United States v. Little Miami, Columbus & Xenia Railroad Company.
(Circuit Court, S. D. Ohio. March, 1880.)
Internal Revenue—Act of June 30, 1864—Action to Recover Taxes Without an Assessment.—An action of debt may be maintained to recover taxes without an assessment, where the statute describes the subject of the taxes and fixes the rates, so that the amount may be
ascertained by evidence.
Same—Assessment Made and Paid—Subsequent Suit for Balance Beyond Assessment.—An assessment and payment are not a bar to a suit for the recovery of an amount claimed to be due over and above the
amount which has been thus assessed and paid.
Same—Corporation—Statute of Limitations.—The limitation of 15 months within which an assessment may be made has no application to an action against a corporation for taxes imposed by statute.
Railroad Corporation—Lease.—The lease of a railroad does not dissolve such corporation, and it may still be sued for liabilities incurred prior to such lease.
Same—Depreciation of Assets—Deduction from Profits.—The depreciation of assets during a certain period cannot be deducted from profits earned during the same period, in determining the taxable profits of a railroad corporation under the act of June 30, 1864.
Channing Richards, District Attorney, for the United States.
Stanley Matthews, for defendant.
Swing, J. This suit was brought by the United States to
recover the tax of 5 per cent. imposed by the internal revenue act of June 30, 1864, upon profits earned from the first of
July, 1864, to the first of December, 1869, and used in construction,
or carried to the credit of certain funds. It was
claimed by the United States that the defendant has earned
profits which were so used during that period amounting to
$326,000, on which no tax was paid.
The defences were: First, that returns were made each
year, and accepted by the government, upon which taxes were
assessed and paid; that no assessment has been made for the
additional amounts now claimed, and if there were errors and
omissions in the returns they cannot now be corrected, nor
can the taxes now be recovered without an assessment; second,
that the defendant in fact paid taxes on all profits made
