Royster Guano Co v. Commonwealth of Virginia, No. 165

CourtUnited States Supreme Court
Writing for the CourtPITNEY
Citation64 L.Ed. 989,253 U.S. 412,40 S.Ct. 560
PartiesF. S. ROYSTER GUANO CO. v. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
Decision Date07 June 1920
Docket NumberNo. 165

253 U.S. 412
40 S.Ct. 560
64 L.Ed. 989
F. S. ROYSTER GUANO CO.

v.

COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA.

No. 165.
Argued March 19 and 22, 1920.
Decided June 7, 1920.

Messrs. Cadwallader J. Collins and James E. Hath, both of Norfolk, Va., for plaintiff in error.

Mr. J. D. Hank, Jr., of Richmond, Va., for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Mr. Justice PITNEY delivered the opinion of the Court.

Plaintiff in error is a corporation created by and existing under the laws of Virginia, engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling commercial fertilizers. It operates a manufacturing plant in the county of Norfolk in that state and several plants in other states. From the operation of its plant in Virginia it made net profits during the year ending December 31, 1916, amounting in round figures to $260,000, and from the operation of its plants in other states during the same year made net profits amounting to about $270,000. Under the revenue law of

Page 413

the state (Act April 16, 1903 [Va. Acts, c. 148, p. 155], as amended by Act March 22, 1916 [Va. Acts, c. 472, p. 793]), plaintiff in error returned for taxation as income the former amount, omitting the latter. Under appropriate provisions of law the state officials added the latter amount, and assessed an income tax against plaintiff in error upon the aggregate. It petitioned the corporation court of the city of Norfolk for relief from so much of the tax as represented the $270,000, among other reasons upon the ground that, so far as chapter 472 of 1916 taxed that part of its business which was transacted outside of the limits of Virginia, the law imposed upon plaintiff in error a burden not placed upon domestic corporations doing no part of their business in Virginia but transacting business beyond the limits thereof, such corporations, by chapter 495 of 1916 (Va. Acts, p. 830), being expressly exempted from a tax on income derived from business done without the limits of the state; and hence chapter 472, as applied to the business of plaintiff in error transacted beyond the limits of the state, denied to it the equal protection of the laws, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Other points were raised, but they require no mention. The corporation court having sustained the tax, plaintiff in error applied to the Supreme Court of Appeals of the state for a writ of error and supersedeas to review the judgment. That court being of opinion that the decision was right, the application was denied and an order entered in effect affirming the judgment of the corporation court; whereupon this writ of error, directed to the Supreme Court of Appeals in accordance with the practice indicated in Norfolk Turnpike Co. v. Virginia, 225 U. S. 264, 269, 32 Sup. Ct. 828, 56 L. Ed. 1082, was sued out under section 237, Judicial Code, as amended September 6, 1916 (39 Stat. 726, c. 448 [Comp. St. § 1214]).

The statute thus assailed (Va. Acts 1916, c. 472) imposes an income tax of 1 per centum upon 'the aggregate amount of income of each person or corporation,' subject

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to specified deductions and exemptions; including in income 'all profits from earnings of any partnership or business done in or out of Virginia,' and also 'all other gains and profits derived from any source whateverd.' Under this act, as applied to plaintiff in error by the state officers, whose action was sustained by the court of last resort, a tax was imposed upon the income derived from its plants without the state as well as from that within the state. At the same time, chapter 495, Acts 1916 (page 830), approved on the same day, was in force. This reads as follows:

'Whereas, certain corporations have been organized under the laws of Virginia, and it is anticipated that certain others will be organized thereunder, which do no business within this state; therefore—1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, that no income tax nor ad valorem taxes, state or local, shall be imposed upon the stocks, bonds, investments, capital or other intangible property owned by corporations organized under the laws of this state which do no part of their business within this state; and the mere holding of stockholders' meetings in this state by such corporations required by law, shall not be construed as doing any business in this state within the meaning of this act' with further matter not necessary to be quoted.

It is not disputed that, under this act, corporations created by and existing under the laws of Virginia, and doing business in other states, but none within the state except the holding of stockholders' meetings, are exempted from the payment of any income tax.

Of course, these two statutes—chapter 472 and chapter 495 must be considered together as parts of one and the same law; and by their combined effect, if the judgment under review be affirmed, plaintiff in error will be required to pay a tax upon its income derived from business done without as well as from that done within the state, while other corporations owing existence to the same laws and simul taneously

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deriving income from business done without the state, but none from business within it, are exempt from taxation.

It is unnecessary to say that the 'equal protection of the laws' required by the Fourteenth Amendment does not prevent the states from resorting to classification for the purposes of legislation. Numerous and familiar decisions of this court establish that they have a wide range of discretion in that regard. But the classification must be reasonable, not arbitrary, and must rest upon some ground of difference having a fair and substantial relation to the object of the iegislation, so that all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike. The latitude of discretion is notably wide in the classification of property for purposes of taxation and the granting of partial or...

