202
Opinion of the Court
Exxon Corp. v. Governor of Maryland, 437 U. S., at 147; see also Guy v. Baltimore, 100 U. S., at 443 (invalidating discriminatory wharfage fees which were "mere expedient or device to accomplish, by indirection, what the State could not accomplish by a direct tax, viz., build up its domestic commerce by means of unequal and oppressive burdens upon the industry and business of other States"); Baldwin v. G. A. F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U. S., at 527 ("What is ultimate is the principle that one state in its dealings with another may not put itself in a position of economic isolation. Formulas and catchwords are subordinate to this overmastering requirement"); Dean Milk Co. v. Madison, 340 U. S. 349, 354 (1951); New Energy Co. of Ind. v. Limbach, 486 U. S., at 275, 276 (invalidating reciprocal tax credit because it, "in effect, tax[es] a product made by [Indiana] manufacturers at a rate higher than the same product made by Ohio manufacturers").
B
Respondent also argues that since the Massachusetts milk dealers who pay the order premiums are not competitors of the Massachusetts farmers, the pricing order imposes no discriminatory burden on commerce. Brief for Respondent 28- 29. This argument cannot withstand scrutiny. Is it possible to doubt that if Massachusetts imposed a higher sales tax on milk produced in Maine than milk produced in Massachusetts that the tax would be struck down, in spite of the fact that the sales tax was imposed on consumers, and consumers do not compete with dairy farmers? For over 150 years, our cases have rightly concluded that the imposition of a differential burden on any part of the stream of commerce—from wholesaler to retailer to consumer—is invalid, because a burden placed at any point will result in a disadvantage to the out-of-state producer. Brown v. Maryland, 12 Wheat. 419, 444, 448 (1827) ("So, a tax on the occupation of an importer is, in like manner, a tax on importation. It must add to the price of the article, and be paid by the consumer, or by the
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