TAXATION - AD VALOREM TAXES - TAX ON GROSS EARNINGS AS EVASION OF CONSTITUTIONAL PROHIBITION OF AD VALOREM TAXES

Authors

Ward P. Allen, University of Michigan Law SchoolFollow

Abstract

An Oklahoma statute imposed a tax of four per cent of the gross earnings of all freight cars owned, rented, leased, or used by any freight line company within the state, giving the state tax commission power to raise or lower the rate so that the tax should be "as nearly as practicable, the equal of the amount of tax such . . . companies would pay if their cars were taxed on an ad valorem basis." Held, although purporting to be measured by gross earnings, the tax is neither a gross earnings tax, nor a specific property tax, but an ad valorem tax in disguise, and thus violative of that provision in the Oklahoma Constitution which states that "No ad valorem tax shall be levied for State purposes." Pacific Fruit Express Co. v. Oklahoma Tax Commission, (D. C. Okla. 1939) 27 F. Supp. 279.

Recommended Citation

Ward P. Allen, TAXATION - AD VALOREM TAXES - TAX ON GROSS EARNINGS AS EVASION OF CONSTITUTIONAL PROHIBITION OF AD VALOREM TAXES, 37 Mich. L. Rev. 1348 (1939).
Available at: https://repository.law.umich.edu/mlr/vol37/iss8/34