George Sutherland

“ The New Orleans tax is obviously not laid upon property moving in interstate commerce. Nor does it, like a gross receipts tax, lay a burden upon every transaction. It is simply a tax upon one of the instrumentalities of interstate commerce. It is no more a direct burden than is the tax on the other indispensable instrumentalities ”

“ The tax is void only if it directly burdens such commerce, or (where the burden is indirect) if the tax discriminates against or obstructs interstate commerce. In this case there is no claim that interstate commerce is discriminated against or obstructed. The contention is that the tax imposes a direct burden. Whether the burden should be deemed direct depends upon the character of plaintiff's occupation and its relation to interstate transactions.
The occupation tax laid by New Orleans is fixed in amount; business being classified into several grades according to the amount of business done. ”

“ The business is what is called a steamship agency. The main office is in New York City. It has branches in New Orleans and in five other ports of the United States. It is a wholly independent concern. ”