holding that for tax classifications chal- lenged under the Fourteenth Amendment, “the presumption of constitutionality can be overcome only by the most explicit demonstration that a classification is a hostile and oppressive discrimination against particular persons and classes”
How later courts described this case
- holding that for tax classifications chal- lenged under the Fourteenth Amendment, “the presumption of constitutionality can be overcome only by the most explicit demonstration that a classification is a hostile and oppressive discrimination against particular persons and classes”
- overruling Colgate v. Harvey, 296 U.S. 404, 416, 433, 436 [1935], which had concluded that Vermont income tax provision was invalid under privileges or immunities clause of Fourteenth Amendment, and stating that in taxation matters “even more than in other fields, legislatures possess the greatest freedom in classification”
- explaining the party asserting an equal protection violation must present evidence specifically identifying other similarly situated persons and their disparate treatment
- noting that Fourteenth Amendment plaintiff must "negative every conceivable basis” for the law under traditional rational-basis review
Written by the judges who cited it.
The opinion
Mr. Justice Robeets:
I think that the judgment should be reversed.. Four years ago in Colgate v. Harvey, 296 U. S. 404 , this court held that the equal protection clause and the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment prohibit such a discrimination as results from the statute now under review. I adhere to the views expressed in *94 the opinion of the court in that case, and think it should be followed in this.
Mr. Justice McReynolds joins in this opinion.