Itel Containers Int'l Corp. v. Huddleston, 507 U.S. 60, 16 (1993)

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Cite as: 507 U. S. 60 (1993)

Opinion of the Court

[or] . . . federal policy," Container Corp., 463 U. S., at 190, the careful apportionment of a state tax on business transactions conducted within state borders does not create the substantial risk of international multiple taxation that implicates Foreign Commerce Clause concerns.

Itel further claims that if other States in this country follow Tennessee's lead and tax international container leases, the United States will be unable to speak with one voice in foreign trade because international container leases will be subject to various degrees of domestic taxation. As a consequence, Itel insists, container owners and users will be hit by retaliatory foreign taxes. To the extent Itel is arguing that the risk of double taxation violates the one voice test, our response is the same as above: Tennessee's tax does not create the substantial risk of international multiple taxation that implicates Foreign Commerce Clause concerns.

To the extent Itel is arguing that taxes like Tennessee's engender foreign policy problems, the United States disagrees. The Federal Government, in adopting various conventions, statutes, and regulations that restrict a State's ability to tax international cargo containers in defined circumstances, has acted on the subject of taxing cargo containers and their use. It has chosen to eliminate state taxes collected in connection with the importation of cargo containers. The state tax here does not fall within that proscription, and the most rational inference to be drawn is that this tax, one quite distinct from the general class of import duties, is permitted. Unlike in Japan Line or Container Corp., moreover, the United States has filed an amicus brief defending Tennessee's law: "Far from conflicting with international custom, the Tennessee tax appears to promote it. The Tennessee tax thus does not interfere with our ability 'to speak with one voice' on this issue involving foreign commerce." Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 24. This submission "is by no means dispositive." Container Corp., 463 U. S., at 195-196. But given the strong indica-

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