Dollar Bank, FSB v. Harris
CourtOhio Supreme Court
Date FiledAugust 13, 2026
Docket2025-0412
JudgeDeWine, J.
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it may be cited as
Dollar Bank, FSB v. Harris, Slip Opinion No. 2026-Ohio-3069.]
NOTICE
This slip opinion is subject to formal revision before it is published in an
advance sheet of the Ohio Official Reports. Readers are requested to
promptly notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of Ohio, 65
South Front Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215, of any typographical or other
formal errors in the opinion, in order that corrections may be made before
the opinion is published.
SLIP OPINION NO. 2026-OHIO-3069
DOLLAR BANK, FSB, APPELLANT, v. HARRIS, TAX COMMR., APPELLEE.
[Until this opinion appears in the Ohio Official Reports advance sheets, it
may be cited as Dollar Bank, FSB v. Harris, Slip Opinion No.
2026-Ohio-3069.]
Taxation—Financial-institutions tax—R.C. Ch. 5726—Dormant Commerce Clause
of United States Constitution—Board of Tax Appeals correctly affirmed tax
commissioner’s denial of bank’s request for tax refund—Ohio’s financial-
institutions tax is internally consistent and therefore does not unfairly
discriminate against interstate commerce—Board of Tax Appeals’ decision
affirmed.
(No. 2025-0412—Submitted February 10, 2026—Decided August 13, 2026.)
APPEAL from the Board of Tax Appeals, No. 2022-1361.
_________________
DEWINE, J., authored the opinion of the court, which KENNEDY, C.J., and
FISCHER, BRUNNER, DETERS, HAWKINS, and SHANAHAN, JJ., joined.
SUPREME COURT OF OHIO
DEWINE, J.
{¶ 1} Ohio taxes banks by way of a regressive-rate structure. The upshot of
this scheme is that the more business a bank does in Ohio, the lower its effective
tax rate. This case presents the question of whether this method of taxation is
unconstitutional under the “dormant” aspect of the federal Constitution’s
Commerce Clause.
{¶ 2} Dollar Bank, FSB, does most of its business in Pennsylvania, but it
also has branches in Ohio. It doesn’t much like Ohio’s scheme for taxing banks.
Its complaint is that because Ohio adjusts tax rates downward based on how much
business a bank does in the State, it is forced to pay more in taxes than a similarly
sized bank that operates exclusively in Ohio. This, Dollar Bank says, is illegal
discrimination against interstate commerce in violation of the United States
Constitution.
{¶ 3} Claiming that Ohio’s tax scheme is unconstitutional, Dollar Bank
asked the State of Ohio to refund some of the taxes that it had paid. The tax
commissioner denied the refund request and the Board of Tax Appeals (“BTA”)
affirmed that decision on appeal. Because we find no constitutional problem with
Ohio’s tax scheme, we affirm the decision of the BTA.
I. BACKGROUND
{¶ 4} Dollar Bank is a chartered federal savings bank that is headquartered
in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dollar Bank has about 70 branches, with locations in
Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, and Maryland. About 30 branches are in Ohio.
{¶ 5} Banking is a competitive industry, with consumers shopping for the
best rates on loans and deposits. So naturally, Dollar Bank tries to keep its expenses
down, including its tax bill. States also compete for banks, seeking to encourage
financial institutions to conduct business in their respective state. To compete for
business, Ohio created its financial-institutions tax (the “FIT”), and structures it in
a particular way.
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A. The FIT
{¶ 6} Ohio levies the FIT on banks and other financial institutions “for the
privilege of doing business in this state.” R.C. 5726.02(A). A bank initially needs
two numeric components to compute what it owes under the FIT. First, the bank
must determine its “total equity capital.” R.C. 5726.01(S). Total equity capital is
calculated based on the equity holdings of a financial institution, including stocks
and retained earnings. Id. Second, the bank must determine its “apportionment
factor.” R.C. 5726.05(A). The apportionment factor is the percentage of a bank’s
total gross receipts from activities in Ohio as compared to the bank’s total gross
receipts from all locations during that year. R.C. 5726.05(B). The bank’s “total
Ohio equity capital” is then determined by “multipl[ying]” its total equity capital
by its apportionment factor. R.C. 5726.04(C)(1). So a bank with $500 million in
total equity capital that generated 10 percent of its gross receipts in Ohio would
have an Ohio equity capital of $50 million.
