Commonwealth v. Crew Levick Company
| Decision Date | 19 February 1917 |
| Docket Number | 206 |
| Citation | 256 Pa. 508,100 A. 952 |
| Parties | Commonwealth v. Crew Levick Company. Appellant |
| Court | Pennsylvania Supreme Court |
Argued January 16, 1917
Appeal, No. 206, Jan. T., 1916, by defendant, from judgment of C.P. No. 4, Philadelphia Co., March T., 1914, No. 5454, on case stated in Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Crew Levick Co. Affirmed.
Appeal from assessment of mercantile appraisers. Before CARR, J.
From the case stated it appeared that the Crew Levick Company is a Pennsylvania corporation, was engaged in the business of buying and selling petroleum and petroleum products and maintained its principal office and warehouse in Philadelphia. In the year 1913 the company sold and delivered at wholesale to purchasers residing in Philadelphia products to the value of $47,103.64 and to customers in foreign countries products to the value of $430,496.36, the foreign orders having been obtained by Crew Levick agents in the foreign countries.
The board of mercantile appraisers of the County of Philadelphia under the provisions of the Act of May 2, 1899, P.L. 184 assessed the Crew Levick Company as a wholesale vendor of merchandise to the extent of $477,600, being the amount of the whole volume of gross business transacted in the year 1913 and made up of the two mentioned items of $47,103.64 and $430,496.36; and fixed the mercantile license tax at $242.30.
The defendant protested against the assessment of a wholesale license tax based upon the whole gross receipts, contending that any tax which included in the basis of its assessment the gross receipts from merchandise shipped to foreign countries would be a tax levied by the United States of America upon commerce with foreign nations in violation of Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution of the United States and would also be an impost or duty on exports levied by the State of Pennsylvania without the authority of an act of congress and in violation of Article I, Section 10, of the Constitution of the United States.
The board of mercantile appraisers refused to reduce the assessment and on appeal the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia entered judgment on the case stated in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $242.30, together with costs. Defendant appealed.
Error assigned, among others, was the judgment of the court.
David Wallerstein, with him Thomas M. Hyndman, for appellant.
Joseph L. Kun, Deputy Attorney General, with him Francis...
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