February 1, 2006
Taxing the Constitution
I wonder just why these folks think this will pass constitutional muster(reg):
The governor's tax-reform commission is considering a new state business tax of around 1 percent on the gross income or gross receipts of all corporations and partnerships on their business in Texas, the panel's chairman said Tuesday.Pretty standard looking at first glance, but check out this next bit:
"If you're out of state and you sell products in Texas but you manufacture those products in California, you're going to pay higher taxes than if you had built a plant in Texas and hired people in Texas," he said. "If all your buildings and employees are sitting up in Chicago, you're going to pay more."As noted in Granholm v Held:
(a) This Court has long held that, in all but the narrowest circumstances, state laws violate the Commerce Clause if they mandate “differential treatment of in-state and out-of-state economic interests that benefits the former and burdens the latter.” Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of Ore., 511 U.S. 93, 99.
If this goes through as is it looks like it will make a few lawyers happy with their future work.
Posted by Steve on February 1, 2006
