# People Ex Rel. Alpha Portland Cement Co. v. Knapp

> New York Court of Appeals · November 23, 1920 · 230 N.Y. 48

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3617654

## Case

- **Full name:** The People of the State of New York Ex Rel. Alpha Portland Cement Company, Respondent, v. Walter H. Knapp Et Al., Constituting the Tax Commission of the State of New York, Appellants
- **Court:** New York Court of Appeals
- **Decided:** November 23, 1920
- **Citations:** 230 N.Y. 48; 129 N.E. 202; 1920 N.Y. LEXIS 557
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Dissent by Pound
- **Judges:** Cardozo, Andrews, Pound
- **Cited by:** 159 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3617654

## Opinion text

Pound, J. (dissenting).
I dissent. No reported case has gone so far as to hold, as we are about to hold in principle that a foreign corporation, if admitted to another state, may be assessed for the privilege of doing business in such state only on the earnings of the local business or on the capital employed therein. The license fee exacted by this state is in no sense a tax on the entire business or property, or the entire income of the relator. It does not come under the condemnation of such cases as
International Paper Co.
v.
Mass.
( 246 U. S. 135 ). It places no direct burden either upon interstate commerce or on
*70
property beyond the jurisdiction of the state. It aims to attach a value to the privilege of doing business in the state not based on the capital employed or the income produced in this state merely, but ascertained by a mode of measurement which considers the intrastate business as part of a going concern. The burden is indirect and generally speaking not unfair.
(Maine
v.
Grand Trunk Ry. Co.,
142 U. S. 217 ;
U. S. Glue Co.
v.
Town of Oak Creek,
247 U. S. 321 .)
The order appealed from should be reversed and the writ of certiorari dismissed, with costs in all courts.
Chase and Crane, JJ., concur with Cardozo, J.; Andrews, J., concurs in result in opinion; His cock, Ch. J., and Collin, J., dissent and vote for affirmance on ground that statute is unconstitutional; Pound, J., reads dissenting opinion.
Ordered accordingly.

---

Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/3617654. Public record. Not legal advice.