United States v. City of Detroit

• The United States asks this Court to strike down as unconstitutional a tax statute of the State of Michigan as applied to a lessee of government property. In general terms this statute, Public Act 189 of 1953, provides that when tax-exempt real property is used by a private party in a business conducted for profit the private party is subject to taxation to the same extent as though he owned the property.1

*468Here the United States was the owner of an industrial plant in Detroit, Michigan. It leased a portion of that plant to the Borg-Warner Corporation at a stipulated annual rental for use in…