Majority — Holmes J.
Syllabus
ERROR TO THE SUPREME COURT OP THE STATE OP TEXAS.delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an action against certain railroads to recover taxes and penalties. The Supremo Court of the State held the penal
The act in question is entitled “An Act imposing a tax upon railroad corporations . . . and other persons . . . owning ... or controlling any line of railroad in this State . . . equal to one per cent, of their gross receipts ... and repealing the existing tax on the gross passenger earnings of railroads.” It proceeds in § 1 to impose upon such railroads “ an annual tax for the year 1905, and for each calendar year thereafter, equal to one per centum of its gross receipts, if such line of railroad lies wholly within the State.” In § 2 a report, under oath, of “the gross receipts of such line of railroad, from every source whatever, for the year ending on the thirtieth day of June last preceding,” and immediate payment of the tax “calculated on the gross receipts so reported,” are required. The comptroller is given power to call for other reports, and is to “ estimate such tax on the true gross receipts thereby disclosed,” etc. Tiie lines of the railroads concerned are wholly within the State, but they connect with other lines, and a part, in some instances much .the larger part, of their gross receipts is derived from the'carriage of passengers and freight coming from, or destined to, points without the State. In view of this portion of their business, the railroads contend that the case is governed by Philadelphia & Southern Mail Steamship Co. v. Pennsylvania, 122 U. S. 326 . The counsel for the State rely upon Maine v. Grand Trunk Ry. Co., 142 U. S. 217 , and maintain, if necessary, that the later overrules the earlier case.
In Philadelphia & Southern Mail S. S. Co. v. Pennsylvania, 122 U. S. 326 , it was decided that a tax upon the gross receipts of a steamship corporation of the State, when such receipts were derived from commerce between the States and with foreign countries, was unconstitutional. We regard this decision as unshaken and as stating established law. It cites
It being once admitted, as of course it must, be, that not every law that affects commerce among -thé States is a regulation of it in a constitutional sense, nice distinctions are to be expected. Regulation and commerce among the States both are practical rather than technical conceptions, and, naturally, their limits must be fixed by practical lines. As the property of companies engaged in such commerce may be taxed, Pullman’s Palace Car Co. v. Pennsylvania, 141 U. S. 18 , and may be taxed at its value as it is, in its organic relations, and not merely as a congeries of unrelated items, taxes on such property have been-sustained that took account of the augmentation of value from the commerce in which it was engaged. Adams Express Co. v. Ohio State Auditor, 165 U. S. 194 ; S. C., 166 U. S. 171 ; Fargo v. Hart, 193 U. S. 490 , 499. So it has been held that a tax on the property and business of a railroad operated within the State might be estimated prima facie by grass income, computed by adding to the income derived from business within the State the proportion of interstate business equal to the proportion between the road over which the business was carried within the State to the total length of the road over which it was carried. Wisconsin & Michigan Ry. Co. v. Powers, 191 U. S. 379 .
We are of opinion that the statute levying this tax does amount to an attempt to regulate commerce among the States.' The distinction between a tax “ equal to ” one per cent of gross receipts and a tax of one per cent of the same, seems to us nothing, except where the former phrase is the index of an actual attempt to reach the property and to let the interstate traffic and the receipts from it alone. We find no such attempt or anything to qualify the plain inference from the statute taken by itself. On the contrary, we rather infer from the judgment of the state court and from the argument on behalf of the State
Of course, it does not matter that the plaintiffs in error are domestic corporations or that the tax embraces indiscriminately gross receipts from commerce within as well as outside of the State. We are of opinion that the judgment should be reversed.
Judgment reversed.
Me. Justice Haelan, with whom The Chief Justice, Me. Justice White and Me. Justice McKenna concurred, dissenting.
