320
Opinion of the Court
banks for cooperatives, in contrast to farm credit banks and federal land bank associations, would have immunity from state income taxation. The commission reasoned that had Congress intended to confer upon banks for cooperatives the same immunity that was provided to farm credit banks and federal land bank associations, it would have done so expressly. For jurisdictional reasons, the commission did not decide CoBank's constitutional claim.
The Missouri Supreme Court reversed the commission's decision and held that banks for cooperatives are exempt from state income taxation.2 Production Credit Assn. of Southeastern Mo. v. Director of Revenue, 10 S. W. 3d 142, 143 (2000). The Missouri Supreme Court held that the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution provides federal instrumentalities immunity from state taxation unless Congress has expressly waived this immunity. According to the Missouri Supreme Court, because the current version of the Farm Credit Act is silent as to such institutions' immunity from state taxation, Congress cannot be said to have expressly consented to state income taxation and, thus, the institutions are exempt from state income taxes. The Missouri Supreme Court noted that other courts that had addressed the issue of state taxation of member institutions of the Farm Credit System also had concluded that the States could not tax such institutions. Id., at 143-144 (citing Farm Credit Servs. of Central Ark., PCA v. Arkansas, 76 F. 3d 961, 964 (CA8 1996), rev'd on other grounds, 520 U. S. 821 (1997); State v. Farm Credit Servs. of Central Ark., 338 Ark. 322, 327, 994 S. W. 2d 453, 456 (1999), cert. denied, 529 U. S. 1036 (2000); Northwest La. Production Credit Assn. v. State, 98-1995 (La. App. 11/5/99), 746 So. 2d 280).
The New Mexico Court of Appeals and the Indiana Supreme Court have reached the opposite conclusion with
2 In this consolidated appeal, the Missouri Supreme Court also addressed the taxation of production credit associations and held that such institutions are exempt from state taxation.
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007