## Facts

- Michelin Tire Corporation imported tires and tubes from France and Nova Scotia and stored them in a wholesale distribution warehouse in Gwinnett County, Georgia.
- The inventory was held for later distribution to retail dealers throughout the southeastern United States.
- Gwinnett County imposed a nondiscriminatory ad valorem property tax on Michelin’s inventory, calculated by property value and applied equally to imported and domestic goods.
- Michelin argued the Import-Export Clause barred the tax because the goods were imports and many remained in their original containers.
- Georgia courts upheld the tax, and the Supreme Court granted review.

## Issues

1. Whether a nondiscriminatory state ad valorem property tax on imported goods stored in a warehouse for distribution violates the Import-Export Clause’s ban on state “Imposts or Duties on Imports.”
2. Whether constitutional immunity for imports turns on the “original package” doctrine.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the state court judgment and upheld the tax.
- The Court held that Georgia’s nondiscriminatory ad valorem tax was not an “impost or duty” on imports within the meaning of the Import-Export Clause.
- The Court rejected reliance on formal tests such as whether goods remain in their original packages.
- The Court overruled *Low v. Austin* to the extent it barred nondiscriminatory property taxes on imports that have come to rest within a state.

## Legal Principles

- Import-Export Clause analysis turns on whether the state exaction functions as an “impost or duty” in light of the Clause’s purposes, including:
  - Preserving the federal government’s exclusive authority over foreign commerce.
  - Protecting the federal government’s exclusive revenue from imposts and duties.
  - Preventing seaboard states from burdening goods moving to inland states through transit-like charges.
- A nondiscriminatory, generally applicable ad valorem property tax imposed on goods that are part of the state’s general mass of property is ordinarily not an “impost or duty” on imports.
- “Imposts and duties” are taxes on the commercial privilege of bringing goods into the country; general property taxes are cost-apportionment measures for local services and may be applied to importers on equal terms with domestic competitors.
- The “original package” status of imported goods is not controlling; the key question is whether the tax targets imports as such or discriminates based on foreign origin.

## Conclusion

Georgia could apply a general, nondiscriminatory ad valorem property tax to imported tires stored for distribution because the tax neither regulated foreign commerce, diverted federal customs revenue, nor imposed a transit-like burden on imports, and constitutional treatment did not depend on whether the goods remained in original packaging.


Michelin Tire Corp. v. Wages, 423 U.S. 276 (1976)