State Tax Comm'n of Utah v. Aldrich

Background

Edward S. Harkness, a New York resident, died owning 10,000 common and 400 preferred shares of Union Pacific, a Utah corporation. The stock certificates and the company's transfer records were kept in New York. Utah sought to tax the transfer of these shares under its inheritance law. Executors in New York and administrators in Utah challenged the tax. The Utah trial court and Utah Supreme Court ruled against Utah under an earlier Supreme Court decision, and New York law allowed a credit against New York estate tax for taxes paid to another state.

Reasoning

The Supreme Court addressed whether the Fourteenth Amendment barred Utah from taxing the stock transfer. The majority said it did not and overruled the prior rule that had limited states to a single taxing power over intangibles. The Court explained that a state that charters a corporation defines and protects shareholders' rights and can therefore constitutionally impose a tax on transfers of its corporate stock, even when the owner lived elsewhere. The Court reversed the Utah Supreme Court and sent the case back for further proceedings consistent with this ruling.

Real world impact

This decision lets chartering states tax transfers of stock in corporations they create. Estates and executors of nonresident shareholders can face additional tax claims and more administrative steps. The opinion notes some relief where the domiciliary state gives a credit for taxes paid elsewhere, but the ruling makes overlapping state tax claims more likely.

Dissents or concurrances

Justice Frankfurter joined the ruling and emphasized the limits of judicial invalidation of state tax policy. Justice Jackson dissented, warning that the change will cause multiple taxation, heavy administrative burdens, retroactive claims, and particular hardship for small shareholders and estate administration.