163 Wis. 215 | Wis. | 1916
The record shows that $16,173.58 for royalties, $5,000 for depreciation on equipment or plant, in addi
Plaintiff argues that its interest in the lease is equivalent to ownership and that owners of mines are entitled to a deduction for ore depreciation, citing U. S. v. Nipissing M. Co. 202 Fed. 803, and Von Baumbach v. Sargent L. Co. 219 Fed. 31. The first case sustains the proposition to which it is cited. The last is clearly not in point, for the defendant company was a holding company organized for the purpose of collecting claims, turning the property into cash, and distributing the moneys so obtained among its stockholders. It engaged in no mining, trading, or other like business. The defendant relies upon Van Dyke v. Milwaukee, 159 Wis. 460, 150 N. W. 509; Stratton’s Independence v. Howbert, 231 U. S. 399, 413, 34 Sup. Ct. 136; Alianza Co. v. Bell, [1904] 2 K. B. 666; Coltness I. Co. v. Black, L. R. 6 App. Cas. 315; Comm. v. Penn G. C. Co. 62 Pa. St. 241; and Comm. v. Ocean O. Co. 59 Pa. St. 61.
The complaint does not set out the lease with sufficient fulness to warrant any expression of opinion as to the soundness •of plaintiff’s claim based upon rights equivalent to ownership. Nor is it necessary to express any opinion upon it so far as the merits of this case are concerned. For, however equivalent to ownership its leasehold interest is for general purposes,
The claim that he is entitled to the benefit of an advantageous purchase and should be allowed as cost the reasonable value of the material used instead of its purchase price, if carried out to its logical consequences would deprive business of its chief element of profit; make the income tax law unworkable, and leave but the dregs of an income tax from business enterprises. The trial court properly sustained the demurrer to the complaint.
By the Court. — Order affirmed.