use tax
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 300 U.S. 577 - Henneford v. Silas Mason Co. · 1937Most cited · 787 citing opinions
A tax upon the privilege of use or storage when the chattel used or stored has ceased to be in transit is now an impost so common that its validity has been withdrawn from the arena of debate.
How the Supreme Court has restated “use tax”
Each Supreme Court definition of “use tax,” 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 “use tax”
Court decisions citing the 7 opinions that defined “use tax” — 2,669 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 7 definitions, chronological · 1934–1963
- ORIGINAL
The levy is not on property but upon a specified use of property. It is not laid upon the importer for the privilege of importing...but falls on the local use after interstate commerce has ended.
motor fuel
The tax is not upon the operations of interstate commerce, but upon the privilege of use after commerce is at an end. ... they may be subjected, when once they are at rest, to a nondiscriminatory tax upon use or enjoyment.
the tax is 'upon the privilege of use after commerce is at an end
a tax on the enjoyment of that which was purchased
a tax 'on the privilege of using personal property * * * which has come to rest * * * and has become a part of the mass of property' within the State
equal treatment for in-state and out-of-state taxpayers similarly situated is the condition precedent for a valid use tax on goods imported from out-of-state
validity condition