Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/428/428mass1201.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 02:43:29+00:00

Document:
Present: Wilkins, H.P., Abrams, R.I., Lynch, N.L., Greaney, J.M., Fried, C., Marshall, M.H., Ireland, R.L.
On November 19, 1998, the Justices submitted the following response to questions propounded to them by the House of Representatives.
city; provided, however, that $1 of said additional surcharge shall be paid to said city and deposited in the Room Occupancy Excise Fund."
"1. Would the enactment of Section 2 of said House No. 5822 in that it reduces the surcharge on vehicular rental transaction contracts in the city of Boston from ten dollars to three dollars for residents of the city of Boston violate the Privileges and Immunities Clause of the United States Constitution, Art. IV, Sec. 2, cl. 1?
"2. Would the enactment of Section 2 of said House No. 5822 in that it reduces the surcharge on vehicular rental transaction contracts in the city of Boston from ten dollars to three dollars for residents of the city of Boston violate the Commerce Clause of the Constitution, Art. 1, Sec. 8?
"3. Would the enactment of Section 2 of said House No. 5822 in that it reduces the surcharge on vehicular rental transaction contracts in the city of Boston from ten dollars to three dollars for residents of the city of Boston deny equal protection of the laws under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution or the Declaration of Rights of the Massachusetts Constitution to non-residents of the city of Boston?"
A memorandum of interested parties was submitted to the court by Bernard Borman, a Boston resident who "rents automobiles near his home," on behalf of himself and other similarly situated individuals.
businesses and organizations to "gain access to a share of this largesse"). It is only where the allocation of burdens disproportionately disadvantages interests or groups enjoying some measure of constitutional solicitude that a measure raises constitutional concern. See, e.g., Minneapolis Star & Tribune Co. v. Minnesota Comm'r of Revenue, 460 U.S. 575, 103 S. Ct. 1365, 75 L. Ed. 2d 295 (1983). One such family of concerns relates to measures that disproportionately disadvantage persons or interests outside of the State imposing the measures. The constitutional provisions that address these concerns are the commerce clause, art. I, § 8, the privileges and immunities clause, art. IV, § 2, and the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
The second question propounded by the House of Representatives asks us to determine whether the enactment of § 2 of House No. 5822 would violate the commerce clause of the United States Constitution. We note at the outset that "there is no presumption of validity when we consider a proposed statute in an advisory opinion." Opinion of the Justices, 368 Mass. 831 , 842, 333 N.E.2d 388 (1975), quoting Opinion of the Justices, 345 Mass. 780 , 781-782, 189 N.E.2d 849 (1963).
The Supreme Court of the United States continues to interpret the commerce clause as more than an authority for Congress to legislate in the premises. See, e.g., Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Harrison, 520 U.S. 564, 137 L. Ed. 2d 852, 117 S. Ct. 1590 (1997). The Court, in spite of persisting doubts and criticism, see id. at 610-611 (Thomas, J., dissenting); Redish, The Dormant Commerce Clause and the Constitutional Balance of Federalism, 1987 Duke L.J. 569 ; Edmund W. Kitch, Regulation, the American Common Market and Public Choice, 6 Harv. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 119 (1982), interprets the clause as imposing limits on the authority of State and local governments to regulate in ways that impinge on interstate or foreign commerce. See, e.g., Oklahoma Tax Comm'n v. Jefferson Lines, Inc., 514 U.S. 175, 179, 131 L. Ed. 2d 261, 115 S. Ct. 1331 (1995); West Lynn Creamery v. Healy, 512 U.S. 186, 192-193, 129 L. Ed. 2d 157, 114 S. Ct. 2205 (1994), quoting New Energy Co. of Ind. v. Limbach, 486 U.S. 269, 273-274, 100 L. Ed. 2d 302, 108 S. Ct. 1803 (1988); Cooley v. Wardens of the Port of Philadelphia, 53 U.S. (12 How.) 299, 13 L. Ed. 996 (1851).
