United States v. United States Shoe Corp., 523 U.S. 360, 2 (1998)

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Cite as: 523 U. S. 360 (1998)

Syllabus

over, 26 U. S. C. § 4462(f)(2) directs that the HMT "be treated as . . . a customs duty" for jurisdictional purposes. Such duties, by their very nature, provide for revenue from imports and are encompassed within 28 U. S. C. § 1581(i)(1). Accordingly, CIT jurisdiction over controversies regarding HMT administration and enforcement accords with § 1581(i)(4). Pp. 365-366.

2. Although the Export Clause categorically bars Congress from imposing any tax on exports, United States v. International Business Machines Corp., 517 U. S. 843 (IBM), it does not rule out a "user fee" that lacks the attributes of a generally applicable tax or duty and is, instead, a charge designed as compensation for Government-supplied services, facilities, or benefits, see Pace v. Burgess, 92 U. S. 372, 375-376. The HMT, however, is a tax, and thus violates the Export Clause as applied to exports. Pp. 366-370.

(a) The HMT bears the indicia of a tax: Congress expressly described it as such, 26 U. S. C. § 4461(a), codified it as part of the Internal Revenue Code, and provided that, for administrative, enforcement, and jurisdictional purposes, it should be treated "as if [it] were a customs duty," §§ 4462(f)(1), (2). Prior cases in which this Court upheld flat and ad valorem charges as valid user fees do not govern here because they involved constitutional provisions other than the Export Clause. IBM plainly stated that the Export Clause's simple, direct, unqualified prohibition on any taxes or duties distinguishes it from other constitutional limitations on governmental taxing authority. 517 U. S., at 851, 852, 857, 861. Pp. 366-369.

(b) The guiding precedent for determining what constitutes a bona fide user fee in the Export Clause context remains this Court's time-tested Pace decision. The Pace Court upheld a fee for stamps placed on tobacco packaged for export. The stamp was required to prevent fraud, and the charge for it, the Court said, served as "compensation given for services [in fact] rendered." 92 U. S., at 375. In holding that the fee was not a duty, the Court emphasized that the charge bore no relationship to the quantity or value of the goods stamped for export. Ibid. Pace establishes that, under the Export Clause, the connection between a service the Government renders and the compensation it receives for that service must be closer than is present here. Unlike the fee at issue in Pace, the HMT is determined entirely on an ad valorem basis. The value of export cargo, however, does not correlate reliably with the federal harbor services, facilities, and benefits used or usable by the exporter. The Court's holding does not mean that exporters are exempt from any and all user fees designed to defray the cost of harbor

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