Frank Murphy

“ We cannot accede to the suggestion that the Smith and Crosland cases can be distinguished, as they were by the state court, on the ground that a sales tax upon purchases made by petitioner in furtherance of its lending functions, unlike the taxes in those cases, bears so remotely upon petitioner's functions as to be beyond the power of Congress to prohibit. We have found that the instant tax is within the scope of section 26 and that section is a valid enactment. It is not our function to speculate whether the immunity from one type of tax as contrasted with another is wise. ”

“ Second-Can Congress constitutionally immunize from state taxation activities in furtherance of the lending functions of federal land banks? We hold that it can.
I. It is clear that the North Dakota statute makes the purchaser, petitioner here, liable for the sales tax. Section 6 of the Act requires the retailer to add the tax to the sales price and declares the tax to be a debt from the consumer to the retailer. Section 7 makes it unlawful for the retailer to hold out that he will absorb or refund the tax in whole or in part. ”

“ We recently had occasion under other circumstances to point out that the term 'including' is not one of all-embracing definition, but connotes simply an illustrative application of the general principle. ”