George Sutherland

“ Appellant assails as invalid a statute of the state of Washington which levies an excise tax of 15 cents per pound on all butter substitutes sold within the state (Laws Wash. 1931, p. 77) . Every distributor of such butter substitutes is required to file a duly acknowledged certificate with the Director of Agriculture, containing the name under which the distributor is transacting business within the state, and other specified information. Sale of any butter substitute is forbidden until such certificate is furnished. ”

“ Those who enter upon a business take that risk. * * * The Acts must be judged by their contents not by the allegations as to their purpose in the complaint. We know of no objection to exacting a discouraging rate as the alternative to giving up a business, when the legislature has the full power of taxation.'
In the Child Labor Tax Case, supra, this court, in holding unconstitutional the provisions of the Revenue Act of February 24, 1919 (40 Stat. 1138) imposing a tax upon the employment of child labor, fully recognized the foregoing limitations upon the judicial authority ”

“ From the beginning of our government, the courts have sustained taxes although imposed with the collateral intent of effecting ulterior ends which, considered apart, were beyond the constitutional power of the lawmakers to realize by legislation directly addressed to their accomplishment. ”

“ Except in rare and special instances, [1] the due process of law clause contained in the Fifth Amendment is not a limitation upon the taxing power conferred upon Congress by the Constitution. Brushaber v. ”