation to recreate the liability thus extinguished. William Danzer & Co., Inc., v. Gulf & Ship Island Railroad Co., 268 U. S. 633, 45 S. Ct. 612, 69 L. Ed. 1126; 17 R. C. L. 674.
The petition for rehearing is denied.