People ex rel. American Soda-Fountain Co. v. Roberts

• Decision Date: 28 February 1899
• Citation: 52 N.E. 1104,158 N.Y. 168
• Parties: PEOPLE ex rel. AMERICAN SODA-FOUNTAIN CO. v. ROBERTS, Comptroller.
• Court: New York Court of Appeals Court of Appeals

158 N.Y. 168

52 N.E. 1104

PEOPLE ex rel. AMERICAN SODA-FOUNTAIN CO.

v.ROBERTS, Comptroller.

Court of Appeals of New York.

Feb. 28, 1899.

Appeal from supreme court, appellate division, Third department.

Certiorari by the people, on the relation of the American Soda-Fountain Company, against James A. Roberts, comptroller. From a judgment and order of the appellate division, reversing a determination of the comptroller assessing a corporation tax on the relator for three years ending November 1, 1898 (51 N. Y. Supp. 487), it appeals. Reversed.

The relator is a foreign corporation, organized under the laws of the state of New Jersey, with a capital of $3,750,000, for the purpose of carrying on the business of ‘the manufacture and sale of soda and mineral water apparatus, and of supplies for dealers in, and dispensers of, soda and mineral waters,’ the manufacture and sale of various other articles pertaining to that business, and other business not directly connected therewith. Under its charter privileges, the relator acquired the business of James W. Tuffts, of Boston, A. D. Puffer & Sons, of Boston, Charles Lippincott & Co., of Philadelphia, and the John Matthews Apparatus Co., of New York. It appears by the petition of the relator for a rehearing before the comptroller, by the affidavit of its secretary, and the testimony given upon such rehearing, that it was engaged in business in this state at three different places in the city of New York. It conducted business at First avenue, between Twenty-Sixth and Twenty-Seventh streets, under the name of the ‘John Matthews Apparatus Company,’ at 10 Warren street under the name of ‘James W. Tuffts,’ and at 41 Centre street under the name of ‘A. D. Puffer & Sons.’ At its place of business on First avenue it manufactured and sold soda and mineral water appearatus, and the various articles, ornaments, and flavoring extracts used in and upon such apparatus. At the Warren and Centre street houses it was engaged in the business of selling merchandise of the same general character as that manufactured by the John Matthews Apparatus Company, but whatever was sold at those places was manufactured in Boston, at which place the relator has its principal place of business. At the Tuffts and Puffer branches the relator had salesrooms in which samples of the goods manufactured in Boston were kept, and orders for such goods were generally filled by their being shipped from Boston, to which place all moneys received therefor were transmitted, but occasionally it sold articles that were kept in the New York stores as samples, and then procured others to take the place of those sold. The relator had all its glass made by a company in Poughkeepsie, which it purchased and sold in connection with the apparatus it manufactured, and sometimes to supply customers who required the glass only. This business amounted to about $6,000 annually, and the average stock of glass carried by the relator was of the value of from $6,000 to $7,000. It also imported marble, which it sold, and of which it carried a stock of the value of $20,000. This marble was sawed and polished, and the slabs were furnished with the soda-fountain apparatus. During the years 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1893, the relator sold at the Tuffts and Puffer houses some of its fountains on conditional sales by which it retained the ownership, the average value of which was about $16,000. The value of the stock carried by the relator at its branches in New York was about $10,000 at the Tuffts branch, and about $7,500 at the Puffer branch. It paid about $3,000 a year rent for the place where the Tuffts business was carried on, and about $2,500 a year for the place where the Puffer business was transacted. The comptroller assessed upon the relator a tax for the three years, amounting to $1,800, under chapter 542 of the Laws of 1880, as amended by chapter 522 of the Laws of 1890.

G. D. B. Hasbrouck, for appellant.

John B. Green, for respondent.

MARTIN, J. (after stating the facts).

The relator seeks to defeat this appeal upon the ground that the portion of its capital which was employed by it in this state was used in carrying on the business of manufacturing, and that, although it was also engaged in...