Wisconsin Electric Power Co. v. United States (336 U.S. 176)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 14, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 336 U.S. 176 · 69 S. Ct. 492
- Docket
- No. 237
- Argued
- January 7, 1949
- Decided
- February 14, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Reed
- Issue area
- Federal Taxation
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Burton, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed (wrote), Justice Black, Justice Rutledge, Justice Murphy
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Reed delivered the opinion of the Court. Petitioner, engaged in the business of supplying electric energy to the public, seeks the refund of taxes paid by it pursuant to § 3411 of the Internal Revenue Code. That section, in pertinent part, provides for a tax “. . . upon electrical energy sold for domestic or commercial consumption . . . equivalent to 3 per centum of the price for which so sold, to be paid by the vendor under such rules and regulations as the Commissioner, with the approval of the Secretary, shall prescribe.” Note that the statute taxes energy for domestic or commercial consumption. There is no provision for taxation of electrical energy used for industrial purposes. The purchasers of the electric power here involved are 27 dairy plants which are engaged primarily in the collection, pasteurization, and distribution of fresh milk. The sole question presented by the case is whether the use of electricity by these dairies is commercial consumption within the meaning of the statute or industrial consumption, a use not covered by the statute. The functions of the dairy plants are sufficiently similar so that they can be treated as one for the purpose of describing their methods of operation. The plants are buildings equipped with milk-handling machinery and facilities located either off the dairy farms, or on the dairy farm itself as an activity apart…
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