United States v. Ross
United States v. Ross
Opinion of the Court
On January 28, 1955, a criminal information was filed against the defendant, Samuel P. Ross, under section 1718 (a) of Title 26 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, as amended, for wilful failure to make transportation tax returns, and, on February 8, 1955, he was indicted under section 1718(b) of Title 26 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, as amended, for wilful failure to truthfully account for and pay over transportation taxes. The alleged violations covered a period from January 31, 1952, through April 30, 1953. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss in each case. As the offenses charged in the information and the indictment are of a similar character and are based on transactions constituting parts of a common plan, and, as the grounds for dismissal of the information and the indictment are substantially identical, the two cases will be considered together, (Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rules 8(a) and 13, 18 U.S.C.).
The information was in fifteen counts, each count being the same save as to the amounts and dates involved. Each count charged that the defendant conducted a trucking business known as the Ross Trucking Company or Samuel P. Ross, with its principal place of business in Washington, D. C., and transported property for hire taxable under section 3475(a) of Title 26 U.S.C.; that by law, the defendant was required to make transportation tax returns regarding such transportation of property for hire; and that he, knowing this, wilfully and knowingly failed to make the required returns. The indictment was in sixteen counts, each being identical except as to the amounts and dates involved, and each charged that the defendant operated a trucking business known as the Ross Trucking Company or Samuel P. Ross, with its principal place of business in Washington, D. C., and transported property for hire for the Landover Sand Company of Bowie, Maryland; that such transportation of property was taxable under section 3475(a) of Title 26 U.S.C.; that the Landover Sand Company paid to Samuel P. Ross the taxes due; and that he, knowing he was required to account for and pay over said taxes to the United States, wilfully failed to do so. Title 26 U.S.C. § 3475(c) requires the person receiving the tax to make the returns and payments to the Collector in the district in which his principal place of business is located, or, if he has no principal place of business, to the Collector at Baltimore, Maryland. In either case this court would be the proper one in which to bring suit as the District of Columbia is a part of the Revenue Collection District of Maryland, which should be distinguished from a judicial district. (See Rule 18 of Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure; Bowles v. United States, 4 Cir., 1934, 73 F.2d 772, certiorari denied 294 U.S. 710, 55 S.Ct. 506, 79 L.Ed. 1245.
The defendant’s motion to dismiss, both as to the information and the in
The United States takes the position that a crime or crimes were alleged in the indictment and information in that section 3475(a) of Title 26 U.S.C., Chapter 30, imposes the tax; section 3475 (c) makes the one paying for the transportation liable for the tax, requires him to pay it to the one receiving payment for the transportation and makes the transporter responsible for filing returns and paying to the Government the taxes so collected; section 3473, also a part of Chapter 30, is the referral section and 'provides that:
“All provisions of law (including penalties) applicable in respect. of the taxes imposed by section 1700, shall, in so far as applicable and,not inconsistent with this chapter, be applicable in respect of the taxes imposed by this chapter.”
Title 26 U.S.C. § 1718(a) and (b), a part of the Internal Revenué Code, apply the criminal sanctions for the taxes imposed by section 1700, (Chapter 10). Section 1718(a) makes the wilful failure to make a return a misdemeanor and section 1718 (b) .makes the wilful failure to truthfully account for and pay over any tax imposed by Chapter 10 a felony.
The defendant argues that penalty provisions enacted in 1926, (section 1718(a) and (b)), and a referral section enacted in 1932, (section 3473), could not have been intended by Congress to apply to a tax imposed for the first time in 1942, (section 3475(a)), and, moreover, that the referral section is void for vagueness and indefiniteness. This vagueness arises, the defendant contends, from the fact that the Title of the United States Code in- which section 1700 is located is not identified and even assuming Title 26 is meant, provisions of law applicable in respect of taxes on dues and admissions could not conceivably be applicable to taxes imposed on the transportation of property.
The incorporation by reference of statutes with penal provisions is not uncommon. A contention similar to that of the defendant was made in Young v. United States, 9 Cir., 1949, 178 F.2d 78, 80, rehearing denied 1950, certiorari denied 339 U.S. 913, 70 S.Ct. 573, 94 L.Ed. 1339. In that case, the indictment was brought under section 694 et seq., section 697 and section 715 of Title 38. U.S.C., for knowingly causing a false, certificate to be made concerning a claim .for benefits under the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act. Section 697, the referral section, and section 694 et seq., both located in Chapter 11C, were enacted in 1944 while the penalty section, section-715 located in Chapter 12, had been enacted in 1933 without subsequent amendment. The Court held:
“Incorporation of statutes by reference has been a common practice in federal legislation, and the adoption of an earlier statute by reference makes it as much a part of the later statute as though it had been incorporated at full length.”
