District of Columbia v. Murphy District of Columbia v. De Hart

• Citation: 86 L.Ed. 329,314 U.S. 441,62 S.Ct. 303
• Decision Date: 15 December 1941
• Docket Number: Nos. 58 and 59,s. 58 and 59
• Parties: DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. MURPHY. DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. DE HART
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

314 U.S. 441

62 S.Ct. 303

86 L.Ed. 329

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

v MURPHY.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

v. DE HART.

Nos. 58 and 59.

Argued Nov. 17, 1941.

Decided Dec. 15, 1941.

Messrs. Glenn Simmon, Richmond B. Keech, and Vernon E. West, all of Washington, D.C., for petitioner.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 442-443 intentionally omitted] Mr. Harry R. Turkel, of Washington, D.C., for respondents.

[Argument of Counsel from Page 444 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice JACKSON delivered the opinion of the Court.

These cases, which have been argued together, differ somewhat in facts, but each involves a controversy as to whether respondent was domiciled within the District of Columbia on December 31, 1939, within the meaning of Sec. 2(a) of the District of Columbia Income Tax Act,¹ which lays a tax on 'the taxable income of every individual domiciled in the District of Columbia on the last day of the taxable year.' The following facts appear from proceedings before the Board of Tax Appeals for the District of Columbia:

The respondent in No. 58, a single man, first came to the District of Columbia in 1935 to work as an economist in the Treasury Department, and was blanketed into Civil Service in that position in July, 1938. He came here from Detroit, Michigan, and has ever since continued to be a registered voter and has voted in the elections and primaries in Wayne County, Michigan. He was born in New London, Connecticut, in 1905, and when five years old moved with his parents to Los Angeles, California where he resided until 1926. when he removed to Berkeley, California. His parents live in California. In 1929 he completed his studies at Brown University and immediately thereafter accepted employment in a trust company in Detroit, Michigan, of which one of his former professors at Brown was vice president. While in Detroit, respondent lived first in a rooming house and later in an apartment. He owns no property there. In the District of Columbia he lives in an apartment, which he has furnished himself. His present employment pays him $6,500 a year, while that which he left in Detroit paid but $6,000. He testified before the Board of Tax Appeals that he does not think he would improve his condition by returning to Detroit, but that 'It is the place to which I will return if I ever become disemployed by the Government, which I hope will not happen * * *.' Although he has no present connection with the trust company, he believes that he could go back with it if he should return to Detroit. If a better position than he now has should be offered in a city other than Detroit, he 'very likely would' accept it, despite a 'preference for Detroit' based on a belief that he 'would fit in more easily' there.

Respondent claimed that Detroit was his 'legal residence' and that he was not domiciled in the District of Columbia. The Board of Tax Appeals for the District of Columbia found 'as a fact' that when he came to Washington in 1935 he 'had an intention to remain and make his home in the District of Columbia for an indefinite period of time; and that such intention has ever since, and still does remain with him; and that if he has any intention to return and make his home in Detroit, it is a floating intention.' The Board held, however, 'as matter of law,' that on December 31, 1939, the last day of the taxable year, petitioner was not domiciled in the District of Columbia, believing that it was compelled to do so by the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in Sweeney v. District of Columbia, 72 App.D.C. 30, 113 F.2d 25, 129 A.L.R. 1370, certiorari denied, 310 U.S. 631, 60 S.Ct. 1082, 84 L.Ed. 1402.

The respondent in No. 59 lived in the District of Columbia for twenty-six years after coming here from Pennsylvania in 1914 to accept a clerical position of indefinite tenure under Civil Service in the Patent Office. He was then on a year's leave of absence from a railroad by which he was employed, but continued in the Civil Service to the time of hearing, becoming Chief Clerk of the Personnel and Organization Division of the National Guard Bureau, War Department, with offices in Washington. Single when he came, in 1917 he married a native of Washington, who died in 1935 without children. Shortly after their marriage the couple purchased as a home, premises at 1426 Massachusetts Avenue, S.E., in the District of Columbia, in which respondent still lives. In about 1925, he purchased a lot at 'Selby on the Bay' in nearby Maryland, and before his wife's death he bought a building lot in the District of Columbia, acting on his wife's pleas for a summer place and a better residence. He agreed with his wife that on his retirement six months would be spent at Selby. He testified that he never desired to purchase the lot in the District of Columbia, but did so at the insistence of his wife. He put a 'For Sale' sign on it when she died, and both lots, which he still owns, are up for sale. He has deposits in three Washington financial institutions and owns first trust notes on property located in Maryland and Virginia.

