Cite as: 510 U. S. 332 (1994)
Opinion of the Court
Mountain States Telephone & Telegraph Co. v. Pueblo of Santa Ana, 472 U. S. 237, 249 (1985) (internal quotation marks omitted).
Congress qualified the definition of "commercial and industrial property" further, limiting the comparison class to property "subject to a property tax levy." 49 U. S. C. § 11503(a)(4). The statute does not define this phrase, which on its face could bear one of two interpretations: (1) taxed property; or (2) taxable property, a broader category consisting of the general mass of property within the State's jurisdiction and power to tax, including property that enjoys a current exemption.
The first interpretation has been the subject of some criticism, see Western Air Lines, Inc. v. Board of Equalization of S. D., 480 U. S., at 135 (White, J., concurring),* but we
*Western Air Lines, Inc. v. Board of Equalization of S. D. raised the question whether certain property tax exemptions were prohibited under the antidiscrimination provisions of the Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982 (AAIA), 49 U. S. C. App. §§ 1513(d)(1)(A)-(C), which are identical for all relevant purposes to analogous provisions under the 4-R Act, 49 U. S. C. §§ 11503(b)(1)-(3). The case was on appeal from the Supreme Court of South Dakota, which had held that such exemptions were not subject to challenge under the AAIA. Western Air Lines, Inc. v. Hughes County, 372 N. W. 2d 106 (1985). The court rested this ruling upon its conclusion that the definition of "commercial and industrial property" in the AAIA, 49 U. S. C. App. § 1513(d)(2)(D)—which, like the parallel definition in 49 U. S. C. § 11503(a)(4), is limited to property "subject to a property tax levy"—included taxed property but not exempt property, 372 N. W. 2d, at 110. Because the comparison class against which tax discrimination was measured under §§ 1513(d)(1)(A)-(C) did not include exempt property, the court reasoned that the AAIA did not prohibit property tax exemptions. We affirmed, but on grounds unrelated to the court's construction of the terms "commercial and industrial property" and "subject to a property tax levy." Western Air Lines, Inc. v. Board of Equalization of S. D., 480 U. S., at 129-134. Justice White concurred, but expressed his view that the "ground on which the South Dakota Supreme Court sustained the tax" was "plainly improvident." Id., at 135; see also Northwest Airlines, Inc. v. North Dakota, 358 N. W. 2d 515, 517 (N. D. 1984).
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