Landau

This is a case involving the applicability of the Federal “Admissions and Dues Tax” to a particular business establishment, although it involves neither admissions nor dues.

Congress, soon after World War I started, found that its intent to tax all places where admission was charged, “such as motion picture shows, theatres, circuses, entertainments, cabarets, ball games, athletic games, etc.,” was being defeated by a combination of free admissions and increased prices charged for service or food or drink inside cabarets, roof gardens, “or other similar places.” (Report of House Finance *253 Committee on Revenue, October, 1917.) It therefore imposed a tax on such portion of the charges made by “such places” which could fairly be attributable to an admission charge, regardless of the form in which the charge was made. Presently, this “Admissions Tax” is imposed under the terms of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, § 4231(6) and § 4232(b), 26 U.S.C.A. §§ 4231 (6), 4232 (b). Both of these sections were taken intact from the Revenue Code of 1939, 26 U.S.C. § 1700 (e), as amended. 26 U.S.C. § 1700 (e) (1) provided in part, prior to its 1951 amendment:

A third sentence in § 1700(e) (1)…