MeadWestvaco Corp. v. Illinois Department of Revenue

MeadWestvaco Corp. v. Illinois Dept. of Revenue
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued January 16, 2008 Decided April 15, 2008
Full case name	MeadWestvaco Corp., Successor in Interest to Mead Corp. v. Illinois Department of Revenue, et al.
Docket nos.	06-1413
Citations	553 U.S. 16 (more) 128 S.Ct. 1498, 170 L.Ed.2d 404
Prior history	Certiorari to the Appellate Court of Illinois, First District
Holding
The state courts erred in considering whether Lexis served an “operational purpose” in Mead’s business after determining that Lexis and Mead were not unitary.
Court membership
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Antonin Scalia Anthony Kennedy · David Souter Clarence Thomas · Ruth Bader Ginsburg Stephen Breyer · Samuel Alito
Case opinions
Majority	Alito, joined by unanimous court
Concurrence	Thomas

MeadWestvaco Corp. v. Illinois Dept. of Revenue, 553 U.S. 16 (2008) is a United States Supreme Court case concerning the extent a state may tax companies that are not based in their state.

Mead, a corporation based out of Ohio, owned Lexis-Nexis, which was based out of Illinois. Mead sold Lexis, and Illinois maintained that Mead must pay them a proportionate capital-gains tax. Illinois asserted that Mead and Lexis were integrated to the extent required for the "unitary business rule". This rule allowed states to tax a proportionate share of the value generated by an interstate corporation.

The Supreme Court held that the two businesses were not integrated enough to be considered a "unitary business" and Illinois was not allowed to tax Mead on the Lexis sale.

External links

• Full decision