Cite as: 520 U. S. 564 (1997)
Syllabus
not "articles of commerce," or more generally because interstate commerce is not implicated. The camp is unquestionably engaged in commerce, not only as a purchaser, see, e. g., Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U. S. 294, 300-301, but also as a provider of goods and services akin to a hotel, see, e. g., Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, 379 U. S. 241, 244, 258. Although the latter case involved Congress' affirmative powers, its reasoning is applicable in the dormant Commerce Clause context. See, e. g., Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U. S. 322, 326, n. 2. The Town's further argument that the dormant Clause is inapplicable because a real estate tax is at issue is also rejected. Even assuming, as the Town argues, that Congress could not impose a national real estate tax, States are not free to levy such taxes in a manner that discriminates against interstate commerce. Pennsylvania v. West Virginia, 262 U. S. 553, 596. Pp. 572-575. (c) There is no question that if this statute targeted profit-making entities, it would violate the dormant Commerce Clause. The statute discriminates on its face against interstate commerce: It expressly distinguishes between entities that serve a principally interstate clientele and those that primarily serve an intrastate market, singling out camps that serve mostly in-staters for beneficial tax treatment, and penalizing those camps that do a principally interstate business. Such laws are virtually per se invalid. E. g., Fulton Corp. v. Faulkner, 516 U. S. 325, 331. Because the Town did not attempt to defend the statute by demonstrating that it advances a legitimate local purpose that cannot be adequately served by reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives, e. g., Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of Ore., 511 U. S. 93, 101, the Court does not address this question. See Fulton Corp., 516 U. S., at 333-334. Pp. 575-583. (d) The rule applicable to profit-making enterprises also applies to a discriminatory tax exemption for charitable and benevolent institutions. The dormant Commerce Clause's applicability to the nonprofit sector follows from this Court's decisions holding not-for-profit institutions subject to laws regulating commerce, e. g., Associated Press v. NLRB, 301 U. S. 103, 129, and to the federal antitrust laws, e. g., National Collegiate Athletic Assn. v. Board of Regents of Univ. of Okla., 468 U. S. 85, 100, n. 22. The Court has already held that the dormant Clause applies to activities not intended to earn a profit, Edwards v. California, 314 U. S. 160, 172, n. 1, and there is no reason why an enterprise's nonprofit character should exclude it from the coverage of either the affirmative or the negative aspect of the Clause, see, e. g., Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U. S., at 326, n. 2. Whether operated on a for-profit or
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