Charles Evans Hughes

“ Property having its situs within the taxing state is not exempt from a nondiscriminatory property tax merely because the property is used in interstate commerce. Corporations engaged in interstate commerce should bear their property share of the burdens of the government under whose protection they conduct their operations, and nondiscriminatory taxation of their property, although used in interstate commerce, as this Court has frequently said, affects that commerce only incidentally and is not inconsistent with the constitutional immunity from the imposition of direct burdens. ”

“ Respondent, having its principal office in Lynchburg, Va., and maintaining a branch office in Cincinnati, Ohio, conducts a sale agency. Its sole business is that of selling coal for foreign coal mining corporations. It directs and manages the shipment and transportation of the coal, collects the proceeds of sale, and is paid a commission of 8 per cent. Respondent does not own or lease coal mines, and is not engaged in the business of mining. No coal of any consequence is sold in Virginia, and none of the coal is located in Virginia at the time of sale. ”

“ The Imperial Coal Sales Company, a corporation organized under the laws of Virginia, sought exoneration from taxes assessed on its capital and income by the Department of Taxation of that state. The taxes were assailed under the commerce clause (art. 1, § 8, cl. 3) and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. The judgment of the trial court, holding the taxes to be invalid, was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Appeals. ”