Law Commons^™

An Analytical Approach To State Tax Discrimination Under The Commerce Clause, Philip M. Tatarowicz, Rebecca F. Mims-Velarde

Vanderbilt Law Review

The commerce clause as an instrument of federalism facilitates a system of government that places a national government over fifty sovereign states. Federalism requires a balancing of the interest in a unified national approach to government with the competing interest in state sovereignty. As Justice Brennan explained:

"Our Constitution is an instrument of federalism. The Constitution furnishes the structure for the operation of the States with respect to the National Government and with respect to each other.. ..Because there are 49 States and much of the Nation's commercial activity is carried on by enterprises having contacts with more States than …

Constitutional Limitations On State Taxation Of Corporate Income From Multinational Corporations, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article explores the Supreme Court's treatment, leading up to and including the Container decision, of state taxation of corporate income from multinational operations. Part II highlights the Court's development, prior to 1982, of the basic principles of federal limitations on the states' taxing powers that guided its decision in Container. Part III takes a more detailed look at two 1982 Supreme Court cases, ASARCO, Inc. v. Idaho State Tax Commission and F.W. Woolworth Co. v. Taxation and Revenue Department, in which the states suffered a setback in their efforts to extend the reach of their taxing powers over income …

State Taxation Of Energy Resources: Are Consuming States Getting Burned?, Nancy E. Shurtz

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the severe energy shortage it caused in the United States prompted federal authorities to formulate a national energy policy that would encourage exploitation of domestic energy resources. As the federal government has implemented this energy policy, states rich in natural resources have begun to tax the energy mining and production operations within their borders.

In this Article Professor Shurtz discusses the constitutional limits of this taxation and examines how the revenues from these taxes alter the balance of wealth between energy-producing and energy-consuming states. Professor Shurtz concludes that revisions in revenue sharing formulae, …

State Taxation Under The Commerce Clause: An Historical Perspective, Jerome R. Hellerstein

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although Congress has plenary power under the commerce clause to regulate state taxation of interstate commerce, that power remained virtually unexercised until 1959. As a consequence of the silence of Congress, the task of reconciling the competing interests of states, multistate businesses, and local businesses, and accommodating those interests to the needs of a national economy fell by default to the Supreme Court. The instrumentality available to the Court for dealing with the complex political, fiscal, and economic controversies inherent in state taxation of multistate business was the commerce clause (augmented by due process restrictions and,to a lesser extent, the …

Interstate Corporate Income Taxation-Recent Revolutions And A Modern Response, Eugene F. Corrigan

Vanderbilt Law Review

In recent years significant technical advances have enabled large corporations to sell into states from great distances and with a minimum of contact in those states. Nevertheless, the states and their political subdivisions are confronted with the claims of corporations that jurisdictional barriers to corporate income taxes should be raised, that improved enforcement techniques should be prohibited, and that certain classes of income should be immunized completely from state taxation. These revolutionary technical advances have created both major tax administration problems and tax administration opportunities for the states. Some of the latter, however, remain unexploited. This article examines the ramifications …

State Taxation Of Interstate Business-Looking Toward Federal-State Cooperation, Joseph W. Mathews Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

This note will review the historical setting of state taxation of interstate commerce and examine the problems created by the diversity of state tax laws. It will further discuss the two different approaches toward solving these problems, investigate the constitutional issues involved in the proposed solutions, analyze their inadequacy, and recommend a federal-state cooperative approach.

State And Local Taxation -- 1964 Tennessee Survey, Paul I. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Five cases involving a construction of sections 67-26021 and 67-26092 of the income tax statute (Hall Income Tax) were consolidated for one opinion in the Gallagher case. Two of the cases involved the redemption of shares by the issuing corporations; the other three involved the liquidation of corporations, with a surrender of shares and distributions of assets. The Commissioner, in all of these situations, imposed an income tax on the amount constituting the difference between the original investments in the shares and the sum received in liquidation or redemption. The Commissioner argues that although these amounts may not have been …

State And Local Taxation -- 1961 Tennessee Survey (Ii), Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

During the period covered by this survey the pickings by way of decided cases have been pretty slim. Only two cases are here the subject of extended comment.' However, the comprehensive congressional study of state taxation of multistate business has been extended until July 1, 1963. The expanded congressional study now being conducted includes all forms of state taxation of interstate commerce, such as franchise taxes, sales and use taxes, gross receipts taxes, and ad valorem taxes. Under the chairmanship of Congressman Willis, a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee with the help of a sizeable staff and an advisory …

State And Local Taxation -- 1961 Tennessee Survey, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

Not many cases involving state taxes have been decided by the Tennessee courts during the period covered by this survey. Action taken in the halls of Congress, however, has the potential of a major revamping of the taxing power of all state and local governments.

State Taxation Of Corporate Income From A Multistate Business, Paul J. Hartman

Vanderbilt Law Review

There was a time when state and local taxes were perhaps only a minor factor in determining where a new business would locate and were probably not seriously considered in connection with most locational decisions. In recent years, however, because of the need for additional revenue on the part of state and local governments and the resulting increases in varieties and amounts of taxes, business must give more attention to the question of state and local taxes in deciding where to locate and operate. In this discussion of state taxation of corporate income from multi-state operations, we will include taxes …

State Taxation Of Interstate Commerce, Gilbert S. Merritt Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

In Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. v. Minnesota,' the Supreme Court recently granted states the broad power to tax earnings of out-of-state corporations from business done within each state. Justice Clark, speaking for the majority, laid down the doctrine that "the entire net income of a corporation, generated by interstate as well as intrastate activities, may be fairly apportioned among the States for tax purposes by formulas utilizing in-state aspects of inter-state affairs." The purpose of this note is to analyze the doctrine, its background and possible economic consequences.

Book Reviews, James C. Evans, Samuel E. Stumpf

Vanderbilt Law Review

State Taxation of Interstate Commerce By Paul J. Hartman Buffalo: Dennis & Co., 1953. Pp. xi, 323. $7.50

reviewer: James Clarence Evans

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Church, State and Freedom By Leo Pfeffer Boston: The BeaconPress, 1953. Pp. xvi, 605. $10.00

reviewer: Samuel Enoch Stumpf

State Taxation Of Interstate Commerce --"Direct Burdens," "Multiple Burdens," Or What Have You?, Edward L. Barrett Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The problem of determining the permissible extent of state taxation of interstate commerce is as old as the Constitution.' From Chief Justice Marshall's dissertation upon the subject in 1827 in Brown v. Maryland to the present, thousands of pages of words upon the subject have found their way into the Supreme Court reports. Despite this judicial outpouring, however, the Supreme Court of the United States has yet to evolve a satisfactory theory upon which to decide cases in this field. In fact, the Court in 1951 appears as sharply divided in its basic approach to the problem as at anytime …