United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

J. D. Adams Mfg. Co. v. Storen, 304 U.S. 307 (1938)

J. D. Adams Manufacturing Co. v. Storen

No. 641

Argued March 30, 31, 1938

Decided May 16, 1938

304 U.S. 307

Syllabus

1. Indiana Gross Income Tax Act of 1933 imposes a tax upon gross receipts from commerce. P. 304 U. S. 309.

2. It cannot constitutionally be applied to the gross receipts derived by an Indiana corporation from sales in other States of goods manufactured by it in Indiana. P. 304 U. S. 311.

3. The Indiana Act of Mar. 9, 1903, which declared

"that all bonds, notes and other evidences of indebtedness hereafter issued by the Indiana or by municipal corporations within the State upon which the said State or the said municipal corporations pay interest shall be exempt from taxation,"

is considered in connection with other provisions with which it is associated in the codification of March 11, 1919, and with regard to the fact that the State had no income tax law. So considering it, the construction adopted by the Supreme Court of Indiana confining the exemption to taxation ad valorem is not plainly wrong; consequently, the claim that to include the interest from such obligations in a tax on gross receipts would impair the contract rights of those who bought in reliance on the exemption must fail. P. 304 U. S. 314.

212 Ind. 343; 7 N.E.2d 941, affirmed in part; reversed in part.

Appeal from the reversal of a declaratory judgment declaring a taxing Act unconstitutional in certain parts, as applied to the appellant.

Page 304 U. S. 308