Minneapolis Star Tribune Co. v. Commissioner

Minneapolis Star Tribune Company v. Commissioner, 460 U.S. 575 (1983), was an opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States authored by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor overturning a use tax on paper and ink in excess of $100,000 consumed in any calendar year. The Minneapolis Star Tribune initially paid the tax and sued for a refund.

Minneapolis Star Tribune Company v. Commissioner
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 12, 1983 Decided March 29, 1983
Full case name	Minneapolis Star Tribune Company v. Commissioner
Citations	460 U.S. 575 (more) 103 S. Ct. 1365; 75 L. Ed. 2d 295; 1983 U.S. LEXIS 6
Case history
Prior	314 N.W.2d 201 (Min. 1981)
Holding
Special taxes imposed on ink and paper are unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
Court membership
Chief Justice Warren E. Burger Associate Justices William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
Majority	O'Connor, joined by Burger, Brennan, Marshall, Stevens, Powell (in full); White (in part; Blackmun (in part)
Concur/dissent	White
Dissent	Rehnquist
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Opinion of the Court

On its face, this ruling finds that state tax systems cannot treat the press differently from any other business without significant and substantial justification. Writing for the Court Justice O'Connor explains that "[b]y creating this special use tax, which to our knowledge is without parallel in the State's tax scheme, Minnesota has singled out the press for special treatment". The state of Minnesota demonstrated no such justification to impose a special tax on a select few newspaper publishers. Therefore, this tax was in violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of the press.

Justice O'Connor writes that there is evidence that "differential taxation of the press would have troubled the Framers of the First Amendment". The Antifederalists objected that no guarantee of free press was included in the initial proposal of the Constitution. She quotes Richard Henry Lee.

An alternative means exists of achieving the state interest of raising revenue like general taxation of businesses.

See also

• Grosjean v. American Press Co. (1936)
• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 460

Further reading

• Schwartz, Bernard (1992). Freedom of the Press. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-2505-3.

External links

• Text of Minneapolis Star Tribune Co. v. Commissioner, 460 U.S. 575 (1983) is available from: CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress OpenJurist Oyez (oral argument audio)