Source: https://m.openjurist.org/481/us/454
Timestamp: 2020-02-19 08:50:32
Document Index: 480099925

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 306', '§ 306', '§ 306', '§ 306', '§ 306', '§ 11503', '§ 306', '§ 11503', '§ 306', '§ 1341', '§ 306', '§ 11503', '§ 306', '§ 26', '§ 11503', '§ 3', '§ 11503', '§ 11503', '§ 11503']

481 US 454 Burlington Northern Railroad Company v. Oklahoma Tax Commission | OpenJurist
481 U.S. 454 - Burlington Northern Railroad Company v. Oklahoma Tax Commission
481 US 454 Burlington Northern Railroad Company v. Oklahoma Tax Commission
107 S.Ct. 1855
95 L.Ed.2d 404
BURLINGTON NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY, Petitioner
Section 306 of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976—which prohibits discriminatory state taxation of railroad property—provides, in § 306(b)(1), that a State may not "assess rail transportation property at a value that has a higher ratio to the true market value . . . than the ratio that the assessed value of other commercial and industrial property in the same assessment jurisdiction has to the true market value of the other commercial and industrial property." Section 306(c) includes, inter alia, provisions declaring an exception from the provisions of the Tax Injunction Act, conferring jurisdiction on district courts to prevent violations of § 306(b), and stating that "[t]he burden of proof in determining assessed value and true market value is governed by State law." Petitioner railroad filed this action in the Federal District Court, alleging that respondents, Oklahoma taxation authorities and their members, had discriminated against petitioner in the assessment of state property taxes for the 1982 tax year, particularly by overvaluing petitioner's property. In Oklahoma, the determination of tax liability involves determining the value of the entire railroad system and allocating a portion of that value to Oklahoma, and then assessing the taxable value of the railroad's property at only a certain percentage of true market value, which, during the tax year in question, was concededly the same assessment ratio employed with respect to all other commercial and industrial property in the State. Petitioner's claim of discriminatory taxation was based solely upon the State's overvaluation of the "true market value" of petitioner's entire railroad system. Holding that § 306 does not permit the exercise of federal jurisdiction to review such claims of discriminatory state taxation unless the railroad shows purposeful overvaluation with discriminatory intent, the District Court found that no such showing had been made here and dismissed the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals affirmed.
(b) The position of the courts below that district courts may not review claims of discriminatory taxation based upon overvaluation of railroad property unless the plaintiff first makes a preliminary showing of intentional discrimination is also untenable. Section 306(b) speaks only in terms of "acts" which "unreasonably burden and discriminate against interstate commerce"; nowhere does it refer to the actor's intent. Moreover, § 306(c) provides that relief may be granted only if the ratio of assessed value to true market value of railroad property exceeds by at least 5% the assessment ratio for other commercial and industrial property. That provision makes sense as a prohibition on the litigation of de minimis disparate-impact claims, and does not support the view that Congress intended to reach only claims of intentional discrimination by overvaluation. Pp. 463—464.
The issue presented by this case is whether § 306 of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, 49 U.S.C. § 11503, permits review by federal courts of alleged overvaluation of railroad property by state taxation authorities.
Congress' solution to the problem of discriminatory state taxation of railroads was embodied in § 306 of the Act, currently codified at 49 U.S.C. § 11503.1 In broad terms, Congress declared in § 306(b) that assessment ratios or taxation rates imposed on railroad property which differ significantly from the ratios or rates imposed on other commercial and industrial property are prohibited as burdens on interstate commerce.2 Section 306(c) declared an exception from the provisions of the Tax Injunction Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1341, allowing railroads to challenge discriminatory taxation in federal district courts.3 States were given a 3-year grace period, until February 1979, to bring their property taxation systems into compliance with the statutory requirements. § 306(2)(b), 90 Stat. 54; see Act of Oct. 17, 1978, Pub.L. 95-473, 92 Stat. 1466.
The present action was filed by petitioner Burlington Northern Railroad in the United States District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma on March 3, 1983. The complaint alleged that respondents, the Oklahoma Tax Commission and State Board of Equalization and their members, had discriminated against petitioner in the assessment of state property taxes for the 1982 tax year.4 In particular, petitioner alleged that respondents had overvalued petitioner's property.
The parties have canvassed at length the 15-year legislative history of the Act, and of the protection against discriminatory state taxation which became § 11503. We find the results of that investigation inconclusive and irrelevant. Legislative history can be a legitimate guide to a statutory purpose obscured by ambiguity, but "[i]n the absence of a 'clearly expressed legislative intention to the contrary,' the language of the statute itself 'must ordinarily be regarded as conclusive.' " United States v. James, 478 U.S. 597, 606, 106 S.Ct. 3116, 3121, 92 L.Ed.2d 483 (1986) (quoting Consumer Product Safety Comm'n v. GTE Sylvania, Inc., 447 U.S. 102, 108, 100 S.Ct. 2051, 2056, 64 L.Ed.2d 766 (1980)). Unless exceptional circumstances dictate otherwise, "[w]hen we find the terms of a statute unambiguous, judicial inquiry is complete." Rubin v. United States, 449 U.S. 424, 430, 101 S.Ct. 698, 701, 66 L.Ed.2d 633 (1981).
In fact, however, the language of subsection (c) leads to the opposite conclusion. The general statement that assessed value and true market value are subjects for judicial inquiry, and are to be proved under burdens allocated by state law, is followed by a specific instruction as to how two of those issues are to be addressed. These are not, by their placement or meaning, words of limitation on the preceding general statement, but rather a particular grant of authority to district courts to use statistical methods for establishing the assessed and market values of "other commercial and industrial property" where such methods will result in proof "to the satisfaction of the district court." Congress has said that the value of one kind of property may, in the court's discretion, be proved by particular means; this raises no implication whatever that the value of another kind of property may not be proved at all.5 Respondents' position depends upon the addition of words to a statutory provision which is complete as it stands. Adoption of their view would require amendment rather than construction of the statute, and it must be rejected here.
The language of the original § 306, first codified at 49 U.S.C. § 26c (1976 ed.), was slightly altered when in 1978 the provision was recodified at 49 U.S.C. § 11503. See Act of Oct. 17, 1978, Pub.L. 95-473, 92 Stat. 1337 et seq. These changes "may not be construed as making a substantive change in the laws replaced." § 3(a), 92 Stat. 1466. For convenience, further references to the statute are to the text of 49 U.S.C. § 11503.
Title 49 U.S.C. § 11503(b) provides in relevant part:
Title 49 U.S.C. § 11503(c) provides:
"Notwithstanding section 1341 of title 28 and without regard to the amount in controversy or citizenship of the parties, a district court of the United States has jurisdiction, concurrent with other jurisdiction of courts of the United States and the States, to prevent a violation of subsection (b) of this section. Relief may be granted under this subsection only if the ratio of assessed value to true market value of rail transportation property exceeds by at least 5 percent, the ratio of assessed value to true market value of other commercial and industrial property in the same assessment jurisdiction. The burden of proof in determining assessed value and true market value is governed by State law. If the ratio of the assessed value of other commercial and industrial property in the assessment jurisdiction to the true market value of all other commercial and industrial property cannot be determined to the satisfaction of the district court through the random-sampling method known as a sales assessment ratio study (to be carried out under statistical principles applicable to such a study), the court shall find, as a violation of this section—