102
Opinion of the Court
Respondents offer two such reasons, each of which we address below.
A
Respondents' principal defense of the higher surcharge on out-of-state waste is that it is a "compensatory tax" necessary to make shippers of such waste pay their "fair share" of the costs imposed on Oregon by the disposal of their waste in the State. In Chemical Waste we noted the possibility that such an argument might justify a discriminatory surcharge or tax on out-of-state waste. See 504 U. S., at 346, n. 9. In making that observation, we implicitly recognized the settled principle that interstate commerce may be made to " 'pay its way.' " Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 430 U. S. 274, 281 (1977). See also Maryland, supra, at 754. "It was not the purpose of the commerce clause to relieve those engaged in interstate commerce from their just share of state tax burden[s]." Western Live Stock v. Bureau of Revenue, 303 U. S. 250, 254 (1938). See also Henneford v. Silas Mason Co., 300 U. S. 577 (1937). Nevertheless, one of the central purposes of the Clause was to prevent States from "exacting more than a just share" from interstate commerce. Department of Revenue of Wash. v. Association of Wash. Stevedoring Cos., 435 U. S. 734, 748 (1978) (emphasis added). See also Northwestern States Portland Cement Co. v. Minnesota, 358 U. S. 450, 462 (1959).
At least since our decision in Hinson v. Lott, 8 Wall. 148
(1869), these principles have found expression in the "compensatory" or "complementary" tax doctrine. Though our cases sometimes discuss the concept of the compensatory tax as if it were a doctrine unto itself, it is merely a specific way of justifying a facially discriminatory tax as achieving a legitimate local purpose that cannot be achieved through nondiscriminatory means. See Chemical Waste, supra, at 346, n. 9 (referring to the compensatory tax doctrine as a "justif[ication]" for a facially discriminatory tax). Under that doctrine, a facially discriminatory tax that imposes on
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