# Annenberg v. Commonwealth

> Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania · December 23, 1996 · 686 A.2d 1380

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4953486

## Case

- **Full name:** Walter H. and Leonore ANNENBERG v. COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania and Thomas W. Corbett, Jr., Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Board of Commissioners of the County of Montgomery, being Richard Buckman, Joseph Hoeffel, and Mario Mele (solely in their official capacities), and Board of Assessment Appeals of the County of Montgomery, and County of Montgomery
- **Court:** Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
- **Decided:** December 23, 1996
- **Citations:** 686 A.2d 1380; 1996 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 542
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Colins
- **Judges:** Colins, Doyle, Flaherty, Friedman, Leadbetter, McGinley, Smith
- **Cited by:** 9 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/4953486

## How later opinions describe it (automated extraction)

- concluding that, where “the involvement of the Commonwealth is minimal,” the Commonwealth is not an indispensable party

## Opinion text

COLINS, President Judge,
concurring.
I concur with the majority’s decision to transfer this matter to the Court of Common Pleas of Montgomery County for expedited consideration. This matter should be resolved by the trial court forthwith.
However, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that any complex factual inquiries are necessary. This tax is facially unconstitutional and is on all fours with the taxing statutes in Fulton Corp. v. Faulkner, — U.S. -, 116 S.Ct. 848 , 133 L.Ed.2d 796 (1996). I also disagree with the majority’s conclusion that this case potentially involves the attempted justification of the tax as a compensatory tax. Although the Supreme Court in Fulton noted that a facial discriminatory tax may be upheld where the tax is shown to be compensatory and stated a three-prong test, that inquiry too is strictly a matter of law. Furthermore, the respondents do not assert that the Montgomery County personal property tax is compensatory.
I also wish to emphasize the need to have this matter resolved with dispatch. The An-nenbergs have properly exercised their legal rights and will receive a refund once this tax is stricken. However, no such remedy will inure to the benefit of the countless middle-class taxpayers who lack the resources to mount a similar challenge. Prolonging this litigation will result in the continued collection of an illegal tax and will merely delay the inevitable. The majority’s decision has “scotched the snake, not killed it.” 1
. William Shakespeare, Macbeth, act 3.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/4953486. Public record. Not legal advice.