R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. v. City of New York Department of Finance

OPINION OF THE COURT

Tom, J.

The issue on appeal is whether a corporate taxing provision of the New York City Administrative Code that disallows a depreciation deduction for a corporation’s property placed in service out of New York, while allowing such a deduction for property located within New York, confers preferential tax treatment upon local businesses, concomitantly discriminating against out-of-State property holders, so as to violate the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution.

Plaintiff R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company (RJR), a New Jersey corporation with its principal place of…