Potter Stewart

“ Whereas property taxation involves only the property owner and the tax officials, sales and use taxation usually requires participation and accounting by the seller as well. And the accounting difficulties which retailers and the States would encounter in determining for thousands of transactions which customers were properly exempt under § 514 are considerably greater than any that Congress can be thought to have envisioned for the exemption from property taxes alone.↑ S.Rep.No. ”

“ Congress was dealing solely with a unique form of state 'tax'-the motor vehicle registration fee. Because such fees are not always clearly classifiable as property taxes, [39] servicemen would not be exempted from many of them by subsection (1) of § 514. Since annually recurring license fees raise much the same risk of double taxai on to transitory military personnel as do property taxes, Congress evidently decided in 1944 to extend the exemption of § 514 to include motor vehicle registration fees as well as property taxes. ”

“ Congress may reasonably have considered the occasional sales and use taxes that servicemen might have to pay an insignificant burden, as compared with annual ad valorem property taxes, and consequently not deserving of the same exemption. ”

“ Section 514 does not relieve servicemen stationed away from home from all taxes of the host State. It was enacted with the much narrower design 'to prevent multiple State taxation of the property.' [35] And the substantial risk of double taxation under multi-state ad valorem property taxes does not exist with respect to sales and use taxes. Like Connecticut, nearly every State which levies such taxes provides a credit for sales or use taxes paid on the transaction to another State. ”

“ Neal, 382 U.S. 397, 398, 86 S.Ct. 485, 486, 15 L.Ed.2d 445: 'We reverse on the authority of our holding today in Buzard that the failure to pay the motor vehicle 'license, fee, or excise' of the home State entitles the host State only to exact motor vehicle taxes qualifying as 'licenses, fees, or excises'; the ad valorem tax, as the Mississippi Supreme Court acknowledged, is not such an exaction.'↑ Indeed, the Court in Buzard emphasized that the tax had been adopted by California 'as a substitute for local ad valorem taxation of automobiles.' 382 U.S., at 395, n. ”

“ Congress added the provision that § 514 applies to property in any tax jurisdiction other than the serviceman's home State, 'regardless of where the owner may be serving' in compliance with military orders. ”

“ Schuman paid the tax under protest, and Carroll has refused to pay, each claiming that he is exempt under the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act. [17] Lieutenant Commander Shaffer and Commander Foster, who are domiciled in Pennsylvania and Texas respectively, each purchased a new car; the Connecticut retailer collected and paid the sales tax. Foster registered his car in Texas, which also exacted a sales or use tax. [18] Finally, Commander Roloff, whose home State is Wisconsin, purchased a used car in Florida and paid that State a 2% sales tax. ”