State of Georgia v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co.
State of Georgia v. Coca-Cola Bottling Co.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. I entertain a different view from that expressed in the majority opinion as to whether the plaintiff in selling personal property within the State and elsewhere, was entitled to use the three-factor formula of Code (Ann. Supp.) § 92-3113 in calculating the proportion of the income realized from the sales taxable in this State.
Ordinarily a taxpayer engaged in the selling of some particular commodity or commodities calculates the amount of his taxable income realized from such sales by the simple process of subtracting from the gross returns of the sales the aggregate of the several items of expense incurred in carrying on the business.
Where a taxpayer is engaged in the business of selling tangible commodities within the State and elsewhere, incurring such operation expenses incident to both the conservation of both classes
The enactment of the three-factor formula of Code (Ann. Supp.) § 92-3113 was to obviate this difficulty by furnishing to the taxpayer so situated a convenient and reasonably accurate method of determining the proportion of his net income upon which this State might impose tax.
The formula, it will be remembered, provides that the gross income derived from sales made within the State and elsewhere be balanced against the two general items or factors of expense, namely the inventory held within the State and elsewhere, and the compensation paid for services in connection with the taxpayer’s business to employees within the State and elsewhere.
Whatever process may be employed in determining any business enterprise’s net income necessarily involves the comparison or balancing of gross profits earned against the expense incurred in earning the profits. In no other way is it possible to ascertain the net earning of any business institute upon which may be imposed income tax.
While the formula provides a way in which the ratio of the taxpayer’s income derived from sales of personal property within the State or elsewhere is taxable by the State, this is not its only function.
The formula also supplies another method of procedure in balancing the gross returns from sales made within the State against the aggregate of the items of expense incident to and incurred in making the sales, so as to reflect the net income realized from the sales to customers within the State.
The “factors” referred to in the Code section to be considered in arriving at the ratio and amount of the taxpayer’s income upon which this State may impose taxes are its gross earned income, and the two categories of expense normally incident to making such sales, those of keeping on hand a stock of goods, referred to by the statute as inventory, and the other general expenditures including salaries, wages, commissions, and compensation of employees.
The formula is, after all, just a means of solving a mathematical problem the equations of which are the gross profits and the items of expense. In the solution of any such problem all of the equations must be considered in arriving at the correct answer.
The formula provides that the sum total of the sales, and the two classes of expense, one the keeping of the inventory, the other expenses necessarily involved in profitably disposing of the inventory, be divided by three, because there are three factors making up that total.
I am constrained to hold that the plaintiff, which kept no inventory, was not entitled to use the formula in arriving at the ratio of its income derived from sales made to customers both within the State and elsewhere taxable by the State, and that the method employed by the plaintiff for that purpose was not permissible.
The statute does not authorize the use of the formula by balancing against the gross income a non-existent element or factor of expense. This is exactly the process by which the plaintiff proceeded when it added to the gross income from the sales and the salaries, wages, and other expenses incurred in conducting its business a zero, repi’esenting, as it contended, the inventory that it did not keep, and then divided the two existent factors by the divisor three.
The plaintiff contends that it was the duty of the commissioner, if the use of the formula was not the correct method of arriving at the ratio and amount of its income taxable by this State, to direct that some other method be employed, and that until he, the commissioner, did give permission to use such other method as he deemed appropriate for the purpose, it had the right to use the formula as was adaptable to its situation. The position is not tenable for the reason that Code (Ann. Supp.) § 92-3113 merely provides that, if a corporation shows that any other method of allocation than the processes or formula prescribed by the revenue laws reflects more clearly its income attributable to business done
Opinion of the Court
The general demurrer to the petition was properly overruled. The questions involved on the issues raised by the demurrer and the exception to the final judgment are so similar and overlap to such a great extent that we are going to confine our discussion to the questions raised by the exceptions to the final judgment. The contracts involved are quite lengthy, and we think to state generally what the provisions are and the material evidence will suffice without unduly encumbering the record. Petitioner is and was during the tax years in question, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company. The Coca-Cola Company is, and has been since 1892, the sole owner throughout the world of the secret formula, trade names, trademarks, copyrights, patents, and good will associated and connected with the product sold to the public as Coca-Cola, and also the sole manufacturer of Coca-Cola syrup which is used in making this product. The relationship between The Coca-Cola Company and Coca-Cola Bottling Company