taxation
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 305 U.S. 134 - Welch v. Henry · 1938Most cited · 954 citing opinions
Taxation is neither a penalty imposed on the taxpayer nor a liability which he assumes by contract. It is but a way of apportioning the cost of government among those who in some measure are privileged to enjoy its benefits and must bear its burdens.
How the Supreme Court has restated “taxation”
Each Supreme Court definition of “taxation,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “taxation”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “taxation” — 1,812 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1842–1938
- ORIGINAL
Taxation is a sacred right, essential to the existence of government—an incident of sovereignty... taxation by a state acts upon the instruments, emoluments and persons which the United States may use and employ as necessary and proper means to execute their sovereign powers... the state governments cannot lay a tax upon the constitutional means employed by the government of the Union to execute its constitutional powers.
rule against state taxing federal officers
Taxation is not so much concerned with the refinements of title as it is with actual command over the property taxed—the actual benefit for which the tax is paid.