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1039 practice notes
  • Bettio v. Village of Northfield, No. 91-CV-1383.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio
    • 18 Octubre 1991
    ...crux of an equal protection claim is that "all persons similarly situated shall be treated alike." F.S. Royster Guanno Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 40 S.Ct. 560, 64 L.Ed. 989 (1920). An elementary prerequisite to equal protection analysis, however, is that there be a legislative or admini......
  • Mitchell v. Apfel, No. 3:97CV330-P.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 4th Circuit. Western District of North Carolina
    • 6 Agosto 1998
    ...Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 271-72, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979) and F.S. Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415, 40 S.Ct. 560, 64 L.Ed. 989 The Equal Protection Clause "is not a license for courts to judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic of legislative ......
  • Howes Bros. Co. v. Massachusetts Unemployment Comp. Comm'n
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
    • 30 Diciembre 1936
    ...to the object of the legislation, so that all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike.’ Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415, 40 S.Ct. 560, 561, 64 L.Ed. 989;Colgate v. Harvey, 296 U.S. 404, 423, 56 S.Ct. 252, 256, 80 L.Ed. 299, 102 A.L.R. 54. This law is not rend......
  • Lowry, Ins. Com'r. v. City of Clarksdale, 27796
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • 6 Mayo 1929
    ...of the United States because not applicable to domestic companies. Chap. 261, Miss. Laws, 1926; Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 64 L.Ed. 989; Hanover F. Ins. Co. v. Carr, 272 U.S. 494, 71 L.Ed. 372; Quaker City Cab Co. v. Pennsylvania, 607 S.Ct. Vol. 48, page 553; Yick Wo v. Ho......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1035 cases
  • Bettio v. Village of Northfield, No. 91-CV-1383.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Ohio
    • 18 Octubre 1991
    ...crux of an equal protection claim is that "all persons similarly situated shall be treated alike." F.S. Royster Guanno Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 40 S.Ct. 560, 64 L.Ed. 989 (1920). An elementary prerequisite to equal protection analysis, however, is that there be a legislative or admini......
  • Mitchell v. Apfel, No. 3:97CV330-P.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 4th Circuit. Western District of North Carolina
    • 6 Agosto 1998
    ...Administrator of Mass. v. Feeney, 442 U.S. 256, 271-72, 99 S.Ct. 2282, 60 L.Ed.2d 870 (1979) and F.S. Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415, 40 S.Ct. 560, 64 L.Ed. 989 The Equal Protection Clause "is not a license for courts to judge the wisdom, fairness, or logic of legislative ......
  • Howes Bros. Co. v. Massachusetts Unemployment Comp. Comm'n
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts
    • 30 Diciembre 1936
    ...to the object of the legislation, so that all persons similarly circumstanced shall be treated alike.’ Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415, 40 S.Ct. 560, 561, 64 L.Ed. 989;Colgate v. Harvey, 296 U.S. 404, 423, 56 S.Ct. 252, 256, 80 L.Ed. 299, 102 A.L.R. 54. This law is not rend......
  • Lowry, Ins. Com'r. v. City of Clarksdale, 27796
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • 6 Mayo 1929
    ...of the United States because not applicable to domestic companies. Chap. 261, Miss. Laws, 1926; Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 64 L.Ed. 989; Hanover F. Ins. Co. v. Carr, 272 U.S. 494, 71 L.Ed. 372; Quaker City Cab Co. v. Pennsylvania, 607 S.Ct. Vol. 48, page 553; Yick Wo v. Ho......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
5 books & journal articles
  • The 'Euclidean' Strategy: Authorizing and Implementing the Legislative Districting of Permissible Land Uses
    • United States
    • Land use planning and the environment: a casebook
    • 23 Enero 2010
    ...charge of violation of the Equal Protection Clause if the law be “reasonable, not arbitrary” (quoting F. S. Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415) and bears “a rational relationship to a [permissible] state objective.” Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71, 76. It is said, however, that if t......
  • FLINT OF OUTRAGE.
    • United States
    • Notre Dame Law Review Vol. 93 Nbr. 1, November 2017
    • 1 Noviembre 2017
    ...treating differently persons who are in all relevant respects alike." 505 U.S. 1, 10 (1992) (citing F. S. Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415 (1920)). The rational basis test is satisfied if there is "a plausible policy reason for the classification, the legislative facts on wh......
  • THE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF CHICKEN STEALING: SAME-SEX MARRIAGE AND THE PATH TO POLYGAMY.
    • United States
    • Albany Law Review Vol. 84 Nbr. 2, June 2021
    • 22 Junio 2021
    ...achieve these stated ends and could not stand. (387) Reed v. Reed, 404 U.S. 71, 75-76 (1971) (quoting F.S. Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415 (1920)) (involving the Court striking down an Idaho inheritance law that gave preference to males over females as executors of (388) Ro......
  • REIMAGINING THE CLIMATE MIGRATION PARADIGM: BRIDGING CONCEPTUAL BARRIERS TO CLIMATE MIGRATION RESPONSES.
    • United States
    • 22 Diciembre 2020
    ...similarly situated" is the "very kind of arbitrary choice forbidden" by the U.S. Constitution (citing Royster Guano Co. v. Virginia, 253 U.S. 412, 415 (1920))); see also Miller v. Johnson, 515 U.S. 900, 911 (1995) ("At the heart of the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection lies the s......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

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