586
Opinion of the Court
services in competitive markets, offer their facilities to a variety of patrons, and derive revenues from a variety of sources, some of which are local and some out of State.
For purposes of Commerce Clause analysis, any categorical distinction between the activities of profit-making enterprises and not-for-profit entities is therefore wholly illusory. Entities in both categories are major participants in interstate markets. And, although the summer camp involved in this case may have a relatively insignificant impact on the commerce of the entire Nation, the interstate commercial activities of nonprofit entities as a class are unquestionably significant.18 See Wickard v. Filburn, 317 U. S. 111, 127- 128 (1942); Lopez, 514 U. S., at 556, 559-560.
18 We are informed by amici that "the nonprofit sector spends over $389 billion each year in operating expenses—approximately seven percent of the gross national product." Brief for American Council on Education et al. as Amici Curiae 19. In recent years, nonprofits have employed approximately seven percent of the Nation's paid workers, roughly 9.3 million people in 1990. V. Hodgkinson, M. Weitzman, C. Toppe, & S. Noga, Nonprofit Almanac 1992-1993: Dimensions of the Independent Sector 29 (1992) (Table 1.5).
Justice Scalia wrongly suggests that Maine's law offers only a "narrow tax exemption," post, at 598, which he implies has no substantial effect on interstate commerce and serves only "to relieve the State of its burden of caring for its residents," post, at 596. This characterization is quite misleading. The statute expressly exempts from tax property used by such important nonprofit service industries as nursing homes and child care centers. See Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit. 36, § 652(1)(A)(1) (Supp. 1996). Nonprofit participation in these sectors is substantial. Nationally, nonprofit nursing homes had estimated revenues of $18 billion in 1994. U. S. Bureau of the Census, Service Annual Survey: 1994 (1996) (Table 7.3). These entities compete with a sizeable for-profit nursing home sector, which had revenues of approximately $40 billion in 1994. Id., at Table 7.1. Similarly, the $5 billion nonprofit market in child day care services competes with an $11 billion for-profit industry. Id., at Tables 8.1, 8.3 (1994 data).
Nonprofit hospitals and health maintenance organizations also receive an exemption from Maine's property tax. See Me. Rev. Stat. Ann., Tit.
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