In my opinion the court ought to accept the interpretation which the Supreme Court of Texas places upon the statute in question. In other words, it should be assumed that, by imposing upon railroads and corporations owning, operating, managing or controlling any line of railroad in the State, for the transportation of passengers, freight or baggage, an annual tax “equal to one per centum of its gross receipts if such line of railroad lies wholly within the State, and if such line of railroad lies partly within and partly without the State, it shall pay a tax equal to such proportion of the said one per centum of its gross receipts as the length of the portion of such line within the State bears to the whole length of such .line,” the State intended to impose only an occupation tax. Such is the construction which the state court places on the statute and that construction is justified by the words used. We have the authority of the Supreme Court of Texas for saying that the constitution of that State authorizes the imposition of occupation taxes upon natural persons and upon corporations, other than municipal, doing business in th%t State. The plaintiff in error is a Texas corporation, and it cannot be doubted that the State' may impose an occupation tax on one of its own corporations,
But it is said that the tax in question, even if regarded as an occupation tax, is invalid, as constituting a direct burden on interstate commerce, the regulation of which belongs to Congress. It is not, in my opinion, to be taken as a tax on interstate commerce in the sense of the Constitution; for its operation on interstate commerce is only incidental, not direct. A State, in the regulation of its internal affairs, often prescribes rules which in their operation, remotely or incidentally, affect interstate commerce. But such rules have never been held as in themselves imposing direct burdens upon such commerce, and on that ground invalid. The State in the present case ascertains the extent of business done by the corporation in the State, and requires an annual occupation tax “equal” to a named per centum of the amount of such business. It does not lay any tax directly upon the gross receipts as such, as was the case in Philadelphia & Southern Mail Steamship Co. v. Pennsylvania, 122 U. S. 326 . In that case the court said: “The tax was levied directly upon the receipts derived by the company from its fares and freights, for the transportation of persons and goods between different States, and between the States and ■- foreign countries, and from the charter of its vessels, which was for the same purpose. This transportation was ah act of interstate and foreign commerce. It was the carrying on of such commerce. Here there is no levying upon receipts as such from interstate commerce. The State only measures the occupation tax by looking at the entire amount of the business done within its limits without reference to the source from which the business comes. It does not tax any part of the business because of its being interstate. It has reference equally to all kinds of business done by the corporation in the State. Suppose the State as, under its constitution it might do, should impose an .income tax upon railroad corporations of its own creation, doing business within the State, equal to a given per cent of all income received by the corporation from its business, would
If it did not delay an announcement of the court’s decision longer, perhaps, than is desirable, I should be glad to go into this subject at large and present such a review of the adjudged cases as would show 'that the views expressed by me are in harmony with previous cases in this court. The present detf cisión, I fear, will seriously affect the taxing laws of many States, and so impair the powers of the several States, in matters of taxation, that they cannot compel its own corporations to bear their just proportion of such public burdens as can be met only by taxation. I dissent-jfrom the opinion and judgment of the court.
Mr. Chief Justice Fuller, Mr. Justice White and Mr. Justice McKenna concur in this dissent.
