U.S. Supreme Court WESTERN LIVE STOCK v. BUREAU OF REVENUE, 303 U.S. 250 (1938)

[Page 303 U.S. 250, 251]

Messrs. D. A. Macpherson, Jr., and J. R. Modrall, both of Albuquerque, N.M., for appellant.

Mr. Frank H. Patton, of Santa Fe , N.M., for appellees.

Mr. Justice STONE delivered the opinion of the Court.

Section 201, chapter 7, of the New Mexico Special Session Laws of 1934, levies a privilege tax upon the gross receipts of those engaged in certain specified businesses. [Footnote 1]

[Page 303 U.S. 250, 261]

In that event a cumulative tax burden would be imposed on interstate communication such as might ensue if gross receipts from interstate transportation could be taxed. This was the vice of the tax of a percentage of the gross receipts from goods sold by a wholesaler in interstate commerce, held invalid in Crew Levick Co. v. Pennsylvania, supra. In form and in substance the tax was thought not to be one for the privilege of doing a local business separable from interstate commerce. Cf. American Manufacturing Co. v. St. Louis, supra. In none of these respects is the present tax objectionable.

Mr. Justice McREYNOLDS and Mr. Justice BUTLER are of opinion that the judgment should be reversed.

Mr. Justice CARDOZO took no part in the consideration or decision of this case. Footnotes

Footnote 1 'Sec. 201. There is hereby levied, and shall be collected by the Tax Commission, privilege taxes, measured by the amount or volume of business done, against the persons, on account of their business activities, engaging, or continuing, within the State of New Mexico, in any business as herein defined, and in the amounts determined by the application of rates against gross receipts, as follows: ...'I-At an amount equal to 2 per cent of the gross receipts of any person engaging or continuing in any of the following businesses: ... Publication of newspapers and magazines (but the gross receipts of the business of publishing newspapers or magazines shall include only the amounts received for the sale of advertising space).'

Footnote 2 Great Britain levies an annual license tax on radio receiving apparatus. See Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1904, c. 24, 4 Edw. 7, as explained by c. 67, 15 & 16 Geo. 5, and implemented by regulation printed in Great Britain, Post Office Guide, July, 1936.