Opinion · United States Court of Claims
Phillips Pipe Line Co. v. United States
Phillips Pipe Line Co. v. United States, 40 F. Supp. 981 (Ct. Cl. 1941)
- Type
- Opinion
- Court
- United States Court of Claims
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
- Date
- 1941-10-06
- Topic
- general
JoNes, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court: Is natural gasoline a liquid product of crude petroleum? That is the single issue in this case. *472The Revenue Act of 19321 imposes a tax upon “all transportation of crude petroleum and the liquid products thereof by pipe line.” The plaintiff paid taxes in the sum of $264;784.38 under the act on natural or casinghead gasoline which had been transported by pipe line. A refund of these taxes is sought on the ground that they were illegally collected. It is claimed that this type of gasoline is not a product of crude petroleum, but is a product of natural gas instead, and that it therefore does not fall within the terms of the revenue act. The evidence reveals a decided conflict among experts, text writers, and laymen.
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UpLaw has not yet analyzed Phillips Pipe Line Co. v. United States. The absence of a flag is not a finding that it is good law.
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PHILLIPS PIPE LINE CO. v. UNITED STATES, (1941)
40 F. Supp. 981
PHILLIPS PIPE LINE CO. v. UNITED STATES.
No. 44359.
United States Court of Federal Claims.
October 6, 1941.
Petition dismissed.
This case having been heard by the Court of Claims, the court, upon the report of a commissioner and the evidence, makes the following special findings of fact:
1. Plaintiff herein is now and at all times hereinafter mentioned was a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of Delaware, having its principal operating office in the City of Bartlesville, County of Washington, State of Oklahoma. Plaintiff is a wholly owned subsidiary of Phillips Petroleum Company.
2. The principal business of plaintiff consists of the transportation by pipe line of refinery gasoline, natural gasoline, and butane. In the conduct of such business, plaintiff owns and operates a pipe line extending from Borger, Texas, to East St. Louis, Illinois, with intermediate terminals at Wichita, Paola, and Kansas City, Kansas, and Jefferson City, Missouri. Plaintiff accepts tenders of refinery gasoline, natural gasoline and butane for shipment to terminals on its line and for transshipment from said terminals to other points in the United States by pipe line, rail, water, or truck, according to tariffs on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission. In the period from June 20, 1932, to March 31, 1936, both inclusive, plaintiff transported inWest Page 982its pipe line refinery gasoline, natural gasoline, and butane. The three products were transported through said pipe line separately and were kept in separate tanks at the terminals. Phillips Petroleum Company was the sole shipper over the plaintiff's line during the period June 20, 1932, to March 31, 1936.
3. Section 731 of the Revenue Act of 1932, effective June 20, 1932, as amended,50 Stat. 358, 26 U.S.C.A. Int.Rev. Acts, pages 636, 972, in so far as material herein, provides:
"§ 731. Tax on Transportation of Oil by Pipe Line.
"(a) There is hereby imposed upon all transportation of crude petroleum and liquid products thereof by pipe line originating on or after the fifteenth day after the date of the enactment of this Act and before July 1, 1939 —
"(1) A tax equivalent to 4 per centum of the amount paid on or after the fifteenth day after the date of the enactment of this Act for such transportation, to be paid by the person furnishing such transportation."
Subsequent to the enactment of the above statute, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue of the United States of America issued a ruling (S.T. 564, Internal Revenue Cumulative Bulletin XI-2, page 531) as follows:
"Regulations 42, Article 26: Basis of Tax.
"Transportation of natural or casing-head gasoline by pipe line is taxable.
"Natural or casing-head gasoline is a liquid product of crude petroleum, within the meaning of section 731 of the Revenue Act of 1932, and the transportation thereof by pipe line is subject to the tax imposed by that section of the law. * * *"
Pursuant to the above-quoted interpretation by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, taxes were paid by the plaintiff in an amount equal to 4% of the revenue received for the transportation through its pipe line of the above-named products during the period stated. For the period June 20, 1932, to March 31, 1936, inclusive, plaintiff paid to the collector the sum of $264,784.38 in respect to the transportation by pipe line of natural gasoline and butane, the amount paid in respect of transportation of natural gasoline being $235,367.17 and the amount paid in respect of transportation of butane being $29,407.21. The dates and amounts of each payment in respect of transportation of natural gasoline and butane are correctly shown in Exhibit A appearing at pages 10 and 11 of the petition filed in this action and made a part hereof by reference.
