Page:Harvard Law Review Volume 32.djvu/270

234 234 HARVARD LAW REVIEW INDIRECT ENCROACHMENT ON FEDERAL AUTHORITY BY THE TAXING POWERS OF THE STATES.! V II. Regulations of Interstate Commerce (continued) 2. Taxes not Discriminating against Interstate Commerce (continued) B. Taxes on Property "O EFERENCE has already been made to the cases which treat -^^ franchises as property and consider the assessment of such franchises by the criteria which obtain in judging whether taxes on property are regulations of interstate commerce.^ This indicates that there is no hard and fast line to be drawn between privileges and property. When a franchise may be disposed of for a price, it is of course a form of property. Conversely, all property is to an extent a matter of privilege. The remedies for interference with property interests are essential to the security and salabiUty of those interests. In so far as the remedies are the creation of the law, and are subject to amendment or withdrawal, the interests which the remedies serve partake of the nature of privilege, and taxes on those interests might by a chain of reasoning be deemed taxes on privileges. The pursuit of these fascinating possibilities will be left to those who care to indulge in it. It is enough for our present purpose to disclaim any assumption of perfection or of inherent validity in the schematism here employed. The topical headings and their order of treatment are chosen solely from considerations of con- venience. Though privilege and property are not mutually ex- clusive categories, horses and land and ties and rails are different from corporate franchises and the right to inherit. Roughly speak- ing, taxes on property may be distinguished from taxes on privi- leges, even though the two share some common because of vicinage. ^ For preceding instalments of this discussion see 31 Harv. L. Rev. 321-72 (Jan- uary, 1918), Ibid., 572-618 (February, 1918), Ibid., 721-78 (March, 1918) and Ibid.^ 932-53 (May, 1918).
 * 31 Harv. L. Rev. 768, note 166.