privilege tax
Defined in 2 dictionaries — Case Law, Black's (1910)
Definitions from Case Law
From 283 U.S. 183 - Interstate Transit, Inc. v. Lindsey · 1931Most cited · 217 citing opinions
[A] state may not lay a tax on the privilege of engaging in interstate commerce... [but] may impose even upon motor vehicles engaged exclusively in interstate commerce a charge, as compensation for the use of the public highways, which is a fair contribution to the cost of constructing and maintaining them and of regulating the traffic thereon. As such a charge is a direct burden on interstate commerce, the tax cannot be sustained unless it appears affirmatively, in some way, that it is levied only as compensation for use of the highways or to defray the expense of regulating motor traffic.
Black's Law Dictionary
Henry Campbell Black, M.A. · 1910
A tax on the privilege of carrying on a business for which "a license or franchise is .required. Adams v. Co.lonial Mortgage Co., 82 Miss. 263, 34 South. 482, 100 Am. St. Rep. 633; Gulf & Ship Island R. Co. v. Hewes, 183 U, S. 66, 22 Sup. Ct. 26, 46 In Ed. 86; St. Louis v. Western Union Tel. Co., 148 V. S. 92, 13 Sun. Ct. 485, 37 L. Ed. 380,
Defined under Privilege in Black's Law Dictionary.