In re Amadio
In re Amadio
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This is an appeal from an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Clarion County dated February 7,
The facts of this case are not in dispute. In 1976, Amadio received notice that she had been classified as “nurse-registered” for purposes of the occupation tax. She appealed this assessment to the Board and received a hearing on the matter on September 9, 1976. Upon consideration of the evidence presented, the Board dismissed Amadio’s appeal. She appealed this decision to the lower court under Section 704 of The Fourth to Eighth Class County Assessment Law, Act of May 21, 1943, P.L. 571, as amended, 72 P.S. §5453.704.
The lower court conducted a hearing on Amadio’s appeal on November 30, 1976. At this hearing, Amadio conceded that she is a registered nurse. She stated that she performed services in this capacity as well as clerical duties during the afternoon hours in her husband’s office, but that at no time was she ever paid wages or other compensation in return for her services. Her testimony also revealed that, on occasion, her husband, Dr. Angelo Amadio,. received fees for services which were rendered exclusively by her in her professional capacity.
In its opinion, the lower court followed the recognized principle that an occupation tax identical for all members of a particular occupation is a valid tax.
[I] t will not do to tax one member of a class $100 and another member of the same class $1,000, upon the supposition, or even upon the fact, that the one earns more than the other. An ‘occupation’ tax is peculiar in its character. It is not a tax upon property, but upon the pursuit which a man follows in order to acquire property and support his family. It is a tax upon income in the sense only that every other tax is a tax upon income; that is to say, it reduces a man’s clear income by the precise amount of the tax.
Based on this principle, the court reasoned that the controlling fact in the case was whether Amadio was engaged in the occupation for which she was assessed. In making .this determination, the court viewed it to be of no consequence that Amadio voluntarily chose not to receive compensation. The court concluded that Amadio performed services in her husband’s office as a registered nurse and was therefore engaged in the occupation for which she was assessed. Based on this conclusion, the court deemed the assessment proper and dismissed Amadio’s appeal.
Amadio raises a single, narrow issue on appeal. She contends that the controlling factor here is that she never received any wages or other compensation for-her services. In so arguing, she does not dispute the principle that an occupation tax is clearly not an income tax. She contends, however, that absent her receipt of any salary, income or other compensation, it is error to classify her in an occupation'.
In support of her position, Amadio relies heavily upon recent case law which has held the assessment of housewives for occupation tax purposes to be invalid. See Peifer v. Central Dauphin School District,
Order
And Now, this 27th day of July, 1978, the- Order of the Court of Common Pleas of Clarion County dated February 7, 1977, at Civil Division Docket No. 635 Term 1976 (106-425) is hereby affirmed and the appeal of Margaret L. Amadio is dismissed.
The example used during the hearing was the occasional ad-. ministering of injections to patients.
It should be noted that, by our decision today, we are neither approving nor disapproving the holdings in the “housewife”’cases.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.