Felix Frankfurter

“ Once more we are called upon to pass on the validity of a tax which falls in some measure upon commerce 'among the several States.' In the situation before us, it is not a tax imposed on interstate commerce as such. It is a tax intended to fall on business done 'within the city' that levies it, although in part it is imposed on carriers of intrastate and interstate commerce inseparably commingled. The tax is on trucks and is levied by an ordinance of the City of Chicago, of which the relevant portions are set out in the margin. ”

“ That home is Chicago. To the extent that respondent's business is not confined within the City's limits, it revolves around the City. It is fed by terminals for rail and sea transportation which the City provides. It receives, much more continuously than did the airline in the Northwest Airlines case or the railroad in the Miller case, the City's protection, and it benefits from the City's public services. In the circumstances, a tax of reasonable proportions such as the one in question not shown in fact to be a burden on interstate commerce, is not inconsistent with the Commerce Clause. ”

“ State of Minnesota, 322 U.S. 292, 64 S.Ct. 950, 88 L.Ed. 1283, that would make the Miller case applicable to this situation, even if the 'conclusion' were an opinion of this Court. If I understand the Court's present opinion correctly, it decides that this occupation tax is valid merely because the taxpayer is an Illinois corporation with its business home in Chicago, the taxing body. The facts that it is an Illinois corporation and that its trucks are sometimes out of the state are not controlling. The corporation is taxable because it does intrastate business on the streets of Chicago. ”