4. On or about June 17, 1936, plaintiff filed with the Collector of Internal Revenue for the Collection District of Oklahoma a claim for refund of the transportation taxes paid by it in respect of the transportation by pipe line of natural gasoline and butane for the period June 21, 1932, to March 31, 1936, both inclusive, in the sum of $264,784.38. Said claim was on Form 883 prescribed by the Treasury Department. On or about December 16, 1936, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue in Washington, D.C., notified the plaintiff of the rejection of the aforesaid claim. Plaintiff is the owner of such claim. No portion of said sum has been refunded to plaintiff.
5. All the natural gasoline and butane, in respect to which said transportation tax was paid, was shipped over plaintiff's line by Phillips Petroleum Company, originating at Borger, Texas, terminal. It was produced in the Panhandle Field of Texas.
6. The Panhandle Field of Texas is the largest single structure of gas in the United States. Starting in the southeast corner of Wheeler County, Texas, it extends in a northwesterly direction for a distance of 124 miles. It embraces over a million and a half acres. The field's major importance is as a gas reserve, although many wells produce gas from an upper structure, and oil and gas from a lower. All structures produce oil at sea level and all appear to be intercommunicative. A subsurface map of the Panhandle Field is in evidence as plaintiff's exhibit No. 2 and is made a part of this finding by reference.
7. There are four producing horizons or porous strata formations in the Panhandle Field represented on a drawing thereof in evidence as plaintiff's exhibit No. 2, which is made part hereof by reference. Beginning at the bottom thereof there are "granite wash," "gray dolomite," "white dolomite," and "brown dolomite." In each of these horizons are found gas and also some oil, the oil being found approximately at sea level.
8. There are two types of wells in the Panhandle area: (1) straight gas well producing nothing but gas (vapor); (2) well producing both gas and oil.West Page 983
9. Natural gas produced from wells is divided into four types: (1) Natural gas which comes from a straight gas well, and, as shown on the drawing in evidence as plaintiff's exhibit No. 2, is driven through the horizon of white dolomite and sandy dolomite, being the upper strata of the formation, and produces gas only. This is the largest source of gas in the Panhandle area. This gas is carried through pipes to a natural gasoline plant.
The other three types of gas are produced from a well which produces both gas and oil as follows:
(2) "Bradenhead" gas, existing in the formation above the oil and which comes up through the annular space between the outer casing and the next inner casing, the casing being cemented at the gas horizon.
(3) "Casinghead" gas which also exists in the formation above the oil, and when the oil strata is pierced comes up in the annular space between the second line of inner casing and a line of tubing in the center which produces the oil.
(4) "Tubinghead" gas or "solution gas" which exists in the reservoir in solution with the oil and comes up in the inside tubing along with the oil.
All of these types of gas are termed "natural gas" and are generally termed by the industry as —
(1) "gas well gas" as coming from a strict gas well;
(2) "gas cap gas" which embraces the "bradenhead" and "casinghead" types;
(3) "solution gas" which is the gas that comes in solution with the oil.
(5) There is an additional method of obtaining natural gas. Where the oil is placed in "stock tanks" or in "storage tanks" the gas that escapes from the oil therein is, in many instances, captured and is likewise piped to a natural gasoline plant
10. From the top of the well the —
(1) "gas well gas" is carried by pipe line directly to a natural gasoline plant.
(2) "gas cap gas" is handled likewise.
(3) "solution gas" which exists in the earth in solution with the oil and comes up through the tubing with the oil, if in sufficient quantity with the solution (the gas and oil mixture), is carried by pipe to a "separator" or "trap," usually about 200 feet from the well, where the gas rises and passes into the gas pipe line and is carried to the natural gasoline plant and the oil is carried to the "stock tank." Where there is not much gas in solution the oil is run directly into stock tanks and handled as set forth in finding 11.
11. From the well or from the "separator" the oil is carried by pipe line to a "stock tank" located in the field nearby, where it is allowed to stand for several days to permit the basic sediment, water, sand, etc., to settle to the bottom; then the oil is carried by pipe line into permanent "storage tanks" or into commerce. This oil is known as "merchantable" or "pipe-line oil.
