Washington v. United States

The State of Washington’s principal source of revenue is a sales and use tax imposed on the buyer or consumer in all retail sales and consumer uses of tangible personal property.1 *538In this case the United States contends that one aspect of that tax statute — its application to building construction — is invalid under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution. The statutory provisions are most easily understood in light of their history.

Before 1941, building contractors were treated as consumers for sales tax purposes. All sales of tangible personal property, such as construction…