The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952
History
The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation: Annotations of Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of the United States to June 30, 1952
Constitutional law -- United States; Constitutions -- United States
Also, a State may impose a tax upon the net income of property, as
distinguished from the net income of him who owns or operates it,
although the property is used in interstate commerce;[720] also a
"franchise tax" measured by the net income justly attributable to
business done by corporations within the State, although part of the
income so attributable comes from interstate and foreign commerce;[721]
also a tax on corporate net earnings derived from business done wholly
within the State may be applied to the income of a foreign pipeline
corporation which is commercially domiciled there and which pipes
natural gas into that State for delivery to, and sale by, a local
distributing corporation to local consumers.[722] Indeed it was asserted
that even if the taxpayer's business were wholly interstate commerce,
such a nondiscriminatory tax upon its net income "is not prohibited by
the commerce clause," there being no showing that the income was not on
net earnings partly attributable to the taxing State;[723] but a more
recent holding appears to contradict this position.[724]
MISCELLANEOUS TAXES AFFECTING INTERSTATE COMMERCE
Vessels
In Gloucester Ferry Company _v._ Pennsylvania,[725] decided in 1885, the
Court held inapplicable to a New Jersey corporation which was engaged
solely in transporting passengers across the Delaware River and entered
Pennsylvania only to discharge and receive passengers and freight, a
statute which taxed the capital stock of all corporations doing business
within the State. Such transactions, the Court held, were interstate
commerce; nor were the company's vessels subject to taxation by
Pennsylvania, their taxing _situs_ being in the company's home State.
The only property held by the company in Pennsylvania was the lease
there of a wharf which could be taxed by the State according to its
appraised value; and the State could also levy reasonable charges by way
of tolls for the use of such facilities as it might itself furnish for
the carrying on of commerce. This ruling rested on two earlier ones. In
1855, the Court had held that vessels registered in New York, owned by a
New York corporation, and plying between New York City and San Francisco
had the former city for their home port, and were not taxable by
California where they remained no longer than necessary to discharge
passengers and freight;[726] and in 1877 it had sustained Keokuk, Iowa
in charging tolls for the use by vessels plying the Mississippi of
wharves owned by the municipality, said tolls being reasonable and not
discriminatory as between interstate and intrastate commerce.[727] Today
it is still the general rule as to vessels plying between ports of
different States and engaged in the coastwise trade, that the domicile
of the owner is deemed to be the _situs_ of the vessel for purposes of
taxation,[728] unless the vessel has acquired actual _situs_ in another
State, by continuous employment there, in which event it may be taxed
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account