Bd. of Assessors of Brockton v. Brockton Olympia Realty Co.

• Decision Date: 04 February 1948
• Citation: 322 Mass. 351,77 N.E.2d 391
• Parties: BOARD OF ASSESSORS OF CITY OF BROCKTON v. BROCKTON OLYMPIA REALTY CO. (two cases).
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

322 Mass. 351

77 N.E.2d 391

BOARD OF ASSESSORS OF CITY OF BROCKTON

v.BROCKTON OLYMPIA REALTY CO. (two cases).

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, Suffolk.

Feb. 4, 1948.

Appeal from Appellate Tax Board.

Proceedings by the Board of Assessors of the City of Brockton against Brockton Olympia Realty Company. From the decisions of the Appellate Tax Board abating taxes assessed for the year 1944 upon certain personal property owned by Brockton Olympia Realty Company, the Board of Assessors appeal.

Proceedings remanded.

Before QUA, C. J., and DOLAN, WILKINS, SPALDING, and WILLIAMS, JJ.

E. Blumberg and H. C. Gill, City Sol., both of Brocton, for Assessors.

A. E. Whittemore, of Boston, for taxpayer.

SPALDING, Justice.

These are appeals by the board of assessors of Brockton from decisions of the Appellate Tax Board (hereinafter called the board) abating taxes assessed for the year 1944 upon certain personal property owned by the taxpayer. The issue is whether this property was taxable locally as ‘machinery used in the conduct of the business' under G.L. (Ter.Ed.) c. 59, § 5, Sixteenth, as appearing in St.1941, c. 457; and section 18, Second, as appearing in St.1936, c. 362, § 2.

The taxpayer, a domestic business corporation as defined in G.L. (Ter.Ed.) c. 63, § 30, on January 1, 1944, operated two motion picture theatres, the Brockton and the Rialto, in the city of Brockton. On that date it owned the following property in the Brockton: projection equipment, sound reproducing equipment, and a three kilowatt generator and an induction motor used for the operation of an organ.¹ At that time it also was the owner of projection and sound reproducing equipment in the Rialto, which was essentially the same as that in the Brockton.

‘The following parts comprise the projector and sound reproduction equipment a lamp housing which contains a carbon arc light * * *; lenses * * * which act to concentrate the light on the aperture; a shutter which interrupts the light beam at rapid intervals; and upper real housing which holds the reel of film that is to be run through the projector; an upper feed sprocket which unwinds the film from the upper reel and maintains a loop of film above the picture gate; this sprocket runs at a constant speed and is connected with a constant speed motor located at the base of the mechanism; and intermittent mechanism sprocket, motion of which is such that the picture is permitted to remain stationary during the interval when it is being projected on the screen; a lower or hold-back sprocket which serves to maintain the proper loop below the film gate and to keep the film moving at a constant speed; this sprocket is electrically connected with same constant speed motor that operates the upper feed sprocket; a lower reel housing which contains the takeup reel; the take-up reel is operated on a friction principle so as to maintain the constant speed of the unwinding of the film as the pictures are projected upon the screen; a sound head which contains the optical unit and a photo electric cell and several sprockets; the sprockets are electrically connected with the same constant speed motor as the other sprockets described and serve to maintain the unwinding of the film past the scanning point at the same constant speed; the sound is reproduced by means of a beam of light concentrated upon a sound track which is photographed along the edge of the films; these light impulses are, in turn converted into electrical impulses by means of the photo electric cell and the electric impulses are then carried along wires into a series of loud speakers.’ This equipment is ‘fastened by belts to a base which is held in place on the floor * * * by four lag bolts which can be unscrewed simply by the use of a wrench.’ To remove the equipment ‘all that would be necessary would be to disconnect the bolts from the floor * * *.’

The three kilowatt generator and the induction motor used for the organ are located underneath the stage. The motor is a small induction motor which operates the generator that ‘converts alternate current to the direct current required by the organ keyboard.’ It also operates the blower ‘which puts air into the organ pipes.’ ‘The motor rests on a couple of scantlings and is bolted down with four lag screws, or bolts.’ After finding the foregoing facts, the board (one member dissenting) found as a fact and ruled as matter of law that none of the equipment described above was machinery used in the conduct of the taxpayer's business, and held that it was not taxable locally under the provisions of section 5, Sixteenth, and section 18, Second, of G.L. (Ter.Ed.) c. 59.

General Laws (Ter.Ed.) c. 59, § 5, Sixteenth, so far as here material, exempts from local taxation ‘* * * property, other than real estate, poles, underground conduits, wires and pipes, and other than machinery used in the conduct of the business, owned by domestic business corporations or by foreign corporations, as defined in section thirty of chapter sixty-three * * *.’ ² (Emphasis supplied.) Section 18, Second, of c. 59 provides that ‘in the case of domestic business...