Hammond Packing Co. v. Montana

Background

This case arose from a seller’s effort to recover a license tax of one cent per pound charged for selling oleomargarine. The seller admitted the basic facts but argued that the Montana law creating the tax violated the Fourteenth Amendment by singling out oleomargarine and treating it differently from butter. The state courts entered judgment for the State, and the seller appealed to this Court.

Reasoning

The central question was whether the Constitution prevents a State from putting oleomargarine in a separate category and taxing it differently. The Court explained that, apart from rules about interstate trade, a State may lawfully restrict or regulate the manufacture of oleomargarine in ways that do not apply to butter. The opinion noted that a State even may ban manufacture entirely and that it can express such a policy either through revenue measures or through public-safety regulations. The Court relied on earlier decisions reaching similar conclusions and found no constitutional obstacle to the tax.

Real world impact

The result means the State’s judgment upholding the one-cent-per-pound license tax stands. Sellers of oleomargarine remain subject to the tax and similar state rules. The decision confirms that States may use taxation or other rules to carry out policies that treat oleomargarine differently from butter, and it rests on prior Supreme Court rulings rather than creating a new constitutional rule.