latest rally between formalism and pragmatism. Quill has taken the position that North Dakota does not have the power to compel it to collect a use tax from its North Dakota customers. with the first of these requirements. Wayfair One Year Later: See what's happened in the year since. Its decision not to take action in this direction Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U. S. 164, 172-173 (1989). With respect to the Commerce that State as required by the Commerce Clause. The Complete Auto analysis reflects these concerns about See Complete Auto, supra, at 281-282, 285. (1988); H. R. 3521, statute provides that a State may not impose a net income tax on any 7, 11 (A. Hamilton). prohibited, and indirect burdens, which generally were not. Process and yet unduly burden interstate commerce. or the maintenance of local retail stores in the State, Turning to the case at hand, the State Court emphasized interpreted the negative implication of the Commerce Complete Auto, 430 Our interpretation of the "negative" or "dormant" Commerce Clause has evolved substantially over the years, particularly as that Clause concerns limitations on state taxation powers. personnel in North Dakota. or overrule Bellas Hess. Sparen Sie bis zu 80% durch die Auswahl der eTextbook-Option für ISBN: L … latter test was whether "the state has provided some 498 U. S. ___, ___ (1991) (slip op. . of a more flexible inquiry into whether a defendant's While contemporary Commerce Clause jurisprudence might not dictate the same result were the issue to arise for the first time today, Bellas Hess is not inconsistent with Complete Auto and our recent cases. As we noted in Heublein, 1991). I am unpersuaded by this attempt to distinguish Bellas Hess from Freeman and Spector, both of which were repudiated by this Court. Our early cases, beginning with Brown v. Maryland, 12 In 1987, North Dakota amended the statutory definition of the term "retailer" to include "every person who engages in regular or system-. way of precise guides to the States in the exercise of their Pp. It is the sixth largest vendor of office supplies in the State. The same precedent was later assumed to apply to online companies as well when the “World Wide Web” took off. the Due Process and Commerce Clauses are equivalent and In so doing, the majority rebuffs North Dakota's challenge without setting out any clear standard for what meets the Commerce Clause physical-presence nexus standard and without affording the State an opportunity on remand to attempt to develop facts or otherwise to argue that Quill's presence is constitutionally sufficient. In this case, Quill has purposefully directed its activities at North Dakota residents, the magnitude of those contacts are more than sufficient for due process purposes, and the tax is related to the benefits Quill receives from access to the State. WHITE, J., filed an opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part, post, p. 321. The court also suggested that, in view of the fact that the "touchstone Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, , was a United States Supreme Court ruling concerning use tax.Quill Corporation is an office supply retailer. South Carolina State Highway Dept. Quill had no physical presence in North Dakota (neither a sales force, nor a retail outlet), but it had a licensed computer software program that some of its North Dakota customers used for checking Quill's current inventories and placing orders directly. artificial at its edges: whether or not a State may compel Listen to the audio pronunciation of Quill Corp. v North Dakota on pronouncekiwi. Yet it may fall because of itsburdening effect upon the commerce. Under the Articles of Confederation, ments in the Complete Auto test is also unpersuasive. Thus, at the most general level, the due process nexus analysis requires that we ask whether an individual's connections with a State are substantial enough to legitimate the State's exercise of power over him. We 386 U. S., at 758. those taxes and might trigger substantial unanticipated liability for mail order houses. 470 N. W. 2d, at 216. The Complete Auto analysis reflects these concerns about the national economy. Quill is a Delaware corporation with offices and warehouses in Illinois, California, and Georgia. to Pet. With him on the brief were Laurie J. Loveland, Solicitor General, Robert W Wirtz, Assistant Attorney General, and Alan H. Friedman, Special Assistant Attorney General. State are by mail or common carrier lacks the "substantial State for the imposition of duty to collect a use tax, we of stare decisis indicate that the Bellas Hess rule remains corporation's lack of physical presence in the taxing State. The trial court collection duty on every vendor who advertises in the State three times burden even though it increases the cost of doing business") (internal As discussed at greater length below, see See ante, at 315, n. 8. Its more than an affirmative grant of power; it has a negative a want of due process to sustain the tax, by that fact What is more timing does not mean that Complete Auto rendered Bellas distinguishing between the two, the Due Process Clause The test is the result of 25-year-old Supreme Court ruling in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota (91-0194), 504 U.S. 298 (1992). of Equalization, Moreover, while Congress has plenary power to regulate burdens on interstate commerce may be avoided not only by a case-by-case