Prudential Ins. Co. v. Benjamin

Facts

Prudential Insurance Co., a business incorporated in New Jersey, challenged a South Carolina tax on foreign (out-of-state) insurance companies doing business in South Carolina. The tax is laid on foreign insurance companies and must be paid annually as a condition of receiving a certificate of authority to carry on the business of insurance within the state. The exaction amounts to three percent of the aggregate premiums received from business done in South Carolina, without reference to its interstate or local character. No similar tax is required of South Carolina corporations. Prudential insists that the tax discriminates against interstate commerce and in favor of local business, since it is laid only on foreign corporations and is measured by their gross receipts from premiums derived from business done in the state, regardless of its interstate or local character. Accordingly, it says the tax cannot stand consistently with many decisions of this Court outlawing state taxes which discriminate against interstate commerce.