235 Mass. 93 | Mass. | 1920
This is a petition under St. 1916, c. 269, § 20, to recover taxes assessed under § 5 (c) on alleged "gains” from “purchases or sales of intangible personal property.” The case comes before us on a report by a judge of the Superior Court which states
This case was argued at the same time with Osgood v. Tax Commissioner, ante, 88, just decided. It is governed by the same principles as those there regarded as controlling. In the case at bar, however, the petitioners by the exchange acquired stock in a new corporation of much larger assets and through its subsidiary companies conducting a far more extensive business than did the corporation, shares in which they held originally. The transactions in which the petitioners participated were more complicated and resulted in a combination of more diverse elements than those presented in the Osgood case. Even more plainly than in that case, the petitioners have acquired new stock in a different corporate entity. Their present stock represents in a sense part ownership in assets much larger in amount and diversified in character than did the stock which they used for exchange. They now own stock obviously disparate in every respect compared with that which they formerly held. Their gain has been realized by ownership of distinct and separate property of higher value and is not a mere paper profit. Judgment for the Tax Commissioner.