Inc., supra, has not been consistent, nor have lines of demarcation always been easy to discern, see 514 U.S. at 179 (recounting the numerous "turns" the Supreme Court's "understanding of the dormant Commerce Clause has taken"), but "opinions of the Court through the years have reflected an alertness to the evils of 'economic isolation' and protectionism." Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U.S. 617, 623, 57 L. Ed. 2d 475, 98 S. Ct. 2531 (1978). Therefore, a State may not "block the flow of natural resources or products of trade from one State to another in order to satisfy local needs," Andover Sav. Bank v. Commissioner of Revenue, 387 Mass. 229 , 247, 439 N.E.2d 282 (1982), citing New England Power Co. v. New Hampshire, 455 U.S. 331, 71 L. Ed. 2d 188, 102 S. Ct. 1096 (1982); Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U.S. 322, 60 L. Ed. 2d 250, 99 S. Ct. 1727 (1979), and is prevented from "retreating into economic isolation or jeopardizing the welfare of the Nation as a whole, as it would do if it were free to place burdens on the flow of commerce across its borders that commerce wholly within those borders would not bear." Jefferson Lines, Inc., supra at 180. See H.P. Hood & Sons v. DaMond, 336 U.S. 525, 532, 93 L. Ed. 865, 69 S. Ct. 657 (1949); Baldwin v. G.A.F. Seelig, Inc., 294 U.S. 511, 527, 79 L. Ed. 1032, 55 S. Ct. 497 (1935) ("What is ultimate is the principle that one state in its dealings with another may not place itself in a position of economic isolation. . . . Neither the power to tax nor the police power may be used by the state of destination with the aim and effect of establishing an economic barrier against competition with the products of another state or the labor of its residents").
It has also been noted that legislation disadvantaging out-of-State interests, which by hypothesis cannot participate in the political process imposing that disadvantage, has for that reason a special burden of justification. See 2 R.D. Rotunda & J.E. Nowak, Constitutional Law: Substance and Procedure § 11.11(a) (2d ed. 1992); Farber, In the Shadow of the Legislature: The Common Law in the Age of the New Public Law, 89 Mich. L. Rev. 875, 906 n.74 (1991); Sunstein, Naked Preferences and the Constitution, 84 Colum. L. Rev. 1689, 1705 (1984); Tushnet, Rethinking the Dormant Commerce Clause, 1979 Wis. L. Rev. 125. Cf. McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. (4 Wheat.) 316, 428-429, 4 L. Ed. 579 (1819). But see West Lynn Creamery, Inc., supra, 512 U.S. at 212-217 (Rehnquist, C.J., dissenting).
Development lists "Tourism and Cultural Facilities," specifically including a "new professional stadium and/or convention center" as one of the key infrastructural improvements that will spur economic growth in the Commonwealth. Strategic Plan, supra. Finally, to the extent that vehicles are rented for commercial use, the proposed measure discriminates against out-of-State businesses, not just against individuals, and, in such cases, even more obviously affects interstate commerce. For these reasons, the surcharge in question here has a "sufficient effect on interstate commerce," Perini Corp., supra, 419 Mass. at 766, to require further commerce clause inquiry.
from regulating "interstate business to the advantage of the local consumers").
That a measure enacted by a city or other locality discriminates against both out-of-State interests and in-State interests outside that locality does not deflect analysis under the dormant commerce clause. [Note 1] See Dean Milk Co. v. Madison, 340 U.S. 349, 354 n.4, 95 L. Ed. 329, 71 S. Ct. 295 (1951) (it is "immaterial" that a city ordinance barring the sale of milk not processed within five miles of the city discriminates equally against in-State milk processed outside the five-mile perimeter); C & A Carbone, Inc. v. Clarkstown, 511 U.S. 383, 391, 128 L. Ed. 2d 399, 114 S. Ct. 1677 (1994); Fort Gratiot Sanitary Landfill, Inc. v. Michigan Dep't of Natural Resources, 504 U.S. 353, 361-363, 119 L. Ed. 2d 139, 112 S. Ct. 2019 (1992).
