582
Opinion of the Court
U. S., at 337. This is an extremely difficult burden, "so heavy that 'facial discrimination by itself may be a fatal defect.' " Oregon Waste, 511 U. S., at 101 (quoting Hughes, 441 U. S., at 337); see Chemical Waste Management, Inc. v. Hunt, 504 U. S., at 342 ("Once a state tax is found to discriminate against out-of-state commerce, it is typically struck down without further inquiry"). Perhaps realizing the weight of its burden, the Town has made no effort to defend the statute under the per se rule, and so we do not address this question. See Fulton Corp. v. Faulkner, 516 U. S., at 333-334.16 We have no doubt that if petitioner's camp were
16 Justice Scalia submits that we err by following our precedent in Fulton and declining to address an argument that the Town itself did not think worthy of pressing. Post, at 602-603. But even if there were reason to consider the State's compliance with the per se rule, the Town would not prevail. In the single case Justice Scalia points to in which we found the per se standard to have been met, Maine v. Taylor, 477 U. S. 131 (1986), the State had no " 'reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives,' " Oregon Waste, 511 U. S., at 101 (quoting New Energy Co., 486 U. S., at 278), to the action it had taken. Absent a bar on the import of certain minnows, there was no way for Maine to protect its natural environment from the hazard of parasites and nonnative species that might have been accidentally introduced into the State's waters. Taylor, 477 U. S., at 141.
In contrast, here Maine has ample alternatives short of a facially discriminatory property tax exemption to achieve its apparent goal of subsidizing the attendance of the State's children at summer camp. Maine could, for example, achieve this end by offering direct financial support to parents of resident children. Cf. Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U. S. 618 (1969). Though we have not had the occasion to address the issue, it might also be permissible for the State to subsidize Maine camps directly to the extent that they serve residents. See West Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy, 512 U. S., at 199, n. 15; New Energy Co. of Ind. v. Limbach, 486 U. S. 269, 278 (1988) (noting that "[d]irect subsidization of domestic industry does not ordinarily run afoul" of the Commerce Clause); Hughes v. Alexandria Scrap Corp., 426 U. S., at 816 (Stevens, J., concurring). While the Town does argue its case under the less exacting analysis set
forth in, e. g., Pike v. Bruce Church, Inc., 397 U. S. 137, 142 (1970), "this lesser scrutiny is only available 'where other [nondiscriminatory] legislative objectives are credibly advanced and there is no patent discrimination
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