Cite as: 526 U. S. 160 (1999)
Syllabus
and tax years, neither is a class action, and no one claims there is privity or some other special relationship between the two sets of plaintiffs, the Bell plaintiffs are "strangers" to the earlier judgment and thus cannot be bound by that judgment. Richards v. Jefferson County, 517 U. S. 793, 801-802. That the Bell plaintiffs were aware of the Reynolds Metals litigation and that one of the Reynolds Metals lawyers also represented the Bell plaintiffs created no special representational relationship between the earlier and later plaintiffs. Nor could these facts have led the Bell plaintiffs to expect to be precluded, as a res judicata matter, by the earlier judgment itself. Although the Bell plaintiffs, in a letter to the trial court, specifically requested that their case be held in abeyance until Reynolds Metals was decided, the letter was no more than a routine request for continuance and does not distinguish Richards. Pp. 167-168.
3. The state franchise tax on foreign corporations impermissibly discriminates against interstate commerce, in violation of the Commerce Clause. State law gives domestic corporations the ability to reduce their franchise tax liability simply by reducing the par value of their stock, while it denies foreign corporations that same ability. The State cannot justify this discrimination on the ground that the tax is a complementary or compensatory tax that offsets the tax burden that the domestic shares tax imposes upon domestic corporations, since the relevant tax burdens are not roughly approximate, nor are they similar in substance. See, e. g., Oregon Waste Systems, Inc. v. Department of Environmental Quality of Ore., 511 U. S. 93, 103. Alabama imposes its foreign franchise tax on a foreign firm's decision to do business in the State; it imposes its domestic shares tax on a certain form of property ownership, namely, shares in domestic corporations. The State's invitation to reconsider and abandon the Court's negative Commerce Clause cases will not be entertained, as the State did not make clear it intended to make this argument until it filed its brief on the merits. Pp. 169-171.
711 So. 2d 1005, reversed and remanded.
Breyer, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. O'Connor, J., post, p. 171, and Thomas, J., post, p. 171, filed concurring opinions.
Mark L. Evans argued the cause for petitioners. With him on the briefs were Henk Brands, Walter Hellerstein, Charles R. Morgan, Mark D. Hallenbeck, Albert G. Moore, Jr., Richard W. Bell, Walter R. Byars, David J. Bowling, and Courtney Hyers.
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