residents, and a ten-dollar surcharge on rentals in Boston by all other persons, is such a facially discriminatory measure. And even if it could be shown that the surcharge were not motivated by the "economic protectionism" that typifies statutes invalidated under the clause, the statute would not be excused from the scrutiny to which discriminatory measures are subjected, because "the purpose of, or justification for, a law has no bearing on Whether it is facially discriminatory." Perini Corp., supra, 419 Mass. at 767 . See Associated Indus. of Mo. v. Lohman, 511 U.S. 641, 653, 128 L. Ed. 2d 639, 114 S. Ct. 1815 (1994); 3 C.J. Antieau & W.J. Rich, Modern Constitutional Law § 43.23, at 52 (2d ed. 1997) ("Even when the goals of the state are not necessarily protectionist, if discrimination against interstate commerce is the method chosen to achieve the goal the state will have to overcome a strong presumption of unconstitutionality").
It has been argued that reducing the surcharge, which is currently assessed at ten dollars regardless of residency, to three dollars for Boston residents, would not burden nonresident businesses any more than the ten-dollar surcharge already does, and, thus, that the statute does not actively discriminate against interstate commerce. The fact remains, however, that to the extent that nonresident businesses are taxed at a higher rate than are businesses located in Boston, the nonresident businesses are put at a competitive disadvantage in that the increased costs must either be passed on to the customer or absorbed by the company. As this court recently noted in Aloha Freightways, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue, 428 Mass. 418 , 701 N.E.2d 961 (1998), the dormant commerce clause "prevents States from aiding local business in competition with foreign businesses." Thus, that the statute would reduce for residents a tax currently assessed to everyone, rather than impose a new tax on nonresidents, does not render the statute nondiscriminatory for commerce clause purposes. Cf. Westinghouse Elec. Corp. v. Tully, 466 U.S. 388, 404, 80 L. Ed. 2d 388, 104 S. Ct. 1856 (1984) (in finding State tax statute violative of dormant commerce clause, Court stated it was irrelevant that the discrimination was carried out through denial of tax credit rather than imposition of higher tax).
invalidated a Hawaii law exempting from the State's liquor tax a concoction distilled from a plant that grows only in that State. A seventy per cent tax reduction, similar to what Boston residents would receive under the statute in question, would surely have fared no better than the complete exemption. And in Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc., supra at 568, the Court struck down a facially invalid State statute exempting from property taxes "benevolent and charitable institutions" but denying that exemption to any such institution "conducted or operated principally for the benefit of" nonresidents of the State.
Statutes that are found to be facially discriminatory are "typically struck down without further inquiry." Chemical Waste Mgmt., Inc. v. Hunt, 504 U.S. 334, 342, 112 S. Ct. 2009, 119 L. Ed. 2d 121 (1992). In a rare case, however, such a statute might survive the "strictest scrutiny" to which it is subjected, Perini Corp., supra, 419 Mass. at 771, if it has a "legitimate local purpose," id.; Oregon Waste Sys., Inc., supra at 100; Lewis v. BT Inv. Managers, Inc., 447 U.S. 27, 36, 64 L. Ed. 2d 702, 100 S. Ct. 2009 (1980); Chemical Waste Mgmt. Inc., supra at 344, that cannot be "adequately served by reasonable nondiscriminatory alternatives," Oregon Waste Sys., Inc., supra at 101, and if it is narrowly tailored to serve that purpose. See Chemical Waste Mgmt., Inc., supra, 504 U.S. at 342-343, quoting Hughes v. Oklahoma, 441 U.S. 322, 337, 60 L. Ed. 2d 250, 99 S. Ct. 1727 (1979); Dean Milk Co., supra at 354; Perini Corp., supra.