12. The gas not carried into the natural gasoline plant, as set forth in finding 9, but remaining in the well is taken from thence, so far as practicable, under limitations of quantity provided by law, and as needed and desired, and piped into the gasoline plant in the field.
13. The natural gas or vapor, as above described, when carried from the well, or separator, to the "natural gasoline plant or refinery," is subjected to a process whereby the gasoline content of the gas or vapor is separated from the natural gas and becomes "natural gasoline," through one of the processes described herein in finding 14. This natural gasoline is then transported by pipe line and marketed. It usually goes to a pipe-line terminal or into an oil refinery where it is either stabilized or blended with the "refinery gasoline," that is, gasoline that is extracted from oil. The commodity thus stabilized or blended becomes "gasoline" which is used in motorcars and for other industrial and commercial purposes.
14. Natural gasoline was extracted or manufactured in the Panhandle Field in Texas by three processes:
(1) The charcoal absorption method, by means of which natural gas was passed through a bed of activated cocoanut charcoal. The charcoal absorbed fractions of the natural gas, and they were driven out of the charcoal bed by the passage of superheated steam. The hydrocarbon vapors driven off from the charcoal bed in this manner were then separated, the steam forming water, which was separated from the liquid raw natural gasoline so obtained. The raw natural gasoline passed after separation to a fractionating plant, which was a plant in which the natural gasoline was improved to meet the market specification requirements.West Page 984
(2) The compression method, by which the natural gas was subjected to pressure followed by cooling, thus causing the natural gasoline to condense.
(3) The oil absorption method, by which the natural gas was passed through a heavy absorption oil which retained the natural gasoline. Heating the oil transformed the natural gasoline hydrocarbons into vapor form, from which it was condensed to liquid natural gasoline.
The absorption method was the one most generally used in the Panhandle Field in Texas during the years 1932 to March 31, 1936.
15. Natural gasoline is a highly volatile gasoline extracted mechanically from natural gas usually found in or contiguous to known oil fields and from oil stock tank vapors. From whatever source derived, its characteristics are identical. Natural gasoline may also be extracted from crude oil.
16. One of the hydrocarbon components of natural gas is butane. In the process of extraction of natural gasoline from natural gas a considerable portion of butane is segregated as a liquid and is thereafter stored, shipped, and sold as a liquid. Butane is a gas at temperatures above 30° F., unless kept under pressure. To retain it as a liquid, therefore, butane is kept at a temperature below 30° F., or subject to pressure. It is classified as a "liquefied petroleum gas."
17. From 1932 to 1936 natural gasoline was not satisfactory for use alone as a motor fuel in automotive motors as then designed. For that purpose it required stabilization or blending with other gasolines, and the total American production was almost entirely so used.
18. Commercial operators and dealers in oil and gas (as distinguished from the scientific research, chemical and petroleum engineers and operators of the industry), generally understand the terms "crude," "crude oil," "crude petroleum," and "crude petroleum oil," as designating "merchantable" or pipe-line oil — the terms being used in a market or commercial sense. However, the terms "crude" and "crude oil" are the terms generally used in daily trade parlance, while the terms "petroleum" and "crude petroleum" are used more in technical writings.
This branch of the industry also regards "natural gasoline" as a product of natural gas and not as a product of crude petroleum.
Those engaged in the oil and gas industry or industries treat oil and gas as separate and distinct commodities, their prices and handling being different. Separate and distinct provisions are made in leases and in contracts for the production of and the payment of royalties on the two commodities.
19. The term "crude petroleum" was used synonymously with "crude oil" as designating "merchantable oil" by certain Acts of Congress as far back as 1897; likewise in certain of the earlier publications of the Bureau of Mines, although the bulletin for 1939 uses the term "crude oil" throughout.
The American Society for Testing Materials, a standard accepted authority of the industry, describes "crude petroleum" as "a naturally occurring mixture, consisting predominantly of hydrocarbons, and/or sulphur, nitrogen and/or oxygen derivatives of hydrocarbons, which is removed from the earth in liquid state or is capable of being so removed." Following this definition is a "note" that "Crude petroleum is commonly accompanied by varying quantities of extraneous substances such as water, inorganic matter, and gas."
Laws passed by various oil- and gas-producing states for conservation of natural resources, and for administering tax laws, use the terms "crude petroleum" or "crude petroleum oil" as designating "merchantable oil." These laws treat gas as a separate commodity. However, the use of the terms in the statutes has a definite meaning, as defined by statutory definition, as, the law of Arkansas, in Section 9 of the Act providing:
"C. `Oil' shall mean crude petroleum oil, and other hydro-carbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods * * *." Laws Ark. 1939, Act 105, § 9.
