Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

Spector Motor Service, Inc. v. O'Connor

Spector Motor Serv., Inc. v. O'Connor, 340 U.S. 602 (1951)

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1951-03-26
Topic
general

How later courts describe this case

  • invalidating tax that was “placed unequivocally upon the corporation’s franchise for the privilege of carrying on exclusively interstate transportation in the state”
  • striking down a nondiscriminatory “privilege of doing business” franchise tax as imposed by Connecticut against a foreign corporation only engaged in interstate commerce on the basis that Congress has the exclusive power to tax the privilege of engaging in interstate commerce
  • six years between time Supreme Court ordered abstention and the Court's ultimate decision on the merits.
  • use of motor trucks for local activity

Citator

Spector Motor Service, Inc. v. O'Connor is no longer good law, at least in part: overruled by Department of Revenue v. Ass'n of Washington Stevedoring Companies (1978). 344 later decisions cite it, 2 of them negatively.

Authority status
negative
Cited by
344 opinions
Negative treatment
2 citing opinions

Headnotes

  1. Constitutional Law — Commerce Clause A state tax imposed upon the franchise of a foreign corporation for the privilege of doing business within the state, measured by a nondiscriminatory rate applied to the portion of net income reasonably attributable to activities within the state, is invalid under the Commerce Clause as applied to a foreign corporation engaged exclusively in interstate trucking, where the tax is not levied as compensation for the use of highways, is not collected in lieu of an ad valorem property tax, and is not a fee for inspection or a tax on sales or use. 340 U.S. 602, 603-610
  2. Constitutional Law — Commerce Clause The validity of a state's attempt to make interstate commerce pay its way depends first of all upon the constitutional channel through which the state attempts to do so; the fact that the same sum might lawfully be collected from the corporation under some other permissible theory of taxation cannot sustain the constitutionality of the tax actually imposed. 340 U.S. at 607-608
  3. Federal Courts & Jurisdiction — Jurisdiction — Tax Injunction A federal district court that properly takes jurisdiction of a suit to enjoin a state tax because of the uncertainty of the adequacy of a remedy in the state courts does not lose that jurisdiction by virtue of a later clarification of state procedure. 340 U.S. at 605
  4. Constitutional Law — Commerce Clause The states delegated to Congress the exclusive power to tax the privilege of engaging in interstate commerce; while the reach of a state's reserved taxing power is great, the constitutional separation of federal and state powers makes it essential that no state be permitted, without authority from Congress, to exercise those functions that it has delegated exclusively to Congress. 340 U.S. at 608
  5. Constitutional Law — Commerce Clause A state tax that, as construed by the state's courts, attaches solely to the franchise or privilege of a corporation to carry on a business that is exclusively interstate in character contravenes the Commerce Clause, and the constitutional infirmity of such a tax persists no matter how fairly it is apportioned to business done within the state. 340 U.S. at 608-609
  6. Constitutional Law — Commerce Clause A state is not precluded from imposing taxes upon other activities or aspects of an interstate business which, unlike the privilege of doing interstate business, are subject to the sovereign power of the state; such taxes may be imposed even though their payment comes out of funds derived from interstate business, provided the burden is reasonably related to the state's powers and is nondiscriminatory. 340 U.S. at 608
  7. Constitutional Law — Commerce Clause Where a taxpayer is engaged in both intrastate and interstate commerce, a state may tax the privilege of carrying on the intrastate business and, within reasonable limits, may compute the amount of the charge by applying the tax rate to a fair proportion of the taxpayer's business done within the state, including both interstate and intrastate business. 340 U.S. at 609-610