' The Internal Revenue Code of 1939, as amended, has many referral sections. There are two penalty sections to which reference is most frequently made, section 2707 and section 1718. Section 2707, located in Chapter 25, sets out the
Section 3473 is substantially the same in its wording as the other referral sections. In none of them is the Title referred to mentioned but merely the section involved, yet indictments and other suits brought under such referral sections, have consistently been upheld. (Contreras v. United States, 5 Cir., 1954, 213 F.2d 96; Mosely v. United States, 5 Cir., 1953, 207 F.2d 908, 909, certiorari denied 347 U.S. 933, 74 S.Ct. 626, 98 L.Ed. 1084; dicta United States v. Girgenti, 10 Cir., 1952, 197 F.2d 218; Kellems v. United States, D.C.D.Conn.1951, 97 F.Supp. 681; In re Haynes, D.C.D. Kan.1948, 1949, 88 F.Supp. 379; United States v. Yarborough, D.C.D.Md.C.D. 1954, 16 F.R.D. 212). The defendant’s further contention regarding the wording of referral section 3473 is that provisions applicable to a tax on dues and-admissions could not conceivably be applicable to taxes imposed on the transportation of property. Both are excise taxes. In the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, Chapter 33, relating to facilities and services, contains subchapter A entitled “Admissions and Dues.” Sub-chapter C, Part II, deals with the tax on transportation of property. Sub-chapter E, section 4294 refers to subtitle F for administrative provisions of general applicability. In subtitle F, Chapter 75 dealing with crimes, section 7202 makes the wilful failure to collect or pay over any tax imposed by the Title a felony, and section 7203 makes the wilful failure to file a return when required to do so under the Title a misdemeanor. While it is true the 1954 -Internal Revenue Code is not controlling in the cases now being considered, it is surely indicative of what provisions of law Congress deems to be of general applicability.
Section 3473 is different from the more usual type of referral section in two respects.. First, the referral section and the section imposing the tax are generally enacted at the same time. Secondly, the administrative provisions are usually at the end of the Chapter or subchapter to which they refer. However, sections 1400, 1622, 2400, 2401, 2402, 2470 and 1850 which impose the tax, have all been amended subsequent to the enactment of their various referral sections. More closely analogous to the referability of section 3473 to section 3475 are sections 3406 and 3408. Section 3406 imposing a tax on sporting goods, luggage, electric, gas and oil appliances, etc., was not enacted until September 20, 1941, and section 3408 imposing a tax on mechanical pencils and lighters, etc., not until October 21, 1951, while the referral section 3449 had previously been enacted in 1932 without any subsequent amendment.
Basically, the question before the court is not could Congress make the penalties of section 1718 applicable to the tax imposed by section 3470 by use of referral section 3473 but has it done so. In recent years, increasing attention has been given by the courts to administrative rules and regulations which interpret the statutes the agency is called up
As to the fourth point made by the defendant, on March 18, 1953, the United States, pursuant to a warrant of distraint, levied on a dump truck owned by the defendant to satisfy income tax due for 1946 and transportation of property taxes due from June 1946 through February 1950, in the total amount of $2551.37. The truck was sold for four hundred dollars. The defendant claims there were irregularities in
First, the defendant does not claim that he filed returns for the periods covered by the information, and is in no. position to contend that the United States could have known on March 18, 1958 the amount of taxes the defendant failed to pay on March 31, 1953 and April 30, 1953. Secondly, the distraint and levy were made for taxes other than those involved in the information and indictment now before the court; and the proceeds of sale were insufficient to satisfy the taxes for which the levy and distraint were made. Thirdly, and most important, no authority has been cited to the court holding that the discharge of a tax liability, whether by voluntary payment or forced collection, constitutes a bar to criminal liability. To the contrary, numerous cases have distinguished the civil and criminal sanctions of the Internal Revenue Code and have held that offers of compromise, the payment of heavy penalties and of the taxes due will not bar the United States from criminal prosecution. (Spies v. United States, 1943, 317 U.S. 492, 495, 63 S.Ct. 364, 87 L.Ed. 418; United States v. Sabourin, 2 Cir., 1946, 157 F.2d 820, certiorari denied, 1947, 329 U.S. 800, 67 S.Ct. 493, 91 L.Ed. 684; United States v. J. R. Watkins Co., D.C.D.Minn. 3rd D. 1954, 127 F.Supp. 97; United States v. Goldberg, and five other eases, D.C.D.Minn 4th D. 1954, 123 F.Supp. 385, appeals by the United States dismissed by stipulations of the parties, 219 F.2d 706, 708, 709, 950; United States v. Stoehr, D.C.M.D.Pa.1951, 100 F.Supp. 143, 162, affirmed, 3 Cir., 1952, 196 F.2d 276, 33 A.L.R.2d 836, certiorari denied 344 U.S. 826, 73 S.Ct. 28, 97 L.Ed. 643; United States v. LaFontaine, D.C.D.Md.1931, 54 F.2d 371). The contention that the Eighth Amendment has been violated was not further developed by the defendant’s counsel beyond the mere assertion thereof. The contention is obviously without merit.
Motion to dismiss both as to the criminal information and indictment is denied except as to the first count of the indictment.
. Wampler v. Snyder, 1933, 62 App.D.C. 215, 66 F.2d 195; United States v. Warring, D.C.D.Md.C.D.1954, 121 F.Supp. 546, affirmed, 4 Cir., 1955, 222 F.2d 906; United States v. Yarborough, D.C.D.Md.C.D.1954, 16 F.R.D. 212.
. Thomsen, C. J.; no opinion for publication.
. The United States Code, 1952 Ed., points out that, although section 620(b) of 56 Stat. 979 purports to amend subsections (a) and (b) of section 3471, subsections (a) and (c) were undoubtedly meant to be amended.
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