Interstate Oil Pipe Line Company v. Stone/Concurrence Burton

Mr. Justice BURTON, concurring.

I join in the judgment of affirmance announced by the Court but do not join in the opinion rendered in support of it.

I concur in the judgment solely on the ground that the tax imposed by the State of Mississippi was a tax on the privilege of operating a pipe line for transporting oil in Mississippi in intrastate commerce and that, as such, it was a valid tax. The Supreme Court of Mississippi, in the case below, 203 Miss. 715, 35 So.2d 73, held that this tax had been authorized by a statute of that State, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 10105, 10109 (1942), and, for the reasons stated by that court, I believe that neither the statute nor the application of the tax in the present instance violated the Constitution of the United States. On that basis, there is no issue here as to the validity of a tax upon the privilege of transporting oil in Mississippi in interstate commerce.

Mr. Justice REED, with whom The CHIEF JUSTICE, Mr. Justice FRANKFURTER and Mr. Justice JACKSON joint dissenting.