Gallup American Coal Co. v. Beall’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Here is a plain provision that none of the taxes levied by the act (including certainly the tax of one-fourth of one per cent, on the gross receipts of coal mining) shall apply to sales made to the government of the United States, or any of its departments or agencies. Yet it is claimed by the state that in order to interpret this provision we must first determine the exact character of this excise; that we will find it not to have been laid upon any sale, nor upon gross receipts, but upon the privilege or business of coal mining; and that consequently the exempting language is inappropriate and inapplicable. * * * “This comprehensive revenue measure may in some of its incidents be a variance from the simple sales tax. When strict classification shall be called for, we may put it or parts of it in other category or categories. Its dominant feature, however, as to those who sell, is that for each sale there is an accession of revenue. Whether we consider the particular language used or the intent to be gathered from the nature of the tax, we conclude that sales to agencies of the United States are not to be included in the aggregate gross receipts upon which the tax is to be computed. “We therefore find appellant’s first claim of error to be well takén.” (Italics added.)”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Black Hawk Consol. Mines Co. v. Gallegos