Taxes On Exports

Taxes On Exports (Powers Denied to Congress)

The prohibition on excise taxes applies only to the imposition of duties on goods by reason of exportation.1 The word “export” signifies goods exported to a foreign country, not to an unincorporated territory of the United States.2 A general tax laid on all property alike, including that intended for export, is not within the prohibition, if it is not levied on goods in course of exportation nor because of their intended exportation.3

More about Taxes On Exports

Continuing its refusal to modify its export clause jurisprudence, 4 the Court held unconstitutional the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) under the export clause insofar as the tax was applied to goods loaded at United States ports for export. The HMT required shippers to pay a uniform charge on commercial cargo shipped through the Nation's ports. The clause, said the Court, “categorically bars Congress from imposing any tax on exports.” 5 However, the clause does not interdict a “user fee,” which is a charge that lacks the attributes of a generally applicable tax or duty and is designed to compensate for government supplied services, facilities, or benefits; and it was that defense to which the government repaired once it failed to obtain a modification of the rules under the clause. But the HMT bore the indicia of a tax. It was titled as a tax, described as a tax in the law, and codified in the Internal Revenue Code. Aside from labels, however, courts must look to how things operate, and the HMT did not qualify as a user fee. It did not represent compensation for services rendered. The value of export cargo did not correspond reliably with the federal harbor services used or usable by the exporter. Instead, the extent and manner of port use depended on such factors as size and tonnage of a vessel and the length of time it spent in port.6 The HMT was thus a tax, and therefore invalid.

Taxes On Exports: Developments

Where the sale to a commission merchant for a foreign consignee was consummated by delivery of the goods to an exporting carrier, the sale was held to be a step in the exportation and hence exempt from a general tax on sales of such commodity.7 The giving of a bond for exportation of distilled liquor was not the commencement of exportation so as to exempt from an excise tax spirits that were not exported pursuant to such bond.8 A tax on the income of a corporation derived from its export trade was not a tax on “articles exported” within the meaning of the Constitution.9

Other Aspects

In United States v. IBM Corp.,10 the Court rejected the government's argument that it should refine its export-tax-clause jurisprudence. Rather than read the clause as a bar on any tax that applies to a good in the export stream, the government contended that the Court should bring this clause in line with the Import- Export Clause 11 and with dormant-commerce-clause doctrine. In that view, the Court should distinguish between discriminatory and nondiscriminatory taxes on exports. But the Court held that sufficient differences existed between the export clause and the other two clauses, so that its bar should continue to apply to any and all taxes on goods in the course of exportation.

Resources

References

This text about Taxes On Exports is based on “The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation”, published by the U.S. Government Printing Office.

[Footnote 1] Turpin v. Burgess, 117 U.S. 504, 507 (1886). Cf. Almy v. California, 65 U.S. (24 How.) 169, 174 (1861).

[Footnote 2] Dooley v. United States, 183 U.S. 151, 154 (1901).

[Footnote 3] Cornell v. Coyne, 192 U.S. 418, 428 (1904); Turpin v. Burgess, 117 U.S. 504, 507 (1886).

[Footnote 4] See United States v. IBM, 517 U.S. 843, 850-61 (1996).

[Footnote 5] United States v. United States Shoe Corp., 523 U.S. 360, 363 (1998).

[Footnote 6] 523 U.S. at 367-69.

[Footnote 7] Spalding & Bros. v. Edwards, 262 U.S. 66 (1923).

[Footnote 8] Thompson v. United States, 142 U.S. 471 (1892).

[Footnote 9] Peck & Co. v. Lowe, 247 U.S. 165 (1918); National Paper Co. v. Bowers, 266 U.S. 373 (1924).

[Footnote 10] 517 U.S. 843 (1996).

[Footnote 11] Article I, § 10, cl. 2, applying to the states.

Tables of Contents

• Taxes On Exports and other Topics in the Contents – Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution
• U.S. Constitutional Law Category
• List of amendments to the U.S. Constitution
• Taxes On Exports and other Topics in the Constitution Contents
• Interpretation of the U.S. Constitution (Table of Contents)
• Clauses of the Constitution (Table of Contents)