CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--COMMERCE CLAUSE--DUE PROCESS--STATE TAXATION OF INTERSTATE BARGES

Action was brought to recover ad valorem taxes assessed and collected by the City of New Orleans and the State of Louisiana on plaintiff's freight ba1ges used in interstate commerce. Plaintiff was a foreign corporation, and its barges were enrolled at ports outside Louisiana but were not taxed by the state of incorporation. They moved, without a fixed schedule, on the Mississippi River. The tax was apportioned on the basis of miles travelled in Louisiana to miles travelled everywhere.

Plaintiff argued that the tax violated the due process and commerce clauses of the Constitution because the vessels acquired no tax situs in Louisiana, and obtained a finding to this effect in the federal district court which was affirmed in the circuit court of appeals. Held, reversed. The tax is fairly apportioned and does not permit cumulative burdens on interstate commerce. It is therefore valid as applied to vessels engaged in inland travel, even though levied by a non-domiciliary state.

Ott v. Mississippi Valley Barge Line Co., 336 U.S. 169, 69 S.Ct. 432.