Snyder v. Marks
| Decision Date | 12 November 1883 |
| Citation | 3 S.Ct. 157,27 L.Ed. 901,109 U.S. 189 |
| Parties | SNYDER v. MARKS, Collector, etc |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
This suit was brought in a state court of Louisiana by the appellant, a tobacco manufacturer, against the appellee, a collector of internal revenue, to obtain an injunction restraining the appellee from seizing and selling the property of the appellant to pay two assessments of taxes against him, made by the commissioner of internal revenue, and to have the assessments declared void. An injunction having been granted ex parte, the appellee removed the suit, by certiorari, into the circuit court of the United States for the district of Louisiana, on the allegation that it was brought on account of acts done by the appellee, as such collector, under authority of the internal revenue laws of the United States, and to enjoin him, in his official capacity, from enforcing the payment of assessments made against the appellant, under authority of such laws, by executing warrants of distraint, as authorized by such laws. After the removal of the suit the appellant, under an order to reform his pleading, filed a bill in equity in the circuit court. It set forth the assessments complained of as being in these words:
'Alphabetical list of persons liable to tax under the internal revenue laws of the United States, in the collection district of the state of Louisiana, reported by the collector of said district for assessments, and the amount assessed against each by the commissioner of internal revenue, and certified to the collector of said district, for the month of October, 1879.
Total tax
Name P.O. address Article or Period Tax and
occupation assessed penalty
assessed
7,800 1/2 lbs. Dec. 3, 78.
The bill also averred that the assessments did not show upon what they were based, nor upon what the taxes were claimed to be due, and were void for uncertainty and unauthorized by law, and the commissioner of internal revenue was without jurisdiction to make them; that the Irwin & Snyder assessment was made more than 15 months after the time which it embraced had elapsed, and that was true, also, as to a part of the Snyder assessment, and the commissioner had no authority to make an assessment except for a period of time not exceeding 15 months before it was made; that the appellant was never a member of the firm of Irwin & Snyder; that he never owed the amount of either assessment; that, when he commenced the manufacture of tobacco, he gave a bond to the United States, in a penalty of $20,000, conditioned that he would stamp all tobacco manufactured by him, as required by law, and comply with all the requirements of law relating to the manufacture of tobacco, and the sureties thereon were solvent, and that, if the United States had any lawful claim against him, an action would lie on the bond, which was ample security, while he was without adequate remedy against the United States for the seizure of his property to pay the claims. The prayer of the bill was for a decree declaring each of the assessments void as against the appellant, and enjoining the appellee from distraining on the property of the appellant for the purpose of collecting the amounts of the assessments, and from attempting to collect the same except by judicial process.
The appellee demurred to the bill for want of equity, and because no suit could be maintained in any court to restrain the collection of any tax of the United States, and the appellant could not be permitted in this suit to attack the validity or regularity of the essessments or restrain the execution of a warrant issued thereunder. The circuit court sustained the demurrer and dismissed the bill. To review its decree this appeal is brought.
J. D. Kouse and Wm. Grant, for appellant.
Asst. Atty. Gen. Maury, for appellee.
The sole object of the suit is to restrain the collection of a tax which purports to have been assessed under the internal revenue laws. A decree adjudging the tax to be void as against the appellant is sought for only as preliminary to relief by injunction, and would be futile for any purpose of this suit, unless followed by an injunction.
The internal revenue act of July 13, 1866, c. 184, (14 St. at Large, 152,) provided, section 19, as follows:
'No suit shall be maintained in any court for the recovery of any tax alleged to have been erroneously or illegally assessed or collected, until appeal shall have been duly made to the commissioner of internal revenue according to the provisions of law in that regard, and the regulations of the secretary of the treasury, established in pursuance thereof, and a decision of said commissioner shall be had thereon, unless such suit shall be brought within six months from the time of said decision, or within six months from the time this act takes effect: provided, that if said decision shall be delayed more than six months from the date of such appeal, then said suit may be brought at any time within twelve months from the date of such appeal.'
By section 10 of the act of March 2, 1867, c. 169, (14 St. at Large, 475,) it was enacted that section 19 of the said act of 1866 be amended 'by adding the following thereto:' 'And no suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of tax shall be maintained in any court.' In the Revised Statutes this amendment of and addition to section 19 of the act of 1866 is made a...
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