Barclays Bank PLC v. Franchise Tax Bd. of Cal., 512 U.S. 298, 34 (1994)

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Cite as: 512 U. S. 298 (1994)

Opinion of Scalia, J.

we leave it to Congress—whose voice, in this area, is the Nation's—to evaluate whether the national interest is best served by tax uniformity, or state autonomy. Accordingly, the judgments of the California Court of Appeal are

Affirmed.

Justice Blackmun, concurring.

Last Term, in Itel Containers Int'l Corp. v. Huddleston, 507 U. S. 60, 85 (1993) (Blackmun, J., dissenting), I expressed my disagreement with the Court's willingness, in applying the "one voice" test, to "infe[r] permission for [a] tax from Congress' supposed failure to prohibit it." See also Wardair Canada Inc. v. Florida Dept. of Revenue, 477 U. S. 1, 18 (1986) (Blackmun, J., dissenting). I accordingly would not rely in the present cases on congressional inaction to conclude that "Congress implicitly has permitted the States to use the worldwide combined reporting method." Ante, at 326. Nevertheless, because today's holding largely is controlled by Container Corp. of America v. Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U. S. 159 (1983), and because California's corporate franchise tax does not directly burden the instrumentalities of foreign commerce, see Itel, supra; Wardair, supra; and Japan Line, Ltd. v. County of Los Angeles, 441 U. S. 434 (1979), I agree that the tax does not "impair federal uniformity in an area where federal uniformity is essential," id., at 448. I therefore join the opinion of the Court.

Justice Scalia, concurring in part and concurring in the judgment.

I concur in the judgment of the Court and join all of its opinion except Part IV-B, which disposes of the petitioners' "negative" Foreign Commerce Clause argument by applying the "speak with one voice" test of Japan Line, Ltd. v. County of Los Angeles, 441 U. S. 434 (1979).

As I stated last Term in Itel Containers Int'l Corp. v. Huddleston, 507 U. S. 60, 78 (1993) (opinion concurring in part

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