Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Co. v. Texas

Citations

• 210 U.S. 217
• 28 S. Ct. 638
• 52 L. Ed. 1031
• 1908 U.S. LEXIS 1505

Syllabus

<p>The statute of Texas of April 17, 1905, c. 141, imposing a tax upon railroad companies equal to one per cent of their gross receipts is, as to those companies whose receipts include receipts from interstate business, a burden on interstate commerce and as such violative of the commerce clause of the Federal Constitution. Philadelphia & Southern Mail S. S. Co. v. Pennsylvania, 122 U. S. 326 followed; Maine v. Grand Trunk Railway Co., 142 U. S. 217, distinguished, and held that the latter case did not overrule the former.</p> <p>Neither the state courts nor the legislatures, by giving a tax a particular name, or by the use of some form of words, can take away the duty of this court to consider the nature and effect of a tax, and if it bears upon interstate commerce so directly as to amount to a regulation it cannot be saved by name or form.</p> <p>97 S. W. Rep. 71, reversed:</p>