Department of Taxation and Finance of New York, et al. v. Milhelm Attea & Bros., Inc., Etc., et al. (512 U.S. 61)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 13, 1994 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 512 U.S. 61 · 114 S. Ct. 2028
- Decided
- June 13, 1994
- Term
- October Term 1993
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. Cigarette consumers in New York are subject to a state tax of 56 cents per pack. Enrolled tribal members who purchase cigarettes on Indian reservations are exempt from this tax, but non-Indians making purchases on reservations must pay it. To prevent non-Indians from escaping the tax, New York has enacted a regulatory scheme that imposes record-keeping requirements and quantity limitations on cigarette wholesalers who sell untaxed cigarettes to reservation Indians. The question presented is whether New York’s program is pre-empted by federal statutes governing trade with Indians. I Article 20 of the New York Tax Law imposes a tax on all cigarettes possessed in the State except those that New York is “without power” to tax. N. Y. Tax Law § 471(1) (McKinney 1987 and Supp. 1994). The State collects the cigarette tax through licensed agents who purchase tax stamps and affix them to cigarette packs in advance of the first sale within the State. The full amount of the tax is part of the price of stamped cigarettes at all subsequent steps in the distribution stream. Accordingly, the “ultimate incidence of and liability for the tax [is] upon the consumer.” §471(2). Any person who “willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat” the cigarette tax commits a misdemeanor. N. Y. Tax Law § 1814(a) (McKinney 1987). Because New York…
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