''Stanton v. Baltic Mining Co.'', 240 U.S. 103 (1916), is a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

case..

Background

Plaintiff John R. Stanton brought suit against the

Baltic Mining Company The Copper Range Company was a major copper-mining company in the Copper Country of Michigan, United States. It began as the Copper Range Company in the late 19th century as a holding company specializing in shares in the copper mines south of Ho ...

, in which he owned stock, to enjoin (stop) the company from paying income tax imposed under the

Revenue Act of 1913 The Revenue Act of 1913, also known as the Underwood Tariff or the Underwood-Simmons Act (ch. 16, ), re-established a federal income tax in the United States and substantially lowered tariff rates. The act was sponsored by Representative Oscar ...

. Stanton argued that because the income tax contained no provision for depletion of a mine's ore, it was a

direct tax Although the actual definitions vary between jurisdictions, in general, a direct tax or income tax is a tax imposed upon a person or property as distinct from a tax imposed upon a transaction, which is described as an indirect tax. There is a dis ...

on the mine's capital. As a direct tax, Stanton argued, it was invalid without meeting the apportionment requirement of Article I, Section 9, and was not covered by the Sixteenth Amendment. Stanton appealed from the district court's denial of the injunction.

Opinion of the Court

The U.S. Supreme Court noted that the case "was commenced by the appellant

ohn R. Stanton Ohn is a Burmese name, used by people from Myanmar. Notable people with the name include: * Daw Ohn (1913–2003), Burmese professor in Pali * Ohn Gyaw (born 1932), Burmese Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1991 to 1998 * Ohn Kyaing (born 1944), Bur ...

as a stockholder of the Baltic Mining Company, the appellee, to enjoin the voluntary payment by the corporation and its officers of the tax assessed against it under the income tax section of the tariff act of October 3, 1913." On a direct appeal from the trial court, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's decision, and rejected Stanton's request for a court order to prevent Baltic Mining Company from paying the income tax. Stanton argued that the tax law was unconstitutional and void under the

Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Fifth Amendment (Amendment V) to the United States Constitution addresses criminal procedure and other aspects of the Constitution. It was ratified, along with nine other articles, in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights. The Fifth Amend ...

in that the law denied "to mining companies and their stockholders equal protection of the laws and deprive them of their property without due process of law." The Supreme Court rejected that argument. Stanton also argued that the Sixteenth Amendment "authorizes only an exceptional direct income tax without apportionment, to which the tax in question does not conform" and that therefore the income tax was "not within the authority of that Amendment." The Court also rejected this argument and upheld the constitutionality of the income tax under the 1913 Revenue Act.

References

External links

* * United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the White Court 1916 in United States case law United States Sixteenth Amendment case law {{SCOTUS-stub