Court Opinion

ID: 9551504
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:54:34.140805+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:24:02.122544
License: Public Domain

*69BAKES, Justice
(concurring specially and dissenting in part:
The majority of this Court has determined the Idaho cigarette tax to be a tax upon the retail sale of cigarettes. Therefore, the result reached by the majority is probably correct because the cigarettes in question here were seized before they were sold at retail, and therefore technically no tax was due and owing by the plaintiff on them. However, in my view, the incidence of the tax imposed by the Idaho Cigarette Tax Act can occur, and in this case does occur much earlier in the chain of distribution than the retail sale, and this raises serious constitutional issues. However in view of the holding of the majority concerning the nature of the Idaho cigarette tax, no useful purpose would be served by an analysis of all of the possible constitutional ramifications which would result from a holding that the incidence of the Idaho cigarette tax occurs much earlier in the distribution chain than the retail sale.