228
Opinion of the Court
In any case, we do not regard respondent's proposed approach to be an accurate characterization of the Wisconsin Supreme Court's opinion. The Wisconsin court construed "solicitation of orders" to reach only those activities that are "closely associated" with solicitation, industry practice being only one factor to be considered in judging the "close[ness]" of the connection between the challenged activity and the actual requests for orders. 160 Wis. 2d, at 82, 465 N. W. 2d, at 811-812. The problem with that standard, it seems to us, is that it merely reformulates rather than answers the crucial question. "What constitutes the 'solicitation of orders'?" becomes "What is 'closely related' to a solicitation request?" This fails to provide the "[c]larity that would remove uncertainty" which we identified as the primary goal of § 381. Heublein, 409 U. S., at 280.
We proceed, therefore, to describe what we think the proper standard to be. Once it is acknowledged, as we have concluded it must be, that "solicitation of orders" covers more than what is strictly essential to making requests for purchases, the next (and perhaps the only other) clear line is the one between those activities that are entirely ancillary to requests for purchases—those that serve no independent
test in the context of the facts of this case. The dissent repeatedly inquires whether an activity is a "normal ac[t] of courtesy from seller to buyer," post, at 242 (emphasis added); whether it is a "common solicitation practic[e]," post, at 244 (emphasis added); and whether Wrigley "exceed[ed] the normal scope of solicitation," post, at 242 (emphasis added). Of course, given Wrigley's significant share of the Wisconsin chewing gum market, most activities it chooses to "conduc[t] in the course of solicitation," post, at 246, will be viewed as a normal part of the solicitation process itself. Had Wrigley's sales representatives routinely approved orders on the spot; or accepted payments on past-due accounts; or even made outright sales of gum, it is difficult to see how a reasonable buyer would have thought that was not "part of the solicitation itself"—it certainly has no "independent value" to him. Nothing in the text of the statute suggests that it was intended to confer tax immunity on whatever activities are engaged in by sales agents in a particular industry.
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