TAXATION - EXEMPTION OF FEDERAL INSTRUMENTALITY FROM STATE GASOLINE TAX

Authors

Abstract

An Alabama statute provided that "Every distributor, refiner, retail dealer or storer of gasoline . . . shall pay an excise tax . . . upon the selling, distributing, storing or withdrawing from storage in this State for any use, gasoline . . . ." The plaintiff, a private corporation, sold gasoline to the United States for use in performing governmental functions without reporting it for taxation. When the state demanded payment, the plaintiff brought this suit to restrain collection. Held (Justices Cardozo and Brandeis dissenting), the operation of the statute violates the constitutional principle safeguarding the federal government against state taxation. Graves v. Texas Co., (U.S. 1936) 56 S. Ct. 818.

Recommended Citation

TAXATION - EXEMPTION OF FEDERAL INSTRUMENTALITY FROM STATE GASOLINE TAX, 35 Mich. L. Rev. 168 (1936).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol35/iss1/29