United States v. Tax Commission of Mississippi et al.

Decided June 2, 1975. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 74-548 · 421 U.S. 599 (1975) · Cited 144 times

Holding

Viewing the markup as a sales tax, the legal incidence of the tax rests upon instrumentalities of the United States as the purchasers, First Agricultural Nat.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• First Agricultural National Bank of Berkshire County v. State Tax Commission · 392 U.S. 339 (1968)
• Kern-Limerick, Inc. v. Scurlock · 347 U.S. 110 (1954)
• Federal Land Bank of St. Paul v. Bismarck Lumber Co. · 314 U.S. 95 (1941)
• Alabama v. King & Boozer · 314 U.S. 1 (1941)
• Hostetter v. Idlewild Bon Voyage Liquor Corp. · 377 U.S. 324 (1964)
• James v. Dravo Contracting Co. · 302 U.S. 134 (1937)
• United States v. County of Allegheny · 322 U.S. 174 (1944)
• Paul v. United States · 371 U.S. 245 (1963)
• National Bellas Hess, Inc. v. Department of Revenue · 386 U.S. 753 (1967)
• Standard Oil Co. of Cal. v. Johnson · 316 U.S. 481 (1942)
• United States v. La Franca · 282 U.S. 568 (1931)
• Norton Co. v. Department of Revenue of Ill. · 340 U.S. 534 (1951)
• Collins v. Yosemite Park & Curry Co. · 304 U.S. 518 (1938)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• North Dakota v. United States · 495 U.S. 423 (1990)
• South Carolina v. Regan · 465 U.S. 367 (1984)
• Army and Air Force Exchange Service v. Sheehan · 456 U.S. 728 (1982)
• South Carolina v. Baker · 485 U.S. 505 (1988)
• United States v. County of Fresno · 429 U.S. 452 (1977)
• California State Board of Equalization v. Chemehuevi Indian Tribe · 474 U.S. 9 (1985)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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William Joseph Brennan Jr.’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1975). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).