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VICENTE MADRIGAL and his wife, SUSANA PATERNO vs. JAMES J.

RAFFERTY, Collector of Internal Revenue, and VENANCIO CONCEPCION, Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue G.R. No. L-12287 August 7, 1918

MALCOLM, J.: CASE DIGEST BY: KIRSTIE BARRION Facts: Vicente Madrigal and Susana Paterno were legally. The marriage was contracted under the provisions of law concerning conjugal partnerships (sociedad de gananciales.). On February 25, 1915, Vicente Madrigal filed sworn declaration with the Collector of Internal Revenue, showing, as his total net income for the year 1914, the sum of P296,302.73. Subsequently Madrigal submitted the claim that the said P296,302.73 did not represent his income for the year 1914, but was in fact the income of the conjugal partnership existing between himself and his wife Susana Paterno, and that in computing and assessing the additional income tax provided by the Act of Congress of October 3, 1913, the income declared by Vicente Madrigal should be divided into two equal parts, one-half to be considered the income of Vicente Madrigal and the other half of Susana Paterno. The revenue officer was not satisfied with Madrigals explanation and ultimately, the United States Commissioner of Internal Revenue decided against the claim of Madrigal. Madrigal paid under protest, and the couple decided to recover the sum of P3,786.08 alleged to have been wrongfully and illegally assessed and collected by the CIR.

Issue: Whether or not the income reported by Madrigal on 1915 should be divided into 2 in computing for the additional income tax because of the conjugal partnership. Held: The learned argument of counsel is mostly based upon the provisions of the Civil Code establishing the sociedad de gananciales. The counter contentions of appellees are that the taxes imposed by the Income Tax Law are as the name implies taxes upon income tax and not upon capital and property; that the fact that Madrigal was a married man, and his marriage contracted under the provisions governing the conjugal partnership, has no bearing on income considered as income, and that the distinction must be drawn between the ordinary form of commercial partnership and the conjugal partnership of spouses resulting from the relation of marriage. The Supreme Court ruled against the Madrigals. To recapitulate, Madrigal wants to divide into half his declared income in computing for his tax since he is arguing that he has a conjugal partnership with his wife. However, the court ruled that the one that should be taxed is the income which is the flow of the capital, thus it should not be divided into 2. Susana Paterno, wife of Vicente Madrigal, has an inchoate right in the property of her husband Vicente Madrigal during the life of the conjugal partnership. She has an interest in the ultimate

property rights and in the ultimate ownership of property acquired as income after such income has become capital. Susana Paterno has no absolute right to one-half the income of the conjugal partnership. Not being seized of a separate estate, Susana Paterno cannot make a separate return in order to receive the benefit of the exemption which would arise by reason of the additional tax. As she has no estate and income, actually and legally vested in her and entirely distinct from her husband's property, the income cannot properly be considered the separate income of the wife for the purposes of the additional tax. Moreover, the Income Tax Law does not look on the spouses as individual partners in an ordinary partnership. The husband and wife are only entitled to the exemption of P8,000 specifically granted by the law. The higher schedules of the additional tax directed at the incomes of the wealthy may not be partially defeated by reliance on provisions in our Civil Code dealing with the conjugal partnership and having no application to the Income Tax Law. The aims and purposes of the Income Tax Law must be given effect. In connection with the decision above quoted, it is well to recall a few basic ideas. The Income Tax Law was drafted by the Congress of the United States and has been by the Congress extended to the Philippine Islands. Being thus a law of American origin and being peculiarly intricate in its provisions, the authoritative decision of the official who is charged with enforcing it has peculiar force for the Philippines. It has come to be a well-settled rule that great weight should be given to the construction placed upon a revenue law, whose meaning is doubtful, by the department charged with its execution.

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