CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-STATE TAXATION OF GROSS RECEIPTS FROM INTERSTATE COMMERCE

A New York statute imposed a tax of two per cent on the gross receipts of all utilities doing business within the state. The State Tax Commission construed this statute as applicable to the total receipts of petitioner derived from transporting passengers for hire from a point within New York to another point within the same state over a route which passed through New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The state courts affirmed the determination of the commission, and the petitioner appealed. Held, reversed and remanded.

The transportation was interstate, and an unapportioned tax on the gross receipts derived therefrom was invalid under the commerce clause, since such a tax made interstate commerce bear more than its fair share of the cost of local government. The tax would be sustained if apportioned according to the percentage of the total mileage which was traversed within the taxing state. Three justices dissented. Central Greyhound Lines,Inc., of New York v. Mealey, 334 U.S. 653, 68 S.Ct.

1260 (1948).