Minneapolis Star Tribune Co. v. Commissioner

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) 75 L. Ed.2d, 103 S. Ct. 1365 (1983)
Prior history	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 Brennan, Marshall, Blackmun, Stevens, Powell
Concurrence	White (concurring in part, dissenting in part)
Dissent	Rehnquist
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Minneapolis Star Tribune Company v. Commissioner, 460 U.S. 575 (1983), was an opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States 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.

Court finding

On its face, this ruling finds that state tax systems cannot treat the press differently from any other business without significant and substantial justification. 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.

See also

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

External links

• Text of Minneapolis Star Tribune Company v. Commissioner, 460 U.S. 575 (1983) is available from:  Findlaw  Justia