Quotation from laws of Arkansas is in evidence as plaintiff's exhibit No. 51, and is made part hereof by reference.
The law of Texas provides, Vernon's Ann.Civ.St.Tex., Art. 6049e, in evidence as plaintiff's exhibit No. 37 and made part hereof by reference, that "crude petroleum oil," "crude petroleum," "crude oil," and "oil," mean the same thing.
Various oil- and gas-producing states also provide a statutory definition of "product,"West Page 985as meaning any commodity made from oil or gas, and includes as products "* * * casing-head gasoline, natural-gas gasoline, naphtha, distillate, gasoline * * *."
20. There is no definite chemical dividing line between natural gas, natural gasoline, crude oil and refinery gasoline, except that manufactured by so-called cracking processes. All are composed of substantially identical natural hydrocarbon compounds. Those compounds consist of methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, hexane, heptane, octane, nonane and decane, with traces of heavier hydrocarbons. Natural gasoline contains a larger percentage of the lighter hydrocarbons than straight run refinery gasoline, but all are represented.
Physically the petroleum gases and liquids interchange their forms readily, depending only on variable temperature and pressure conditions.
A chart showing the hydrocarbons represented in natural gas, natural gasoline, etc., is in evidence as plaintiff's exhibit 16, and is hereby made a part of these findings by reference.
21. The production of oil and gas, and the manufacture of gasoline and other petroleum products in various phases, have been and are the subject of intensive research on the part of the industry's scientists, technicians, researchers, engineers and chemists. It is an advancing science. As a result of scientific study many conceptions have been changed, for instance, what was formerly known as "casinghead gasoline" and "natural gas gasoline" are now termed "natural gasoline." The term "reservoir fluid" has come into use as designating the content of the subsurface reservoir. The term "crude petroleum" is treated as broader and more inclusive than "crude" or "crude oil." They consider "crude petroleum" as the total hydrocarbon substance in the reservoir. Estimates of oil and gas in place are reported as petroleum reserves and include both the available oil and gas.
22. As defined by scientists, chemists, laboratory technicians, and research engineers (many of whom are operators), crude petroleum consists of a combination of various hydrocarbons in the gaseous phase, liquid phase, and the solid phase, each form having distinct physical characteristics. The hydrocarbons are combinations of carbon and hydrogen in forms which follow rather a definite scale. The formations can be varied by changing pressure or temperature.
"Crude" is an adjective denoting almost any form. "Crude petroleum" is a broader term than "crude oil" and includes the total hydrocarbon substances in the reservoir. Natural gas, crude oil, asphalt, paraffin wax are all parts of crude petroleum.
Estimates of oil and gas in place are reported as "petroleum reserves" and include all forms that may be found in gaseous, liquid, or solid form.
"Petroleum is a mixture of naturally occurring hydrocarbons which may assume either the solid, liquid, or gaseous state. These three phases of petroleum are transmutable, one into the other, by the application of moderate changes in temperature and pressure. Some of the constituents of petroleum are solids at ordinary earth temperatures, but the application of heat to produce a slight rise in temperature will cause them to assume liquid form and further heating to the boiling point will convert them into gases and vapors. Other constituents are vapors at ordinary tempertures, but earth pressures naturally developed within the containing rocks will cause them to condense, forming liquids. Relief of this pressure will permit the liquid to vaporize again, providing the temperature does not change. Liquid petroleum may also be converted into the solid or gaseous states by evaporation of the lighter and more volatile fractions, the latter forming gases or vapors, and the heavier fractions forming solids. * * *" Petroleum Production Engineering by Lester Charles Uren, 2nd Ed.
23. "Crude oil" is defined by the scientists, technicians, petroleum research engineers, and chemists as the liquid portion of petroleum in a crude or unrefined form. It is also defined by the technicians as a group of hydrocarbons, part of petroleum, which may be in a form which has a group of characteristics, the most common being gravity. Crude oil has gravity as high as 60° or 70° API, and as low as 6° or 7° API. When gravity is 60° to 70° API it has most of the characteristics of distillate or gasoline. When gravity is 6° or 7° API it has more of the characteristic of an asphalt. Also crude oil is found as a condensate in lines that normally carry petroleum in a gaseous form.
