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Text: The HMT, enacted as part of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, 26 U. S. C. §§ 4461-4462, imposes a uniform charge on shipments of commercial cargo through the Nation's ports. The charge is currently set at 0.125 percent of the cargo's value. Exporters, importers, and domestic shippers are liable for the HMT, § 4461(c)(1), which is imposed at the time of loading for exports and unloading for other shipments, § 4461(c)(2). The HMT is collected by the Customs Service and deposited in the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund (Fund). Congress may appropriate amounts from the Fund to pay for harbor maintenance and development projects, including costs associated with the St. Lawrence Seaway, or related expenses. § 9505.

Respondent United States Shoe Corporation (U. S. Shoe) paid the HMT for articles the company exported during the period April to June 1994 and then filed a protest with the Customs Service alleging the unconstitutionality of the toll to the extent it applies to exports. The Customs Service responded with a form letter stating that the HMT is a statutorily mandated fee assessment on port users, not an unconstitutional tax on exports. On November 3, 1994, U. S. Shoe brought this action against the Government in the Court of International Trade (CIT). The company sought a refund on the ground that the HMT is unconstitutional as applied to exports.

Sitting as a three-judge court, the CIT held that its jurisdiction was properly invoked under 28 U. S. C. § 1581(i); on the merits, the CIT agreed with U. S. Shoe that the HMT qualifies as a tax. 907 F. Supp. 408 (1995). Rejecting the Government's characterization of the HMT as a user fee rather than a tax, the CIT reasoned: "The Tax is assessed ad valorem directly upon the value of the cargo itself, not upon any services rendered for the cargo . . . . Congress could not have imposed the Tax any closer to exportation, or more immediate to the articles exported." Id., at 418. Relying on the Export Clause, the CIT entered summary judgment for U. S. Shoe.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, sitting as a five-judge panel, affirmed. 114 F. 3d 1564 (1997). On auxiliary questions, the Federal Circuit upheld the CIT's exercise of jurisdiction under § 1581(i) and agreed with the lower court that the HMT applied to goods in export transit.[1] Concluding that the HMT is not based on a fair approximation of port use, the Federal Circuit also agreed that the HMT imposes a tax, not a user fee. In making this determination, the Court of Appeals emphasized that the HMT does not depend on the amount or manner of port use, but is determined solely by the value of cargo. Judge Mayer dissented; in his view, Congress properly designed the HMT as a user fee, a toll on shippers that supplies funds not for the general support of government, but exclusively for the facilitation of commercial navigation.

Numerous cases challenging the constitutionality of the HMT as applied to exports are currently pending in the CIT and the Court of Federal Claims.[2] We granted certiorari, 522 U. S. 944 (1997), to review the Federal Circuit's determination that the HMT violates the Export Clause.