Tyler Pipe Industries, Inc. v. Washington State Department of Revenue (483 U.S. 232)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 23, 1987 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 483 U.S. 232 · 107 S. Ct. 2810
- Decided
- June 23, 1987
- Term
- October Term 1986
- Vote
- 6–2
- Majority author
- Justice Stevens
- Issue area
- Economic Activity
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
- Constitutional ruling
- State/territorial law held unconstitutional
Opinion excerpt
Justice Stevens delivered the opinion of the Court. In Armco Inc. v. Hardesty, 467 U. S. 638 (1984), we held that West Virginia’s gross receipts tax on the business of selling tangible property at wholesale discriminated against interstate commerce because it exempted local manufacturers. The principal question in these consolidated appeals is whether Washington’s manufacturing tax similarly violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution because it is assessed only on those products manufactured within Washington that are sold to out-of-state purchasers. We conclude that our reasons for invalidating the West Virginia tax in Armco also apply to the Washington tax challenged here. I For over half a century Washington has imposed a business and occupation (B & 0) tax on “the act or privilege of engaging in business activities” in the State. Wash. Rev. Code § 82.04.220 (1985). The tax applies to the activities of extracting raw materials in the State, manufacturing in the State, making wholesale sales in the State, and making retail sales in the State. The State has typically applied the same tax rates to these different activities. The measure of the selling tax is the “gross proceeds of sales,” and the measure of the manufacturing tax is the value of the manufactured products. §§ 82.04.220, 82.04.240. Prior to 1950, the B & O tax contained a provision that exempted persons…
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