The commercial crude oil, bartered and traded in by the industry as a whole, is normallyWest Page 986a liquid which can be measured at ordinary atmospheric temperatures, it being bought and sold based upon a temperature of 60° F. at atmospheric pressure.
24. Natural gas is defined by some of the scientists and technicians of the industry as the naturally occurring mixture of gaseous constituents of petroleum.
25. Natural gasoline is defined as a series of hydrocarbons which are the lighter fractions of crude oil. Natural gasoline is obtained by the extraction or separation of the desirable hydrocarbons from natural gas in an extraction plant through a simple mechanical process. Natural gasoline is a liquid at normal temperature and is so stored and shipped.
26. Natural gasoline is a liquid product of crude petroleum.
J.W. Hussey, of Washington, D.C., and Samuel O. Clark, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen. (Robert N. Andersen and Fred K. Dyar, Sp. Assts. to the Atty. Gen., on the brief).
Before WHALEY, Chief Justice, LITTLETON, WHITAKER, JONES, and MADDEN, Judges.
The Revenue Act of 19321imposes a tax upon "all transportation of crude petroleum and liquid products thereof by pipe line."
The plaintiff paid taxes in the sum of $264,784.38 under the act on natural or casinghead gasoline which had been transported by pipe line.
A refund of these taxes is sought on the ground that they were illegally collected. It is claimed that this type of gasoline is not a product of crude petroleum, but is a product of natural gas instead, and that it therefore does not fall within the terms of the revenue act.
The evidence reveals a decided conflict among experts, text writers, and laymen.
No one has been down in the earth to see how oil and gas are made. No one knows the natural chemistry by which their constituent elements are changed from rags to riches. It is done in a hidden laboratory and is one of nature's miracles. The issue in this case therefore cannot be determined with mathematical precision. However, from analyses, wide experience, and voluminous handling logical deductions may be drawn.
Oil and gas are usually found in close proximity. Frequently they are found in the same well.
It is conceded that straight-run gasoline, usually used as a motor fuel, is made from crude petroleum and is a product thereof. Natural gasoline has substantially the same ingredients as straight-run gasoline, though in different proportions, the former having a larger percentage of the volatile elements, the latter a greater percentage of the stable elements. By present-day methods of stabilization natural gasoline can be made to have very similar characteristics to those of straight-run gasoline.
All types of gas and gasoline as well as petroleum itself are of the so-called hydrocarbon family. The chief ingredients of all of them are carbon and hydrogen. The relative percentages of each of these two elements contained in the commodity largely determine whether it is a light or a heavy gas or a liquid. The gaseous or liquid state varies with differing conditions of temperature and pressure.
Natural gas may be "wet" or "dry." Wet gas is so-called because it contains gasoline in considerable amounts. Dry gas contains lesser amounts, and some natural gasses in this classification contain virtually no gasoline. Natural gas is called "rich" or "lean" depending on the degree to which the gas is saturated with gasoline vapor.
Wet gas almost always comes from a well that produces both oil and gas. Dry gas usually comes from a well that produces gas only.
When natural gasoline is extracted from wet gas the residual gas is less wet after the extraction. It appears to be comparable to mist in the air. While artificial changes in temperature and pressure cause natural gasoline to have either a gaseous or liquid form, it is transported and marketed as a liquid.
Natural gasoline was first found in appreciable quantities when it dripped as a liquid from the wet gas that was beingWest Page 987conveyed by pipe from a well to a nearby engine where the gas was being used as a fuel. The accumulating liquids in the gas line interfered with gas transmission. Sometimes flowage was stopped altogether because water in the line tended to form plugs, especially in cold weather.
To avoid this difficulty a trap, compartment, or separator was attached to the pipe line into which the liquid gasoline dripped, thus permitting the gas to flow across at the top of the enlarged compartment. The natural gasoline could then be drawn off at the bottom through a vent or valve.
It was soon found that in some fields the gasoline was sufficient to be of value and other methods of extraction were developed, including the processes of absorption by oil, absorption by charcoal, compression, and refrigeration.
Absorption through oil is now the principal method. The usual plan is to force the wet gas through oil in what is known as a bubble tower, the oil absorbing the gasoline while the gas is passing through. The oil is then heated to the point at which the gasoline again becomes a vapor. The vapor is then cooled and condenses into a liquid gasoline.
