U.S. Supreme Court SONZINSKY V. UNITED STATES , 300 U.S. 506 (1937)

300 U.S. 506

SONZINSKYv. UNITED STATES.No. 614.

Argued March 12, 1937.Decided March 29, 1937.

[ Sonzinsky v. United States 300 U.S. 506 (1937) ]

[Page 300 U.S. 506 , 514]

it is beyond the competency of courts. Veazie Bank v. Fenno, supra; McCray v. United States, supra, 195 U.S. 27, 56-59, 1 Ann.Cas. 561; United States v. Doremus, supra, 249 U.S. 86, 93, 94, 39 S. Ct. 214; see Magnano Co. v. Hamilton, 292 U.S. 40, 44, 45, 601; cf. Arizona v. California, 283 U.S. 423, 455, 526; Smith v. Kansas City Title Co., 255 U.S. 180, 210, 248; Weber v. Freed, 239 U.S. 325, 329, 330, Ann.Cas.1916C, 317; Fletcher v. Peck, 6 Cranch, 87, 130. They will not undertake, by collateral inquiry as to the measure of the regulatory effect of a tax, to ascribe to Congress an attempt, under the guise of taxation, to exercise another power denied by the Federal Constitution. McCray v. United States, supra; cf. Magnano Co. v. Hamilton, supra, 292 U.S. 40, 45, 601.

Here the annual tax of $200 is productive of some revenue. [Footnote 1] We are not free to speculate as to the motives which moved Congress to impose it, or as to the extent to which it may operate to restrict the activities taxed. As it is not attended by an offensive regulation, and since it operates as a tax, it is within the national taxing power. Alston v. United States, 274 U.S. 289, 294; Nigro v. United States, supra, 276 U.S. 332, 352, 353, 394; Hampton & Co. v. United States, 276 U.S. 394, 411, 413, 352, 353.

We do not discuss petitioner's contentions which he failed to assign as error below.

Affirmed. Footnotes

Footnote 1 The $200 tax was paid by 27 dealers in 1934, and by 22 dealers in 1935. Annual Report of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1935, pp. 129Ä131; Id., Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1936, pp. 139Ä141.