YOSEMITE PARK CURRY CO v. JOHNSON (1938)

The plaintiff herein sued to recover sales taxes imposed on retail sales to visitors and others in Yosemite National Park, and paid by it under protest. A demurrer to the complaint was sustained, and judgment entered for the defendant. The plaintiff appealed from the judgment.

Most of the questions raised are answered by the decision this day filed in the case of Standard Oil Company of California v. Johnson, Cal.Supp., 76 P.2d 1184, this day decided, and that decision is deemed controlling on the disposition of those questions herein.

The plaintiff is a private corporation authorized to do business in this state. It operates as United States government lessee and concessioner in Yosemite Valley under a contract with the Secretary of the Interior. The additional contention herein that as such lessee and concessioner it is not subject to the reserved taxing power of the state has been answered adversely in the case of Rainier National Park Co. v. Henneford, 182 Wash. 159, 45 P.2d 617, petition for writ of certiorari denied 296 U.S. 647, 56 S.Ct. 307, 80 L.Ed. 460. In that case a similar lessee and concessioner operating in a national park was held subject to taxation by the state. See, also, Silas Mason, Inc., v. State Tax Commission, 188 Wash. 98, 61 P.2d 1269, affirmed 58 S.Ct. 233, 82 L.Ed. 187, and Rainier National Park Co. v. Martin, D.C., 18 F.Supp. 481, affirmed 58 S.Ct. 478, 82 L.Ed. 511. We find no merit in the contention. Nor may it be said that the exercise of the reserved taxing power will hinder the Yosemite Park & Curry Company in the efficient performance of its contract with the federal government.

The judgment is affirmed.

PER CURIAM.