Court Opinion

ID: 9452526
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 17:43:07.363877+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:14.973037
License: Public Domain

DAVIS, Judge
(dissenting):
I reiterate, without repeating, my views as set forth in Thermo King Corp. v. United States, 354 F.2d 242, 251, 173 Ct.Cl. 860, 876 (1965), and add only that it is now absolutely clear to me, that the Internal Revenue Service has always treated these automotive refrigerators as within the “parts and accessories” tax. This is shown by the 18 or so private rulings (stretching from 1932 to the 1950's) now properly before us, as well as by the affidavit of the Chief of the Excise Tax Branch that “the rulings of the Revenue Service from 1932 to date have consistently, as distinguished from some occasions, held that truck and trailer refrigeration units or equipment, primarily designed for that purpose, are taxable as automobile and truck parts or accessories within the meaning and intent of the applicable provisions of the Revenue laws * * 1 The 1932 Ruling S.T. 523, pertaining solely to the household refrigeration tax, is quite irrelevant. See 354 F.2d at 252, 173 Ct.Cl. at 877-878. In the face of the sweep of the legislative words in the “parts and accessories” tax, of the breadth of the long-standing regulations, and of the uniform practice of the administrators for over 30 years, I cannot agree that these units, alone of all automobile parts and accessories, have been freed by Congress (except for the single year 1941-1942) from all excise tax.
NICHOLS, Judge,'joins in the foregoing dissenting opinion.

. The qualification, “primarily designed for that purpose”, explains the few alleged inconsistencies which the court finds in the course of rulings. The Service came to different conclusions, depending in part on the facts presented to it, as to whether particular devices were “primarily” designed for automotive use.