In 1915 respondent became a member of a Lutheran church in Washington, and has ever since been an active member, at one time serving as president of its Christian Endeavor Society. He is a contributor to Washington charities, a member of the Motor Club of Washington, and of the Washington units of 'Tall Cedars of Lebanon' and the 'Mystic Shrine,' both identified with freemasonry. He has filed his federal income-tax returns with the Collector of Internal Revenue at Baltimore, and always paid to the District of Columbia an intangible property tax while that tax was in effect.

Respondent had resided in Pennsylvania from birth until he left for Washington. He claimed as his 'legal residence' the residence of his parents in Harrisburg, where they still keep intact his room in which are kept some of his clothes and childhood toys. Though paying nothing as rent or for lodging, he has from time to time made presents of money to his parents. He has visited his parents' home in Harrisburg over week ends at least eight times a year, and has been there annually between Christmas and the New Year. A registered voter in Pennsylvania, he has voted in all its general elections since he became of age. He paid the Pennsylvania poll tax until it was superseded by an occupational tax, which he has also paid. Payment of such taxes was a prerequisite to voting.

In 1912 respondent became a life member of the Robert Burns Lodge No. 464, Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Harrisburg Consistory, Scottish Rite, both Masonic bodies. While he resided in Harrisburg he was a member of the Bible Class of the Pine Street Presbyterian Church, which he still attends on visits there, and to which he made substantial contributions in 1939. He owns jointly with his father a note secured by a mortgage on Pennsylvania real estate. Respondent testified that he expected to retire from Civil Service in four years and intended then to sell his house and 'leave Washington.'

The Board found 'as a fact' that at the end of one year after he came to the District in 1914 respondent 'had an intention to remain and make his home in the District of Columbia for an indefinite period of time and that intention remained with him, at least until the death of his wife.' As in No. 58, it considered itself bound by the Sweeney case, supra, and accordingly held 'as a matter of law' that the petitioner was not domiciled in the District on December 31, 1939, and never had been.

The decisions in both cases were affirmed on review by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. 73 App.D.C. 345, 119 F.2d 449; 73 App.D.C. 347, 119 F.2d 451. The cases were brought here on writs of certiorari because of the importance of the questions involved. 313 U.S. 556, 61 S.Ct. 1103, 1104, 85 L.Ed. 1517.

Although the District of Columbia Income Tax Act made 'domicile' the fulcrum of the income tax, the first ever imposed in the District, it set forth no definition of that word. To ascertain its meaning we therefore consider the Congressional history of the Act, the situation with reference to which it was enacted, and the existing judicial precedents, with which Congress may be taken to have been familiar in at least a general way. United States v. Dickerson, 310 U.S. 554, 562, 60 S.Ct. 1034, 1038, 84 L.Ed. 1356.

As introduced into and passed by the House of Representatives, the bill which, with amendments, became the Act, laid a tax upon income of residents from whatever source derived, and upon income of nonresidents from sources within the District, with a provision for credit for the payment of income taxes elsewhere. H.R. 6577, 76th Cong., 1st Sess., §§ 2(a), 4(a), 9(a), (b), D.C.Code Supp. V, T. 20, §§ 980a(a), 980c(a), 980h(a, b). The bill was amended on the floor of the House to except 'Senators, Representatives, Delegates, Resident Commissioners, officers and employees of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.' 84 Cong.Rec. 7036. It was unacceptable to the Senate in this form, and it was agreed in conference that the tax should be levied 'upon every individual domiciled in the District of Columbia on the last day of the taxable year,' with no provision for credit for income taxes paid elsewhere. H.R. Rep. Nos. 1093, 1206, 76th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 3; Sen. Doc. No. 92, 76th Cong., 1st Sess., p. 3. This was agreed to by the Senate and by the House of Representatives, and became part of the Act under consideration.

The conference agreement was presented to the Senate by Senator Overton, chairman of the Senate conferees, with the following explanation: 'Mr. President, I now call attention to the fact that the individual income tax is imposed only on those domiciled in the District of Columbia. It, therefore, necessarily excludes from its imposition all Senators and Members of the House of Representatives,...