Cases cited
- Philadelphia & Southern Steamship Co. v. Pennsylvania 122 U. S. 326 p. 217, p. 219, p. 224, p. 229
- Maine v. Grand Trunk Railway Co. 142 U. S. 217 p. 217, p. 220, p. 221, p. 222, p. 223, p. 224, p. 225, p. 226
- Brown v. Maryland 12 Wheat. 419 p. 218
- Weston v. City Council of Charleston 2 Pet. 449 p. 218
- Dobbins v. Commissioners of Erie County 16 Pet. 435 at 174 p. 218, p. 221
- Almy v. California 24 How. 169 p. 218
- Railroad Co. v. Jackson 7 Wall. 262 p. 218
- Cook v. Pennsylvania 97 U. S. 566 p. 218
- Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. 157 U. S. 429 p. 218
- Central of Georgia Railway Co. v. Murphey 196 U. S. 194 p. 218
- Telegraph Co. v. Texas 105 U. S. 460 p. 219
- Pickard v. Pullman Southern Car Co. 117 U. S. 34 p. 219
- Fargo v. Michigan 121 U. S. 230 p. 219
- Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Pennsylvania 128 U. S. 39 p. 219, p. 225
- Ratterman v. Western Union Telegraph Co. 127 U. S. 411 p. 219, p. 220, p. 225
- Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Alabama State Board of Assessment 132 U. S. 472 p. 219, p. 225
- 155 U. S. 698 155 U. S. 698 p. 219
- 132 U. S. 477 132 U. S. 477 p. 219
- Allen v. Pullman's Palace Car Co. 191 U. S. 171 p. 219
- 127 U. S. 648 127 U. S. 648 p. 219
- Caldwell v. North Carolina 187 U. S. 622 p. 219
- Brennan v. Titusville 153 U. S. 289 p. 219
- Chappell v. Bradshaw 128 U. S. 132 p. 219
- Robbins v. Shelby County Taxing District 120 U. S. 489 p. 219
- Norfolk & Western Railway Co. v. Sims 191 U. S. 441 p. 219
- Crutcher v. Kentucky 141 U. S. 47 p. 219
- 185 U. S. 37 185 U. S. 37 p. 219
- Steamship Co. v. Portwardens 6 Wall. 31 p. 220
- 91 U. S. 281 91 U. S. 281 p. 220
- 122 U. S. 346 122 U. S. 346 p. 220
- Stockard v. Morgan 185 U. S. 27 p. 220, p. 227
- 120 U. S. 496 120 U. S. 496 p. 220
- Corson v. Maryland 120 U. S. 502 p. 220
- Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Eubank 184 U. S. 27 p. 220
- Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois 118 U. S. 557 p. 220
- Minot v. Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad 18 Wall. 206 p. 220, p. 223
- 92 U. S. 603 92 U. S. 603 p. 221
- Reading Railroad v. Pennsylvania 15 Wall. 284 p. 221, p. 223
- Osborne v. Mobile 16 Wall. 479 p. 221
- Nathan v. Louisiana 8 How. 73 p. 221, p. 223
- Memphis & Little Rock Railroad v. Railroad Commissioners 112 U. S. 609 p. 222
- 143 U. S. 313 143 U. S. 313 p. 222
- 201 U. S. 288 201 U. S. 288 p. 222
- Adams Express Co. v. Kentucky 166 U. S. 171 p. 222, p. 225
- Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Taggart 163 U. S. 1 p. 222, p. 223
- 125 U. S. 552 125 U. S. 552 p. 222
- Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Backus 154 U. S. 439 p. 222
- Central Pacific Railroad v. California 162 U. S. 91 p. 222
- Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Backus 154 U. S. 421 p. 222
- 203 U. S. 50 203 U. S. 50 p. 222
- 145 U. S. 21 145 U. S. 21 p. 222
- Ouachita Packet Co. v. Aiken 121 U. S. 444 p. 222
- 15 Wall. 293 15 Wall. 293 p. 222
- Sherlock v. Alling 93 U. S. 99 p. 222
- Smith v. Alabama 124 U. S. 465 p. 222
- 162 U. S. 656 162 U. S. 656 p. 222
- 191 U. S. 387 191 U. S. 387 p. 223
- Erie Railway Co. v. Pennsylvania 21 Wall. 492 p. 223
- New York, Lake Erie & Western Railroad v. Pennsylvania 158 U. S. 431 at 439 p. 223, p. 225, p. 227
- McHenry v. Alford 168 U. S. 651 at 671 p. 223, p. 225, p. 226
- Taylor v. Secor 92 U. S. 575 p. 223
- Home Insurance v. New York State 134 U. S. 594 p. 223
- 143 U. S. 315 143 U. S. 315 p. 223
- 171 U. S. 664 171 U. S. 664 p. 223
- 142 U. S. 350 142 U. S. 350 p. 223
- Armour Packing Co. v. Lacy 200 U. S. 226 p. 223
- Pullman's Palace Car Co. v. Pennsylvania 141 U. S. 18 p. 225
- Ficklen v. Shelby County Taxing District 145 U. S. 1 p. 225, p. 226
- Atlantic & Pacific Telegraph Co. v. Philadelphia 190 U. S. 160 p. 225
- Adams Express Co. v. Ohio State Auditor 165 U. S. 194 p. 225
- Fargo v. Hart 193 U. S. 490 p. 225
- Wisconsin & Michigan Railway Co. v. Powers 191 U. S. 379 p. 225
- Postal Telegraph Cable Co. v. Adams 155 U. S. 688 p. 226, p. 227
- Asbell v. Kansas 209 U. S. 251 at 256 p. 227