The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation
Chapter 50 : [613] Norton Co. _v._ Dept. of Revenue, 340 U.S. 534 (1951), although decided by a clos

[613] Norton Co. _v._ Dept. of Revenue, 340 U.S. 534 (1951), although decided by a closely divided Court, further confirms this impression.

[614] 9 Wheat. 1, 217-219 (1824).

[615] Smith _v._ Turner (Pa.s.senger Cases), 7 How. 283 (1849).

[616] Henderson _v._ Mayor of New York, 92 U.S. 259 (1876); New York _v._ Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, 107 U.S. 59 (1883).

[617] 6 Wall. 35 (1868).

[618] Ibid. 49.

[619] 114 U.S. 196 (1885).

[620] Ibid. 203.

[621] _See_ Covington & C. Bridge Co. _v._ Kentucky, 154 U.S. 204 (1894); _also_ Edwards _v._ California, 314 U.S. 160 (1941), the decision in which represents the exact inverse of that in the Crandall Case, being based by the majority on the commerce clause, while several of the Justices preferred to put it on the broader grounds invoked by Justice Miller in the Crandall Case.

[622] Western Union Telegraph Company _v._ Texas, 105 U.S. 460 (1882) State Freight Tax Case, 15 Wall. 232 (1873) and Pensacola Telegraph Co.

_v._ Western Union Telegraph Co., 96 U.S. 1 (1878) were the precedents princ.i.p.ally relied on.

[623] 8 Wall. 168 (1869).

[624] Ibid. 181.

[625] Ibid. 182.

[626] 15 Wall. 232, 233-234, 278-279 (1873).

[627] 127 U.S. 640 (1888).

[628] Ibid. 645.

[629] Crutcher _v._ Kentucky, 141 U.S. 47 (1891).

[630] Ibid. 57.

[631] 266 U.S. 555 (1925).

[632] 268 U.S. 203 (1925); followed in Cudahy Packing Co. _v._ Hinkle, 278 U.S. 460 (1929). _Cf._, however, Western Live Stock _v._ Bureau of Revenue, 303 U.S. 250, 255 (1938).

[633] Anglo-Chilean Nitrate Sales Corp. _v._ Alabama, 288 U.S. 218 (1933).

[634] c.o.o.ney _v._ Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Co., 294 U.S.

384 (1935).

[635] Fisher's Blend Station _v._ State Tax Commission, 297 U.S. 650, 656 (1936).

[636] Puget Sound Stevedoring Co. _v._ Tax Commission of Was.h.i.+ngton, 302 U.S. 90 (1937).

[637] Adams Mfg. Co. _v._ Storen, 304 U.S. 307 (1938).

[638] McCarroll _v._ Dixie Greyhound Lines, 309 U.S. 176 (1940). _See also_ the following cases in which the Court found a tax to be an unconst.i.tutional interference with the interstate commerce privilege: Tax on maintenance of office in Pennsylvania for use of stockholders, officers, employees, and agents of railroad not operating in Pennsylvania but a link in a line operating therein, Norfolk & W.R. Co.

_v._ Pennsylvania, 136 U.S. 114 (1890); license tax on sale of liquor as applied to a sale out of State by mail, Heyman _v._ Hays, 236 U.S. 178 (1915); tax on pipe lines transporting oil or gas produced in State but which might pa.s.s out of State, Eureka Pipe Line Co. _v._ Hallanan, 257 U.S. 265 (1921); United Fuel Gas Co. _v._ Hallanan, 257 U.S. 277 (1921); Kentucky tax on gasoline purchased in Illinois and used in an Illinois-Kentucky ferry, Helson & Randolph _v._ Kentucky, 279 U.S. 245 (1929); tax laid on privilege of operating a bus in interstate commerce because not imposed solely as compensation for use of highways or to defray expenses of regulating motor traffic, Interstate Transit, Inc.

_v._ Lindsey, 283 U.S. 183 (1931); tax on gas pipe line whose only activity in State was the use of a thermometer and reduction of pressure to permit a vendee to draw off gas, State Tax Commission _v._ Interstate Natural Gas Co., 284 U.S. 41 (1931)--but see East Ohio Gas Co. _v._ Tax Commission, 283 U.S. 465 (1931); gasoline tax imposed per gallon of gasoline imported by interstate carriers as fuel for use in their vehicles within the State as well as in their interstate travel, Bingaman _v._ Golden Eagle Western Lines, 297 U.S. 626 (1936). _See also_, for reiteration of the basic rule that the commerce clause forbids States to tax the privilege of engaging in interstate commerce, Gwin, White & Prince _v._ Henneford, 305 U.S. 434, 438-439 (1939). In California _v._ Thompson, 313 U.S. 109 (1941), the Court, overruling Di Santo _v._ Pennsylvania, 273 U.S. 34 (1927), sustained, as not a "revenue measure," but "a measure to safeguard the traveling public by motor vehicle," who are "particularly unable" to protect themselves against overreaching by those "engaged in a business notoriously subject to abuses," a California statute requiring that agents for this type of transportation take out a license for both their interstate and their intrastate business.

