Schwinden v. Burlington Northern, Inc.

This is an original proceedings in this Court brought by Governor Ted Schwinden, Ellen Feaver, Director of the State Department of Revenue, and interested associations for a declaratory judgment determining the validity of section 15-31-116, MCA. The defendant taxpayer is Burlington Northern, Inc.

We deemed important the issue raised by the complaint for declaratory judgment because it implicated the validity of state corporation license tax statutes which allocate revenue between the state and counties. We therefore accepted jurisdiction of the cause and remanded the case to the District…