Wilmette Park District v. Campbell, Collector of Internal Revenue (338 U.S. 411)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 12, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 338 U.S. 411 · 70 S. Ct. 195
- Docket
- No. 75
- Argued
- November 15, 1949
- Decided
- December 12, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1949
- Vote
- 7–0
- Majority author
- Justice Clark
- Issue area
- Federal Taxation
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Clark (wrote), Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed, Justice Black
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Clark delivered the opinion of the Court. Section 1700 (a) (1) of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended, provides for the imposition, except as to certain classes of persons under circumstances not important here, of “A tax of 1 cent for each 10 cents or fraction thereof of the amount paid for admission to any place, including admission by season ticket or subscription.” Paragraph (2) of the subsection declares that the tax “shall be paid by the person paying for such admission.” And § 1715 requires that “Every person receiving any payments for admission . . . subject to the tax imposed by section 1700 . . . shall collect the amount thereof from the person making such payments.” This suit, brought to recover penalties paid by petitioner for noncollection of federal admissions tax, presents two questions for determination: Whether § 1700 (a) is applicable to paid admittances to a bathing beach operated without purpose of gain by a local park district of Illinois; and, if the Code provision is to be so interpreted, whether the imposition of admissions tax in connection with such state activity is within the constitutional power of Congress. Petitioner is Wilmette Park' District, a body politic and corporate located within the Village of Wilmette, Cook County, Illinois. Organized and administered pursuant to Illinois statutes, the District includes within its…
Excerpt of a 17,676-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.