Court Opinion

ID: 9431557
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:32:34.392958+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:28.999602
License: Public Domain

Justice White,
concurring in the judgment.
The Texas law at issue here discriminates on the basis of the content of publications: it provides that “[pjeriodicals . . . that consist wholly of writings promulgating the teaching of (a religious faith). . . are exempted” from the burdens of the sales tax law. Tex. Tax Code Ann. § 161.312 (1982). Thus, *26the content of a publication determines whether its publisher is exempt or nonexempt. Appellant is subject to the tax, but other publications are not because of the message they carry. This is plainly forbidden by the Press Clause of the First Amendment. Arkansas Writers’ Project, Inc. v. Ragland, 481 U. S. 221 (1987), our most recent decision to this effect, is directly applicable here, and is the proper basis for reversing the judgment below.