Court Opinion

ID: 9446418
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-03 21:53:38.741246+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:30:38.342905
License: Public Domain

SIMONS, Chief Judge
(dissenting).
I am unable to concur in the views of my colleagues because I find myself precluded from doing so by McDonald v. Commissioner, 323 U.S. 57, 65 S.Ct. 96, 89 L.Ed. 68. The principle there applied is in my judgment applicable here upon a not too remote factual analogy. In McDonald an incumbent judge, appointed to fill an unexpired term, incurred substantial expenses in seeking election as judge for the ensuing term. The court held that his outlays were not expenses incurred in being a judge during the tax year but in trying to continue as judge for the next term. Here, the appellant who had been engaged in the business of a retail liquor dealer in preceding years was unable legally to operate his business in 1947 because of his inability to obtain from the City Commission a license to do so. He incurred expenses in the tax year in the hope, or even the expectation, of receiving a license for 1948 and succeeding years. His losses in 1947 were not, however, attributable to the operation of “a trade or business regularly carried on,” a prerequisite for the carry back of his 1947 loss to previous years. He was not in 1947 operating as a liquor dealer. His-business was suspended for that year,, and there was no assurance that he would, obtain a license in 1948, even though he-preserved his inventory and facilities looking to that end. He was in no better status than the judge in McDonald. Undoubtedly, the judge there had a reasonable expectation of being elected because-of his advantage in being an incumbent, but it was still necessary for him to submit to the hazard of a popular election. Likewise, the appellant had no assurance-that the City Commission would renew his license in 1948, no matter what his expectations. I think the judgment below should be affirmed.