Article I, Section 8, Clause 3:

[The Congress shall have Power . . . ] To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes; . . .

In Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady,1 the Court held that a state tax on interstate commerce will be sustained “when the tax is applied to an activity with a substantial nexus with the taxing State, is fairly apportioned, does not discriminate against interstate commerce, and is fairly related to the services provided by the State.” 2 The fourth prong of the Complete Auto test, which this essay concerns, goes to whether the tax is fairly related to the services that the State provides.3

Although, in all the modern cases, the Court has stated that a necessary factor to sustain state taxes having an interstate impact is that the tax be fairly related to benefits provided by the taxing state, the Court has not addressed how to weigh the amount of the tax or the value of the benefits bestowed. The test rather is whether, as a matter of the nexus factor, the business has the requisite nexus with the state; if it does, then the tax meets the fourth factor simply because the business has enjoyed the opportunities and protections that the state has afforded it.4

Footnotes

1

430 U.S. 274 (1977).

2

Id. at 279. “In reviewing Commerce Clause challenges to state taxes, our goal has instead been to ‘establish a consistent and rational method of inquiry’ focusing on ‘the practical effect of a challenged tax.’” Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Montana, 453 U.S. 609, 615 (1981) (quoting Mobil Oil Corp. v. Comm’r of Taxes, 445 U.S. 425, 443 (1980)).

3

ArtI.S8.C3.7.11.4 Nexus Prong of Complete Auto Test for Taxes on Interstate Commerce; ArtI.S8.C3.7.11.5 Apportionment Prong of Complete Auto Test for Taxes on Interstate Commerce; ArtI.S8.C3.7.11.6 Discrimination Prong of Complete Auto Test for Taxes on Interstate Commerce.

4

Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Montana, 453 U.S. 609, 620–29 (1981). Two state taxes imposing flat rates on truckers, because they did not vary directly with miles traveled or with some other proxy for value obtained from the state, were found to violate this standard in American Trucking Ass’ns, Inc. v. Scheiner, 483 U.S. 266, 291 (1987). But see American Trucking Ass’ns v. Michigan Pub. Serv. Comm’n, 545 U.S. 429 (2005), upholding imposition of a flat annual fee on all trucks engaged in intrastate hauling (including trucks engaged in interstate hauling that “top off” loads with intrastate pickups and deliveries) and concluding that levying the fee on a per-truck rather than per-mile basis was permissible in view of the objectives of defraying costs of administering various size, weight, safety, and insurance requirements.