United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Wiloil Corporation v. Pennsylvania, 294 U.S. 169 (1935)

Wiloil Corporation v. Pennsylvania

No. 439

Argued January 14, 1935

Decided February 4, 1935

294 U.S. 169

Syllabus

1. If goods carried from one State have reached their destination in another and there are held in original packages for sale, the latter State has power to tax them, without discrimination, as it does

Page 294 U. S. 170

other property within its jurisdiction; the tax may be laid on the property itself or upon the sale and delivery of it. P. 294 U. S. 175.

2. A state tax on distributors of gasoline of so much per gallon sold is not repugnant to the commerce clause as applied to a case where the vendor, under local contracts for sale of gasoline in tank car original packages, to be delivered to the purchasers locally on their rail sidings, was at liberty to take it from local or from outside source, and chose to consign it to the purchasers from another State. P. 294 U. S. 174.

3. In such a case, the interstate transportation is merely incidental, and the burden on interstate commerce, if any, is indirect. P. 294 U. S. 175.

316 Pa. 33, 173 A. 404, affirmed.

Appeal from a judgment affirming a recovery by the State in an action to collect a tax. See 37 Dauphin Co.Rep. 63.

Page 294 U. S. 172