Law Commons^™

Taxation - Stevedoring As Interstate Commerce - Constitutionality Of Occupation Tax, Ralph Winkler

Michigan Law Review

The state of Washington enacted a business privilege tax, the amount of which was to be determined on a gross income basis. A domestic corporation had been servicing vessels engaged in interstate commerce in two ways-it supplied stevedores to the vessels, and it did the work of loading and unloading. In a bill to enjoin the collection of this tax the Supreme Court of Washington dismissed the suit on the ground that the corporation was not engaged in interstate commerce. On appeal, held (1) furnishing stevedores to the vessels without maintaining control over the operations of the workmen is a …