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Matter of Varsity Transit v. Dept. of Fin

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Jan 30, 1990
157 A.D.2d 620 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990)

Opinion

January 30, 1990

Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (Ira Gammerman, J.).


Respondent correctly concluded that the computation of the general corporation tax herein did not result in double taxation of petitioner's income. Petitioner's general corporation tax liability was, by its terms, calculated upon petitioner's business and investment capital (Administrative Code of City of New York § 11-604 [1] [E] [2]) and not upon its net income (Administrative Code § 11-604 [1] [E] [1], [3]).

It is well settled that, in the area of taxation even more than in other fields, legislatures possess the greatest freedom in classification and that the burden is on the one asserting the statute's constitutional infirmity to demonstrate the absence of any conceivable state of facts which would support the classification (Matter of Catapano Co. v. New York City Fin. Admin., 40 N.Y.2d 1074, 1075). Further, if the classification is neither capricious nor arbitrary and rests upon some reasonable consideration or difference or policy, there is no denial of equal protection of law (Allied Stores v. Bowers, 358 U.S. 522, 527). The method of calculating the general corporation tax for vendors of utility services bears a rational relationship to the policy goal of the statute, which is to assess the greatest general corporation tax liability allowable without taxing income already taxed under the Utility Tax Law. Thus, the challenged computation scheme is not violative of equal protection laws.

Concur — Sullivan, J.P., Asch, Kassal, Smith and Rubin, JJ.


Summaries of

Matter of Varsity Transit v. Dept. of Fin

Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department
Jan 30, 1990
157 A.D.2d 620 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990)
Case details for

Matter of Varsity Transit v. Dept. of Fin

Case Details

Full title:In the Matter of VARSITY TRANSIT, INC., Petitioner, v. DEPARTMENT OF…

Court:Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, First Department

Date published: Jan 30, 1990

Citations

157 A.D.2d 620 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990)
550 N.Y.S.2d 638