congestion and air pollution. Whether or not the reduction of these nuisances is a compelling government interest, and regardless of whether this interest is served in any way by the statute in question, it is unquestionable that there are other means of pursuing that purpose without discriminating on the basis of residency. See, e.g., Chemical Waste Mgmt., Inc., supra, 504 U.S. at 344-346.
paid by different taxpayers upon different transactions goes a long way toward explaining why we have so seldom recognized a valid compensatory tax." Fulton Corp., supra at 342. It was argued in the memorandum of interested parties that the variation in the surcharge is justified by the fact that residents contribute to the construction of the convention center through payment of real estate and other taxes, whereas nonresidents do not. Taxes on real estate and income, however, can hardly be considered taxes of events "substantially equivalent" to the rental of motor vehicles. [Note 5] Rather, the surcharge in question fits neatly within the class of taxes the Court is unwilling to consider compensatory because it taxes different persons and different activities than do real estate and income taxes. Real estate taxes, for example, are assessed only on those owning real estate, a group by no means coextensive with the group of resident motor vehicle renters given a tax break by the diminished surcharge. [Note 6] Thus, the facially discriminatory surcharge here is not saved from invalidity as a compensatory tax.
For the reasons discussed above, the surcharge proposed by § 2 of House Bill No. 5822, which on its face discriminates against interstate commerce, contravenes the dormant aspect of the commerce clause of the United States Constitution, and is invalid.
Because we answer Question 2 in the affirmative, it is unnecessary for us to consider Questions 1 and 3, which ask us to consider whether the bill would violate the privileges and immunities clause of the United States Constitution or the equal protection of the laws under the United States Constitution or the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.
commerce clause jurisprudence are less forceful with respect to a statute discriminating against both out-of-State consumers and in-State consumers residing outside a particular municipality. Whereas out-of-State consumers have no electoral voice within the State and thus have little opportunity to protest the economic discrimination imposed upon them by a State law, State residents suffering the same discrimination do have an electoral voice and presumably will take advantage of it. But see Note, Functional Analysis, Subsidies, and the Dormant Commerce Clause, 110 Harv. L. Rev. 1537, 1554 n.56 (1997) (noting that, practically speaking, consumers have little influence due to collective action problems).
doctrine where the legislation is neutral on its face but is claimed to have a discriminatory effect. Compare Hunt v. Washington State Apple Advertising Comm'n, 432 U.S. 333, 53 L. Ed. 2d 383, 97 S. Ct. 2434 (1977), with Exxon v. Maryland, 437 U.S. 117, 57 L. Ed. 2d 91, 98 S. Ct. 2207 (1978).
it must be shown. The Supreme Court has "never suggested . . . that patent discrimination in part of the operation of a tax scheme . . . can be rendered inconsequential for Commerce Clause purposes by advantages given to interstate commerce in other facets of a tax plan or in other regions of a State." Associated Indus. of Mo. v. Lohman, 511 U.S. 641, 649, 128 L. Ed. 2d 639, 114 S. Ct. 1815 (1994).
matter, 'identify . . . the intrastate tax burden for which the State is attempting to compensate.'" Lohman, supra at 648. See Fulton Corp. v. Faulkner, 516 U.S. 325, 332, 334, 133 L. Ed. 2d 796, 116 S. Ct. 848 (1996). And the intrastate tax "must serve some purpose for which the State may otherwise impose a burden on interstate commerce." Id.
the further question considered in compensatory tax cases, whether "the tax on interstate commerce [may] be shown roughly to approximate -- but not exceed -- the amount of the [corresponding] tax on intrastate commerce." Fulton Corp., supra, 516 U.S. at 332-333, quoting Oregon Waste Sys., Inc. v. Department of Envtl. Quality of Or., 511 U.S. 93, 103, 128 L. Ed. 2d 13, 114 S. Ct. 1345 (1994).
tax doctrine." Fulton Corp., supra at 335. See Oregon Waste, supra at 104.

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