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State Taxation Of Federal Instrumentalities: Application To Federal Loan & Equity Programs, James W. Smith

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Note discusses the attempts by states to tax entities which have a distinguishing connection to the federal government. Two competing interests are at stake. First, from the perspective of the federal government, such taxation by the state involves the power to destroy or at least the power to substantially interfere with the functions of federal law and thus subvert the operation of the Supremacy Clause. Second, because the taxing power is an essential instrument of every sovereign government, the judicial denial of a state's right to exercise this power would deprive it of a much needed source of revenue. …