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Page Number: 17

12 

SOUTH DAKOTA v. WAYFAIR, INC. 

Opinion of the Court 

collection  obligations  in  thousands  of  different  taxing
jurisdictions.  Id.,  at  313,  n. 6.    But  the  administrative 
costs  of  compliance,  especially  in  the  modern  economy 
with  its  Internet  technology,  are  largely  unrelated  to
whether  a  company  happens  to  have  a  physical  presence 
in a State.  For example, a business with one salesperson 
in each State must collect sales taxes in every jurisdiction
in  which  goods  are  delivered;  but  a  business  with  500
salespersons in one central location and a website accessi­
ble in every State need not collect sales taxes on otherwise 
identical nationwide sales.  In other words, under Quill, a 
small  company  with  diverse  physical  presence  might  be
equally or more burdened by compliance costs than a large
remote seller.  The physical presence rule is a poor proxy 
for the compliance costs faced by companies that do busi­
ness  in  multiple  States.  Other  aspects  of  the  Court’s
doctrine  can  better  and  more  accurately  address  any
potential burdens on interstate commerce, whether or not 
Quill’s physical presence rule is satisfied. 

2 
The  Court  has  consistently  explained  that  the  Com­
merce Clause was designed to prevent States from engag­
ing  in  economic  discrimination  so  they  would  not  divide
into  isolated,  separable  units.  See  Philadelphia  v.  New 
Jersey,  437  U. S.  617,  623  (1978).    But  it  is  “not  the  pur­
pose  of  the  [C]ommerce  [C]lause  to  relieve  those  engaged
in  interstate  commerce  from  their  just  share  of  state  tax
burden.”  Complete Auto, supra, at 288 (internal quotation
marks omitted).  And it is certainly not the purpose of the 
Commerce Clause to permit the Judiciary to create market
distortions.  “If the Commerce Clause was intended to put
businesses  on  an  even  playing  field,  the  [physical  pres­
ence]  rule  is  hardly  a  way  to  achieve  that  goal.”    Quill, 
supra, at 329 (opinion of White, J.). 

Quill  puts  both  local  businesses  and  many  interstate