United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Interstate Transit, Inc. v. Lindsey, 283 U.S. 183 (1931)

Interstate Transit, Inc. v. Lindsey

No. 358

Argued March 19, 1931

Decided April 13, 1931

283 U.S. 183

Syllabus

1. A state tax upon the operation of motor vehicles engaged exclusively in interstate commerce, being a direct burden on that commerce, cannot be sustained unless it appears affirmatively, in some way, that it is levied only as compensation for use of the highways in the state or to defray the expense of regulating motor traffic. P. 283 U. S. 185.

2. Tennessee Act of 1927, c. 89, § 4, imposed upon concerns operating interstate motor buses on the highways of the state a privilege tax graduated according to carrying capacity. It is part of a general revenue act which deals with practically all of the taxes laid by the state except those which admittedly provide for defraying

Page 283 U. S. 184

the cost of constructing and maintaining highways and regulating traffic thereon, and the revenue derived from it, unlike that arising from the highway statutes, goes not to the highway fund, but to the general funds of the state. Held a privilege tax on the carrying on of interstate business, and repugnant to the commerce clause. P. 283 U. S. 186.

161 Tenn. 56; 29 S.W. 2d 257, reversed.

Appeal from a judgment reversing a judgment for the transit company in a lower state court, in its action to recover money collected from it as a tax.

Page 283 U. S. 185