Cite as: 523 U. S. 360 (1998)
Opinion of the Court
exports against loss violated the Export Clause. Distinguishing case law developed under the Commerce Clause, 517 U. S., at 850-852, and the Import-Export Clause, id., at 857-861, the Court held that the Export Clause allows no room for any federal tax, however generally applicable or nondiscriminatory, on goods in export transit. Before this Court's decision in IBM, the Government argued that the HMT, even if characterized as a "tax" rather than a "user fee," should survive constitutional review "because it applies without discrimination to exports, imports and domestic commerce alike." Reply Brief for United States 9, n. 2. Recognizing that IBM "rejected an indistinguishable contention," the Government now asserts only that HMT is " 'a permissible user fee,' " Reply Brief for United States 9, n. 2, a toll within the tolerance of Export Clause precedent. Adhering to the Court's reasoning in IBM, we reject the Government's current position.
The HMT bears the indicia of a tax. Congress expressly described it as "a tax on any port use," 26 U. S. C. § 4461(a) (emphasis added), and codified the HMT as part of the Internal Revenue Code. In like vein, Congress provided that, for administrative, enforcement, and jurisdictional purposes, the HMT should be treated "as if [it] were a customs duty." §§ 4462(f)(1), (2). However, "we must regard things rather than names," Pace v. Burgess, 92 U. S., at 376, in determining whether an imposition on exports ranks as a tax. The crucial question is whether the HMT is a tax on exports in operation as well as nomenclature or whether, despite the label Congress has put on it, the exaction is instead a bona fide user fee.
In arguing that the HMT constitutes a user fee, the Government relies on our decisions in United States v. Sperry Corp., 493 U. S. 52 (1989), Massachusetts v. United States, 435 U. S. 444 (1978), and Evansville-Vanderburgh Airport Authority Dist. v. Delta Airlines, Inc., 405 U. S. 707 (1972). In those cases, this Court upheld flat and ad valorem charges
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