United States Eighth Circuit

In railroads' action claiming that Minnesota's statutory scheme for assessing a sales or use tax on transportation fuel discriminates against railroads in violation of section 306 of the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976, summary judgment for the state is reversed where: 1) the decision in Burlington N. and Santa Fe Ry. Co. v. Lohman, 193 F.3d 984, 985 (8th Cir. 1999), precludes the district court from considering the excise tax the motor carriers and airlines pay on fuel in making its determination, and it should have confined its analysis to only the sales and use taxes on transportation fuel; and 2) the district court erred when it determined that, because barges and ships pay the same sales and use taxes on fuel as the railroads, Minnesota's taxing scheme is not discriminatory, despite the fact that motor carriers and air carriers do not pay them.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/06/2007
• Published 11/06/2007

Judges

• WOLLMAN, Circuit Judge., Before WOLLMAN, JOHN R. GIBSON, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Eighth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Betty Jo Christian, argued, Washington DC (Richard G. Smith, Eugene A. Ritti, Boise ID, John D. Clopper, Washington DC and Patrick Sweeney, Rodney A. Honkanen, St. Paul, MN, on the brief), for appellants.


• For Appellees:
  
• Barry Greller, AAG, argued, St. Paul, MN (Roxanne Bland, Shirley K. Sicilian, Multistate Tax Commission, Washington DC, on the brief of Amicus Curiae in support of State of Minnesota), for appellees.