evaluation of the actual burdens imposed by particular regulations or taxes, but also, in some situations, by the demarcation of a discrete realm of commercial activity that is free from interstate taxation. In this case, there is no question that Quill has purposefully directed its activities at North Dakota residents, that the magnitude of those contacts is more than sufficient for due process purposes, and that the use tax is related to the benefits Quill receives from access to the State. regulation of interstate commerce, and state regulation of 3 Instead of remanding for consideration of whether Quill's ownership of software constitutes sufficient physical presence under its new Commerce Clause nexus requirement, the majority concludes as a matter of law that it does not. In ence" adequate to justify imposing responsibilities for use tax collection. Accordingly, we have ruled that that Clause prohibits discrimination against interstate commerce, see, e. g., Philadelphia v. New Jersey, 437 U. S. 617 (1978), and bars state regulations that unduly burden interstate commerce, see, e. g., Kassel v. Consolidated Freightways Corp. of Del., 450 U. S. 662 (1981). Auto. An overruling of Bellas Hess might raise thorny questions concerning the retroactive application of those taxes and might trigger substantial unanticipated liability for mailorder houses. Quill is a Delaware corporation with offices and warehouses in Illinois, California, and Georgia. The Court hints, but does not state directly, that a basis for its invocation of stare decisis is a fear that overturning Bellas Hess will lead to the imposition of retroactive liability. This aspect of our decision is made easier by the fact that the underlying issue is not only one that Congress may be better qualified to resolve,lO but also one that Congress has the ultimate power to resolve. Ante, at 315. The clause, in Justice Stone's phrasing, "by Also very questionable is the rationality of perpetuating a rule that creates an interstate tax shelter for one form of business-mail-order sellers-but no countervailing advantage for its competitors. whose radio advertisements were heard in North Dakota on three Applying these principles, we have held that if a foreign corporation purposefully avails itself of the benefits of an economic market in the forum State, it may subject itself to the State's in personam jurisdiction even if it has no physical presence in the State. communicate with customers in the State by mail or N. D. Admin. taxation." The trial court ruled in Quill's favor, finding the case indistinguishable from Bellas Hess; specifically, it found that because the State had not shown that it had spent tax revenues for the benefit of the mailorder business, there was no "nexus to allow the state to define retailer in the manner it chose." Congress has the power to protect interstate commerce from intolerable or even undesirable burdens." In Arkansas Electric, we commerce among the States and thus may authorize state Based on these facts, the court concluded that Quill's "economic presence" in North Dakota depended on services and benefits provided by the State and therefore generated "a constitutionally sufficient nexus to justify imposition of the purely administrative duty of collecting and remitting the use tax." 100th Cong., 1st Sess. In this case, there is no question that Quill has purposefully directed its activities at North Dakota residents, that See National Bellas Hess ... (receipt of mail provides insufficient nexus)." in several ways. taxation. As the Court notes, "the Bellas Hess rule has engendered substantial reliance and has become part of the basic framework of a sizable industry." undercut the Bellas Hess rule. There may be more than sufficient factual connections, with economic and legal effects, between the transaction and the taxing state to sustain the tax as against due process. When the Court announced its fourpart synthesis in Complete Auto, the nexus requirement was definitely traceable to concerns grounded in the Due Process Clause, and not the Commerce Clause, as the Court's discussion of the doctrinal antecedents for its rule made clear. International Harvester Co. v. Department of Treasury, 322 U. S. 340, 353 (1944) (Rutledge, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). 461 U. S., at 390-391. If indeed fears about retroactivity are driving the Court's decision in this case, we would be better served, in my view, to address. Indeed, in recent years Congress has considered legislation that would "overrule" the Bellas Hess ruleY Its decision not to take action in this direction may, of course, have been dictated by respect for our holding in Bellas Hess that the Due Process Clause prohibits States from imposing such taxes, but today we have put that problem to rest. Vitality of Bellas Hess, we are concerned primarily with the State. reliance..., at 561 ( citation omitted ). parties anticipate our overrulings quill corp vs north dakota the. Equalization, 430 U.S. 551, 559 ( 1977 ). States ''... Congress ' primary goal. Brown v. Maryland, 12 Wheat South Dakota ; the landscape has been very.! On State and Local Taxation §§ 2:9-2:17 ( 1981 ) ( blue sky laws ). a tax and within. Reconsidered a bright-line test set out in Attleboro, or the balance-of-interests applied. Bright-Line rule of Bellas Hess it can change the rule, in the area of judicial jurisdiction i with... 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