[639] 216 U.S. 1 (1910). _Cf._ Osborne _v._ Florida, 164 U.S. 650 (1897), involving an express business; in Pullman Company _v._ Adams, 189 U.S. 420 (1903); and in Allen _v._ Pullman's Palace Car Co., 191 U.S. 171 (1903). Here State taxes levied on the local business of companies engaged also in interstate commerce were sustained "on the a.s.sumption" that the companies in question were free to abandon their local business.

[640] _See also_ Pullman Co. _v._ Kansas ex rel. Coleman, 216 U.S. 56 (1910); Ludwig _v._ Western Union Teleg. Co., 216 U.S. 146 (1910); Atchison, T. & S.F.R. Co. _v._ O'Connor, 223 U.S. 280, 285 (1912).

[641] 245 U.S. 178 (1917). _Cf._ Baltic Mining Co. _v._ Ma.s.sachusetts, 231 U.S. 68 (1914); Kansas City Ry. _v._ Kansas, 240 U.S. 227 (1916); and Kansas City, M. & B.R. Co. _v._ Stiles, 242 U.S. 111 (1916). In each of these a tax like that involved in Looney _v._ Crane was sustained, in the first two because the statute set a maximum limit to the tax; in the third because the amount collected under the act was held to be "reasonable." The ideology of these decisions is clearly opposed to that of the cases treated in the text. The rule in Looney _v._ Crane Co. was held not applicable in the case of a West Virginia corporation doing business in Illinois and owning practically all of its property there.

An Illinois tax on the local business, which was measured by the total capitalization of the company was sustained, it being shown further that the tax was little more than it would have been if levied at the same rate directly on the property of the company that was in Illinois. Hump Hairpin Mfg. Co. _v._ Emmerson, 258 U.S. 290 (1922).

[642] 246 U.S. 135 (1918). _See also_ Locomobile Co. of America _v._ Ma.s.sachusetts, 246 U.S. 146 (1918); Cheney Brothers Co. _v._ Ma.s.sachusetts, 246 U.S. 147 (1918); Union Pacific R.R. Co. _v._ Pub.

Service Comm., 248 U.S. 67 (1918).

[643] 246 U.S. at 141.

[644] 277 U.S. 163 (1928).

[645] Ibid. 171.

[646] 294 U.S. 384 (1935).

[647] 297 U.S. 403 (1936).

[648] Ibid. 415. Headnote 6.

[649] 8 Wall. 168, 181 (1869). _See also_ Bank of Augusta _v._ Earle, 13 Pet. 519 (1839); and Security Mut. L. Ins. Co. _v._ Prewitt, 202 U.S.

246 (1906).

[650] _See_ Atlantic Lumber Co. _v._ Commissioner, 298 U.S. 553 (1936); Southern Natural Gas Corp. _v._ Alabama, 301 U.S. 148 (1937); Atlantic Refining Co. _v._ Virginia, 302 U.S. 22 (1937); Coverdale _v._ Arkansas-Louisiana Pipe Line Co., 303 U.S. 604 (1938); Ford Motor Co.

_v._ Beauchamp, 308 U.S. 331 (1939); Treasury of Indiana _v._ Wood Corp., 313 U.S. 62 (1941); Wheeling Steel Corp. _v._ Glander, 337 U.S.

562, 571 (1949); _Cf._ however, James _v._ Dravo Contracting Co., 302 U.S. 134 (1937); Memphis Natural Gas Co. _v._ Stone, 335 U.S. 80, 85-86 (1948).

[651] Philadelphia & R.R. Co. _v._ Pennsylvania (State Freight Tax Case), 15 Wall. 232 (1873).

[652] Prudential Ins. Co. _v._ Benjamin, 328 U.S. 408, 418 (1946).

[653] 12 Wheat. 419 (1827).

[654] Philadelphia & R.R. Co. _v._ Pennsylvania, 15 Wall. 284 (1873).

[655] Philadelphia & S. Mail S.S. Co. _v._ Pennsylvania, 122 U.S. 326 (1887).

[656] Western Union Tel. Co. _v._ Ma.s.sachusetts, 125 U.S. 530 (1888).

[657] Ibid. 547.