CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-INTERSTATE COMMERCE-CONGRESSIONAL CONSENT TO DISCRIMINATORY STATE TAXATION
Brody S.Ed., George
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Abstract
South Carolina statutes imposed upon foreign insurance companies a tax of 3 per cent of the aggregate premiums received from business done within the state, without reference to its interstate or local character, as a condition to receiving a certificate of authority to do business within the state. No similar tax was imposed upon domestic insurance companies. The Prudential Life Insurance Company, a New Jersey corporation doing business in South Carolina, refused to pay, contending that since it was a discriminatory tax it was unconstitutional. Furthermore, Prudential challenged the power of Congress to consent to the levying of such discriminatory taxation by the states.
The South Carolina courts upheld the tax. On appeal to the United States Supreme Court, held, affirmed. The power of Congress over commerce is plenary, subject only to the restraints of the Constitution. This power it can exercise alone or in conjunction with the co-ordinate action of the individual states.
Prudential Life Insurance Company v. Benjamin, (U.S. 1946) 66 S. Ct. 1141.