City of Chicago v. Willett Co.

If a carrier had two trucks, one engaged exclusively in intrastate commerce and the other engaged exclusively in interstate commerce, I think this tax could not constitutionally be levied on the latter. Like the tax in Sprout v. South Bend, 277 U. S. 163, 170, it is not designed “as a measure of the cost or value of the use of the highways.” As the Supreme Court of Illinois said, it is an occupational tax. 406 Ill. 286, 290, 94 N. E. 2d 195, 198. It therefore could not be exacted for the privilege of engaging in interstate commerce. Sprout v. South Bend, supra, p. 171; Spector Motor Service…