Madden v. Kentucky 309 U.S. 83 (1940)

• Author: Leonard W. Levy
• Pages: 1655

Page 1655

A Kentucky statute taxing bank deposits outside the state at a rate five times higher than the tax on intrastate deposits was assailed as breaching several clauses of section one of the FOURTEENTH AMENDMENT. By a 7?2 vote the Supreme Court, speaking through Justice STANLEY F. REED, declared that the states have broad discretion in their tax policies. Reed dismissed the arguments against the statute based on the EQUAL PROTECTION and DUE PROCESS clauses as insubstantial, but the decision in COLGATE V. HARVEY (1935) supported the argument based on the PRIVILEGES AND IMMUNITIES clause. On reconsideration the Court found that lending or depositing money is not a privilege of national CITIZENSHIP and therefore overruled Colgate.

LEONARD W. LEVY

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