7 Pa. Commw. 269 | Pa. Commw. Ct. | 1972
Lead Opinion
Opinion by
The appellant, Riverside Iron and Steel Corporation, sued in assumpsit to recover taxes and license fees paid by it for the years 1963 through and including the year 1968. The named defendants were the City of Monongahela, Monongahela School District
The amended complaint upon which, together with an answer, the case was tried by the Court of Common
The plaintiff is a dealer in scrap metal. It collects scrap, including junk automobiles, removes non-ferrous materials, separates the ferrous metals into various grades, and cuts and presses it into bundles for sale to steel makers. Its operation is indistinguishable from that of the taxpayer in Morrisville Scrap Processing Company, Inc. Tax Appeal, 6 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 121 (1972). The mercantile taxes here sought to be recovered were levied during the earlier years included in this complaint pursuant to a measure popularly referred to as Act 481, Act of June 25, 1947, P. L. 1145, and during later years by its re
Finally, the lower court also properly ignored the city’s counterclaim for 1969 taxes. The amount claimed, |289.72, was an arbitrary figure equal to one-half the amount of the mercantile tax paid by the taxpayer for the year 1968 plus penalty and interest. The tax in question is imposed annually upon actual business done and has no provision for advance assessment or requirement of tentative self-assessment.
In summary, we hold that the taxpayer was not entitled to the exclusion provided by The Local Tax Enabling Act for transactions related to manufacturing, and that, this being the only ground asserted in support of its claim for refund, the court properly entered judgment for the defendants.
Affirmed.
There was no Monongahela School District when the taxes and license fees here sought to be recovered were paid. If there had been such, it had been long since merged with the Ringgold district
The amended complaint also sought recovery for an undisclosed amount of “license taxes” alleged to be unconstitutional as being in an amount bearing no reasonable relationship to the cost of regulation. At the trial, the plaintiff failed to prove the amount of such license taxes paid or to show any enactment requiring their payment. One witness refers obliquely to a two hundred dollar license fee and the city’s counsel in colloquy stated that a junkyard license was required under a city ordinance regulating junkyards. This was not produced at trial. The lower court’s opinion reasonably ignored the entire subject.
Taxes may not bo recovered at common law, except where the taxes are void and paid under compulsion. Royal McBee Corporation Tax Case, 393 Pa. 477, 143 A. 2d 393 (1958). By statute two years’ taxes may be recovered by filing a verified claim and suit thereon if refused. Act of May 21, 1943, P. L. 349, as amended, 72 P.S. §5566b et seq.
At trial counsel for the taxpayer volunteered a preliminary statement for the record. This, as the amended complaint, claimed only that the taxpayer was a manufacturer, not a vendor. Closing argument was limited to the same subject matter.
establishing procedures for claiming refund of taxes paid to which the political subdivision is not legally entitled.
Concurrence Opinion
Because of our Supreme Court’s recent decision in Commonwealth v. The Deitch Company, 449 Pa. 88, 295 A. 2d 834 (1972) (filed October 4, 1972), I must concur in the majority’s decision. I reaffirm, however, my position on the definition of “manufacturing” which I stated in my dissenting opinion in Morrisville Scrap Processing Company, Inc. Tax Appeal, 6 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 121 (1972).