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State Income Taxation Of Multijurisdictional Corporations: Reflections On Mobil, Exxon, And H.R. 5076, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The state tax field is enjoying a renaissance of sorts. The Supreme Court has displayed a renewed interest in the area, handing down an unusual number of significant decisions addressed to the constitutional restraints on state tax power. State courts have exhibited a similar revival of interest in these problems through an out-pouring of uncharacteristically thoughtful opinions concerning state taxation of multistate and multinational enterprise. Congress, whose concern with state taxation of interstate and foreign commerce has been sporadic, is again considering legislation that would limit state taxing authority in these domains.

Even the executive branch, which seldom intervenes in …

The Governmental-Proprietary Distinction In Constitutional Law, Michael L. Wells, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The governmental-proprietary distinction has led a stormy life. Courts have characterized it as “illusory,” a “quagmire,” a “rule of law that is inherently unsound,” and as a “talismanic formula” that results in “unenlightening characterizations of States’ activities.” Commentators have branded the distinction as “probably one of the most unsatisfactory known to the law,” have questioned its internal coherence, and have dismissed it as irrelevant in constitutional decisions. The distinction, however, clings stubbornly to life, appearing in a remarkably wide range of cases. The United States Supreme Court itself appears ambivalent about its worth. In some cases, the Court has rejected …