City of Chicago v. Willett Co.

Once more we are called upon to pass on the validity of a tax which falls in some measure upon commerce “among the several States.” In the situation before us, *575it is not a tax imposed on interstate commerce as such. It is a tax intended to fall on business done “within the city” that levies it, although in part it is imposed on carriers of intrastate and interstate commerce inseparably commingled. The tax is on trucks and is levied by an ordinance of the City of Chicago, of which the relevant portions are set out in the margin.1 It is graduated according to size, ranging from $8.25 on a truck…