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A Delaware corporation sold merchandise directly to customers at its store in Delaware. The company
accepted no mail or telephone orders, and made no solicitation of customers other than by newspaper,
radio, and occasional direct mail advertising. Residents in nearby Maryland came to the store and made
purchases which they took or which were delivered to them in Maryland by common carrier or by the store’s
own truck.
Maryland laid upon its residents an excise tax on “the use, storage, or consumption” in the State
of such articles, and it requires every vendor to collect and remit the tax to the State. The Delaware
store did not do this, and a truck belonging to the company was seized in Maryland and held liable for
the use tax on all goods sold to Maryland residents, however delivered.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Maryland taxing act, and the seizure, as applied to the Delaware
store, violated the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment.
However, in the case the Court acknowledged that “…the Court has frequently held that domicile or
residence, more substantial than mere presence in transit or sojourn, is an adequate basis for taxation,
including income, property, and death taxes.”
<>Full text: Miller Bros. Co. v.
Maryland, 347 U.S. 340 (1954) |