United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Ford Motor Co. v. Beauchamp, 308 U.S. 331 (1939)

Ford Motor Co. v. Beauchamp, 308 U.S. 331 (1939)

No. 17

Argued October 16, 17, 1939

Decided December 11, 1939

308 U.S. 331

Syllabus

A state corporate franchise tax on the privilege of doing local business, measured by a charge upon such proportion of the outstanding capital stock, surplus, and undivided profits of the corporation, plus its long-term obligations, as the gross receipts from its local business bear to the gross receipts of its entire business, held constitutional. P. 308 U. S. 334.

The gross receipts from the local business for the year in question were approximately $34,000,000; the total gross receipts about $888,000,000; the ratio of local to total receipts, 3.85 percent; the total taxable capital $600,000,000; the value of local assets about $3,000,000, while the value of the capital allocated to the

Page 308 U. S. 332

taxing State as a base for taxation by the statutory formula would exceed $23,000,000. 100 F.2d 515 affirmed.

Certiorari, 306 U.S. 628, to review the affirmance by the court below of a judgment sustaining a state tax.