United States v. Rompel

• Decision Date: 10 December 1945
• Docket Number: No. 59,59
• Citation: 326 U.S. 367,90 L.Ed. 137,66 S.Ct. 191
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. ROMPEL
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

326 U.S. 367

66 S.Ct. 191

90 L.Ed. 137

UNITED STATES

v ROMPEL.

No. 59.

Argued Nov. 5, 6, 1945.

Decided Dec. 10, 1945.

As Amended Dec. 17, 1945.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 11, 1946.

See 327 U.S. 814, 66 S.Ct. 526.

Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the Western District of Texas.

Mr. Samuel O. Clark, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellant.

Messrs. Harry C. Weeks, of Fort Worth, Tex., and J. Paul Jackson, of Dallas, Tex., for appellee.

Mr. Palmer Hutcheson, of Houston, Tex., for the State of Texas, as amicus curiae, by special leave of court.

Mr. Chief Justice STONE delivered the opinion of the Court.

This is a companion case to Fernandez v. Wiener, 326 U.S. 340, 66 S.Ct. 178, decided this day. The Commissioner of Internal Revenue, proceeding under § 811(e)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, 26 U.S.C. § 811(e)(2), as amended by § 402 of the Revenue Act of 1942, 56 Stat. 798, 26 U.S.C.A. Int.Rev.Code, § 811(e)(2), has levied, and appellee has paid, an estate tax on the termination of a Texas marital community by the death of the husband, a domiciled resident of Texas, the tax being measured by the value of the entire community property. All of the constitutional questions raised here were presented and decided in Fernandez v. Wiener, 326 U.S. 340, 66 S.Ct. 178.

Appellee, decedent's Administrator, brought this suit under the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. §§ 761—765, 28 U.S.C.A. §§ 761—765, to recover as an alleged overpayment so much of the estate tax paid as is attributable to the inclusion in decedent's gross estate of the value of the wife's share of the community property.

The facts found by the district court were stipulated and are not in dispute. Decedent, a resident of Texas, was married February 12, 1901, and died on November 17, 1943, leaving him surviving his wife, their child, and grandchildren. From the date of the marriage until 1934 decedent's principal activity was that of raising livestock on a ranch in Texas, acquired largely on credit, and paid for out of savings from the ranching business. Other savings from the business were invested from time to time. After 1934 he received rent from the ranch property and income from loans and investments accumulated out of savings. During the marriage neither decedent nor his wife was ever employed by any one at a wage or salary, and neither received any commissions, fees, or similar compensation for personal services rendered. At the time of decedent's death the community property consisted of the original ranch property, investments acquired from savings from the ranch business, rentals and other income from investments.

In the estate tax return for decedent's estate only one-half of the value of the community property was reported. The Commissioner included the full value of the community property in the decedent's gross estate, and assessed a deficiency accordingly, which appellee paid. In this suit which followed, the district court gave judgment for appellee, 59 F.Supp. 483, holding that the tax violated the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the command of Article I, § 8 that 'all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.' The Court found it unnecessary to pass on other constitutional contentions presented.

The case comes here on direct appeal under § 2 of the Act of August 24, 1937, 50 Stat. 751, 28 U.S.C. § 349a, 28 U.S.C.A. § 349a, appellant assigning as error the district court's ruling that the tax violates the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment and the uniformity clause of Article I, § 8 of the Constitution, and the district court's failure to hold that the tax is constitutional.

Community property has been recognized and defined by the laws of Texas throughout its history.^* Its laws governing community property interests are similar in most respects to those of Louisiana described in our opinion in the Wiener case, supra. On the death of the husband, in Texas, as in Louisiana, the wife's share of the community is freed from the restrictions of his exclusive management and control, and the wife acquires exclusive possession and enjoyment of the property constituting her share, as well as important new...