Gumpert v. United States (296 F.2d 927, 1961)

T a t> a «nnn T LARAMORE, Judge.

This is a suit to recover amounts paid by the plaintiffs to the United States as excise tax on the transportation of persons in connection with the operation of a sightseeing business. Said tax was allegedly illegally and erroneously collected for the years 1953 to 1957-

For the Purposes of this °Pinion’ we shall treat the petitioners, Armand A. Gumpert and Richard J. Batt, Jr., as though they were a partnership for the period involved, and will hereinafter refer to petitioners as plaintiffs.

Throughout the period involved, plaintiffg were engag.ed in the buginegs of operating sightseeing tours by means of limousines to various points of interest in the City of New Orleans, Louisiana. During this period plaintiffs paid excise taxes for each year involved, totaling $12,754.37. In 1957, plaintiffs ceased paying this excise tax on the assumption that the tax was imposed illegally and erroneously. This suit is the culmination of plaintiffs’ efforts to have returned to them the tax collected from them for the years in dispute.

The pertinent sections of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, 26 U.S.C.A., un^er ^ax c°Hecte