There are many chemical names for the different types of gas and liquid hydrocarbons. Crude petroleum contains all of them in greater or less degree.
In the following chart we have indicated some of them:
| Methane | Essentially natural gas | at normal temperatures | | Ethane | and pressures | | Propane | | | Butanes | Crude Petroleum Constituents of straight-run | Pentanes | | gasoline | Hexanes | | Heptanes Constituents of natural | | Octanes | gasoline | | Nonanes | | | Decanes, etc. |
As we go from top to bottom on the chart we pass from the gas to a liquid state under normal temperature and pressure. The first two are predominantly gases. The third and fourth are on the dividing line. The lower ones are liquids. The principal difference is that the carbon and hydrogen content per molecule increase as we go down the line, the carbon content increasing a little more rapidly than the hydrogen. The entire list may be made liquids or gases or solids by extreme variations in temperature and pressure.
We have discussed these properties because the question of whether natural gasoline is normally a liquid or a gas is one phase of the issue in the case.
Straight-run gasoline and natural gasoline have practically the same ingredients, the difference being that straight-run has a larger percentage of the heavier hydrocarbons and the natural gasoline has a larger percentage of the lighter hydrocarbons.
Natural gasoline is turned into a regular motor fuel either by blending with heavier gasoline or by eliminating some of the lighter or more volatile elements by heating and other stabilization methods. This done, there is essentially no difference in the two products. Nothing need necessarily be added to natural gasoline in order to make it a motor fuel, only the more volatile elements eliminated or stabilized.
It is insisted that in the oil trade reference to crude petroleum is to petroleum after it has been made ready for pipe-line transmission. If the term "crude petroleum," however, were limited to oil after it has settled in the tanks and after certain ingredients have been removed either by settling, evaporation, escape, or other natural or artificial processes, there would be no term applicable to petroleum in its natural state with all its original ingredients. The more limited term is sometimes used in commercial transactions. This, however, is a matter of trade convenience. The general public understanding is in the broader sense. Even the trade uses the term in both senses.
There is disagreement among experts, in the trade, among textbook writers and in the courts as to the exact relationship between oil and gas. In the light of this division of opinion it is proper to examineWest Page 988the legislative history of the section under which the tax in question was levied and collected.
The provisions of the Revenue Acts of 19172and 19183provided a tax on the transportation of "oil by pipe line." These pipe-line tax provisions were later repealed.
The Act of 1932, as originally introduced, again taxed the transportation of "oil by pipe line." The language was changed in the Senate committee to provide a tax on the transportation by pipe line of "crude petroleum and liquid products thereof." In this form it was finally enacted. In the Committee Report it was explained that the change in wording would make the "transportation of gasoline as well as crude oil taxable."
The Conference Report, prepared by a Conference group representing both the House and Senate, stated that the change in wording would make the tax applicable to "crude petroleum and its liquid products instead of to oil only."
The substitution of the words "crude petroleum" and the liquid products thereof for the term "oil," accompanied by the stated reasons for the change leaves little doubt of the intention of the lawmakers.
Two United States district courts in well-reasoned opinions have reached the conclusion that it was the intention of the Congress to include natural gasoline within the taxable provisions.4
Manifestly it was the intention of Congress to tax pipe-line transportation. Natural gasoline is transported in liquid form in the same pipe line that is used in transporting straight-run gasoline that concededly is subject to the tax. Most of the natural gasoline, after blending with heavier gasoline, or after elimination of the more volatile properties, is used for the same purpose as straight-run gasoline. It would require a technical rather than a natural construction to exclude natural gasoline from the taxable provisions of the revenue act.
We find as a fact that as used in the Revenue Act of 1932 natural gasoline should be treated as a liquid product of crude petroleum and therefore subject to the tax.
The plaintiff is not entitled to recover and the petition is dismissed.
It is so ordered.West Page 1002
- 47 Stat. 275, 26 U.S.C.A. Int.Rev. Acts, page 636. ↩
- 40 Stat. 300, § 500(d). ↩
- 40 Stat. 1057, 1102, § 500(e). ↩
- General Petroleum Corp. v. United States, D.C.,24 F. Supp. 285,287-289. Standard Oil Company of California v. United States,39 F. Supp. 180, decided by the District Court for the Northern District of California, June 11, 1941. ↩