began in 1899. Until that year the syrup had been used only as the base for a drink served at soda fountains for immediate consumption. In 1898 a contract was entered into between The Coca-Cola Company and petitioner’s assignors. In this contract The Coca-Cola Company granted to petitioners through its assignors: (1) The sole and exclusive right to bottle and sell Coca-Cola and to use the Coca-Cola trade names, trademarks, copyrights, and designs in association with bottled Coca-Cola within a territory consisting of most of the United States; and (2) the right to obtain from The Coca-Cola Company all the Coca-Cola syrup necessary for serving this territory at a specified price per gallon. Petitioner obligated itself to establish bottling plants and promote the sale of bottled Coca-Cola in this territory and to secure all the Coca-Cola syrup necessary for serving this territory from The Coca-Cola Company at the specified price per gallon. In the years that have followed petitioner has discharged its obligation to establish bottling plants and promote the sale of bottled Coca-Cola in its territory by granting to other individuals and corporations the same rights which it had acquired, except that the sub-contracts were always with respect to^ smaller territories within the over-all territory of petitioner, and the price per gallon of syrup agreed on in the sub-contracts was higher than that established in the contract between The Coca-Cola Company and petitioner. In
The first question to be decided is, whether petitioner was engaged in the business of selling Coca-Cola syrup. In the absence of any evidence of subterfuge or fraud, the conclusion is demanded that the petitioner was so engaged. The bottlers ordered their syrup from petitioner and were obligated to pay petitioner, and petitioner only, for the syrup ordered. Petitioner and petitioner alone was liable for breaches of its undertaking to see that the syrup ordered was delivered. Under the plain terms of the contracts, there was no agency or mere royalties involved. The fact that the contracts contained numerous other provisions would not operate to affect the selling provisions, nor would the fact that The Coca-Cola Company shipped the syrup directly from its plant to the various bottlers. The corporations are separate and distinct entities, authorized by law, and there is nothing shown in the way of evidence or legal authority why they may not operate legally and ethically as they undertook to do. The fact that petitioner never acquired title to the syrup does not mean that it cannot be engaged as a wholesaler of the product. No such legal authority is cited to us. The same principle is involved when an automobile retailer gives an order to a customer on a manufacturer and an automobile is delivered to the
In the absence of an application to the commissioner by petitioner for permission to use a method of computing its tax other than the three-factor-ratio formula as required by Ga. L. 1950, p. 299 (Code, Ann. Supp., § 92-3113), petitioner was required to compute its tax by this formula regardless of the fact that it had no inventory in Georgia, and that therefore one of the factors was missing. Ga. L. 1950, pp. 299, 300 (Code, Ann. Supp., § 92-3113) provides that tax shall be imposed only on that portion of the business income which is reasonably attributable to the business done within this State. Where business is done within and without this State, subdivision 4 of the above law is mandatory as to the method by which the portion of the income attributable to business done within this state must be arrived at, and that method is the use of the three-factor-ratio formula (with exception referred to later which is not applicable in this case, see Code §§ 92-3114, 92-3115). Subsection 4 provides that such portion of income “shall be taken to be the portion arrived at by application of the” three-factor-ratio formula. (Emphasis supplied.) It .is contended by the State and commissioner that the three-factor-ratio formula does not and cannot apply in this case for the reason that the taxpayer had no inventory and, therefore, one of the factors was lacking. In our opinion, the absence of one of the factors does not preclude the application of the three-factor-ratio formula. In the first place, the only provision for this formula to be disregarded is the one in the above law which authorizes the commissioner to use another and more equitable method of computing the tax upon application of the taxpayer. No such application was made in this case and no substitute method was approved. Therefore, under the plain and unambig
The other basis for the taxpayer’s claim for refund is that the commissioner erred in including in the taxpayer’s gioss receipts within the State the sales to customers outside Georgia where deliveries were made outside of Georgia. Ga. L. 1950, pp. 299, 300 (Code, Ann. Supp., § 92-3113 (4) (c)) provides: “Gross Receipts Ratio. The ratio of gross receipts from business
We think Code (Ann.) § 92-3002 (n), which provided: “The word ‘sale or sales’ wherever appearing in Part IX of this Title for the purpose of apportioning net income to Georgia shall be deemed to be the total value of all sales made through or by the offices, agencies, or branches located within this State, regardless of the destination,” was repealed by implication by the act of 1950, as it is repugnant to the General Assembly’s intention to give effect to the destination of goods theory in income-tax matters. Montag Bros. v. State Revenue Commissioner, 50 Ga. App. 660 (179 S. E. 563), was decided before the act of 1950.
The court did not err in overruling the general demurrer to the petition and in finding in favor of the petitioner regardless of the reason given for its judgment.
Judgments affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- STATE OF GEORGIA Et Al. v. COCA-COLA BOTTLING CO.
- Cited By
- 9 cases
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- Published