R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. Durham County, North Carolina, et al. (479 U.S. 130)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided December 9, 1986 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 479 U.S. 130 · 107 S. Ct. 499
- Decided
- December 9, 1986
- Term
- October Term 1986
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice Blackmun
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court. This case presents the narrow but important question whether a State may impose a nondiscriminatory ad valorem property tax on imported goods stored under bond in a customs warehouse and destined for domestic manufacture and sale. I Appellant R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company is a New Jersey corporation with its principal office in Winston-Salem, N. C. Reynolds manufactures finished tobacco products for sale to distributors and other authorized purchasers. App. to Juris. Statement 26a. Virtually all its products are consumed in the United States. Id., at 31a. Its only manufacturing facilities are in Winston-Salem, where it blends imported tobacco with domestic tobacco in its manufacturing process. The foreign tobacco is shipped to a port of entry in the United States and is placed under customs bond given by Reynolds to secure the payment of federal import duties. See 19 U. S. C. §1555 (1982 ed., Supp. III). The tobacco is then transported by truck or rail to one or more of the 88 customs-bonded warehouses owned and maintained by Reynolds in Forsyth and Durham Counties, N. C. Because nearly all imported tobacco requires aging, it is usually in the warehouses for two years. Reynolds pays the required customs duties upon withdrawal of tobacco from the warehouses. Reynolds stores its domestic tobacco in nonbonded warehouses in…
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