MeadWestvaco Corp. v. Illinois Department of Revenue (2007)
- Docket
- 06-1413
- Decided
- 2007-01-01
Summary
Question: Under the governing Supreme Court precedent, Allied-Signal, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation , 504 U.S. 768 (1992), may a parent company use a division as a non-taxable investment when the division is involved in a substantially different business segment but the parent provides cash infusions, investment advice and oversight? Conclusion: The Court sent the case back to the state appellate court holding that the court had previously applied the wrong test in defining the relationship between Lexis/Nexis and Meadwestvaco. Writing for seven of his colleagues, Justice Samuel A. Alito said that the appellate court, rather than applying an "operational function" test, should have looked for the existence of "functional integration, centralized management and economies of scale" between the two companies to determine whether or not they were a unitary business for tax purposes. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion arguing that the Court should refuse jurisdiction over such state tax cases.