Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Jefferson Lines, Inc., 514 U.S. 175, 21 (1995)

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Cite as: 514 U. S. 175 (1995)

Opinion of the Court

The case of threatened multiple taxation where a sales tax is followed by a use tax is thus distinguishable from the case of simultaneous sales taxes considered in Goldberg, where we were reassured to some degree by the provision of a credit in the disputed tax itself for similar taxes placed upon the taxpayer by other States. See Goldberg, 488 U. S., at 264 ("To the extent that other States' telecommunications taxes pose a risk of multiple taxation, the credit provision contained in the [t]ax [a]ct operates to avoid actual multiple taxation"). In that case, unlike the sales and use schemes posited for the sake of argument here, each of the competing sales taxes would presumably have laid an equal claim on the taxpayer's purse. b

Finally, Jefferson points to the fact that in this case, unlike the telephone communication tax at issue in Goldberg, Oklahoma could feasibly apportion its sales tax on the basis of mileage as we required New York's gross receipts tax to do in Central Greyhound. Although Goldberg indeed noted that "[a]n apportionment formula based on mileage or some other geographic division of individual telephone calls would produce insurmountable administrative and technological barriers," 488 U. S., at 264-265, and although we agree that no comparable barriers exist here, we nonetheless reject the idea that a particular apportionment formula must be used simply because it would be possible to use it. We have never required that any particular apportionment formula or method be used, and when a State has chosen one, an objecting taxpayer has the burden to demonstrate by " 'clear and cogent evidence,' " that " 'the income attributed to the State is in fact out of all appropriate proportions to the business transacted . . . in that State, or has led to a grossly distorted result.' " Container Corp., 463 U. S., at 170, quoting Moor-man Mfg. Co., 437 U. S., at 274 (internal quotation marks omitted; citations omitted). That is too much for Jefferson

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