90
Opinion of the Court
taxes imposed before Davis was decided. In accord with Griffith v. Kentucky, 479 U. S. 314 (1987), and James B. Beam Distilling Co. v. Georgia, 501 U. S. 529 (1991), we hold that this Court's application of a rule of federal law to the parties before the Court requires every court to give retroactive effect to that decision. We therefore reverse.
I
The Michigan tax scheme at issue in Davis "exempt[ed] from taxation all retirement benefits paid by the State or its political subdivisions, but levie[d] an income tax on retirement benefits paid by . . . the Federal Government." 489 U. S., at 805. We held that the United States had not consented under 4 U. S. C. § 111 1 to this discriminatory imposition of a heavier tax burden on federal benefits than on state and local benefits. 489 U. S., at 808-817. Because Michigan "conceded that a refund [was] appropriate," we recognized that federal retirees were entitled to a refund of taxes "paid . . . pursuant to this invalid tax scheme." Id., at 817.2
Like Michigan, Virginia exempted state and local employees' retirement benefits from state income taxation while taxing federal retirement benefits. Va. Code Ann. § 58.1- 322(c)(3) (Supp. 1988). In response to Davis, Virginia repealed its exemption for state and local government employees. 1989 Va. Acts, Special Sess. II, ch. 3. It also enacted a special statute of limitations for refund claims made in light of Davis. Under this statute, taxpayers may seek a refund
1 "The United States consents to the taxation of pay or compensation for personal service as an officer or employee of the United States . . . by a duly constituted taxing authority having jurisdiction, if the taxation does not discriminate against the officer or employee because of the source of the pay or compensation." 4 U. S. C. § 111.
2 We have since followed Davis and held that a State violates intergovernmental tax immunity and 4 U. S. C. § 111 when it "taxes the benefits received from the United States by military retirees but does not tax the benefits received by retired state and local government employees." Barker v. Kansas, 503 U. S. 594, 596 (1992).
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