California State Board of Equalization v. George T. Goggin, Trustee of the Estate of Columbia Stamping and Manufacturing Corporation, Bankrupt

The State Board of Equalization was restrained from collecting from George T. Goggin, as Trustee in Bankruptcy, or from a purchaser from him, any tax or debt based upon a sale of tangible personal property, sold in liquidation of the estate. The Referee held that the imposition was a burden upon the process of officers liquidating an estate in bankruptcy. The District Judge adopted and amended the findings of the Referee and confirmed the order of restraint.

This Court has many times dealt with like questions at the insistence of the state authorities. The last time the problem came up in this Court, the taxing statute was in the exact terms which it now contains, as was the congressional law permitting officers of the bankruptcy court to pay taxes to the state for acts done in the conduct of the business. We then held that a state tax upon a sale of tangible property under an order of the bankruptcy court directing liquidation was a levy upon the process of a court of the United States and a burden upon its officers in an essential judicial function. This was based upon findings of fact made in that case by the Referee and affirmed by the District Judge.

Essentially, as applied…