{¶ 7} The last relevant calculation requires determining the amount of tax
the bank owes. While most income taxes tend to feature a progressive-rate
structure, whereby “higher incomes are taxed at a higher rate,” Black’s Law
Dictionary (12th Ed. 2024) (defining “progressive tax”), the FIT features a three-
tiered, regressive-rate structure, whereby the tax rate decreases as a bank’s total
Ohio equity capital increases, see id. (defining “regressive tax”). The first $200
million of a bank’s Ohio equity capital is taxed at 0.8 percent, equity capital
between $200 million and $1.3 billion is taxed at 0.4 percent, and equity capital
above $1.3 billion is taxed at 0.25 percent. R.C. 5726.04(A)(1)(b). This regressive-
rate structure incentivizes banks to conduct more business in Ohio.
B. The Proceedings Below
{¶ 8} Dollar Bank filed refund claims with the tax commissioner for tax
years 2016 through 2020, contending the FIT was unconstitutional in its
application. See R.C. 5726.30(A) (authorizing FIT refunds). Although it initially
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sought higher amounts, Dollar Bank later amended its request to seek a refund of
between $461,732 and $640,158 for each tax year.
{¶ 9} The tax commissioner denied the request, explaining that the tax
commissioner does not have the authority to determine the constitutionality of the
FIT. See State ex rel. Kingsley v. State Emp. Relations Bd., 2011-Ohio-5519, ¶ 18,
quoting State ex rel. Columbus S. Power Co., v. Sheward, 63 Ohio St.3d 78, 81
(1992) (“‘it is settled that an administrative agency is without jurisdiction to
determine the constitutional validity of a statute’”).
{¶ 10} Dollar Bank then appealed to the BTA. The BTA declined to
consider the constitutionality of the FIT and affirmed the tax commissioner’s denial
of Dollar Bank’s refund request. See Cleveland Gear Co. v. Limbach, 35 Ohio
St.3d 229 (1988), paragraph one of the syllabus (“The Board of Tax Appeals is an
administrative agency, a creature of statute, and is without jurisdiction to determine
the constitutional validity of a statute.”). This appeal followed.
II. ANALYSIS
{¶ 11} Because Dollar Bank attacks the constitutionality of the FIT, it “must
overcome the presumption that the statute is constitutional.” VVF Intervest, L.L.C.
v. Harris, 2025-Ohio-5680, ¶ 41. It is “only when . . . clear incompatibility between
the constitution and the law appear, that the judicial power can refuse to execute
it.” Cincinnati, Wilmington & Zanesville RR. Co. v. Clinton Cty. Commrs., 1 Ohio
St. 77, 82-83 (1852).
A. The (Dormant) Commerce Clause
{¶ 12} Dollar Bank’s primary argument is that the FIT as applied to Dollar
Bank violates the dormant Commerce Clause. The Commerce Clause vests in
Congress the power to “regulate Commerce . . . among the several States.” U.S.
Const., art. I, § 8, cl. 3. Although the clause’s text speaks solely to the regulatory
authority of Congress, the United States Supreme Court has held that “the Clause
also ‘contain[s] a further, negative command,’ one effectively forbidding the
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enforcement of ‘certain state [economic regulations] even when Congress has failed
to legislate on the subject.’” (Bracketed text in original.) Natl. Pork Producers
Council v. Ross, 598 U.S. 356, 368 (2023), quoting Oklahoma Tax Comm. v.
Jefferson Lines, Inc., 514 U.S. 175, 179 (1995). The core principle of this negative
or “dormant” command is antidiscrimination. Id. at 369, citing Camps
Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Harrison, 520 U.S. 564, 581 (1997). The dormant
Commerce Clause is not without its “vigorous and thoughtful critiques,” Tennessee
Wine & Spirits Retailers Assn. v. Thomas, 588 U.S. 504, 515 (2019). See, e.g.,
Camps Newfound/Owatonna at 610 (Thomas, J., dissenting) (“The negative
Commerce Clause has no basis in the text of the Constitution, makes little sense,
and has proved virtually unworkable in application.”). But regardless of the
validity of these critiques, “[w]e are bound to follow the holdings of the high court
on issues of federal constitutional law,” State v. Carter, 2024-Ohio-1247, ¶ 35.
B. The Internal-Consistency Test
{¶ 13} Dollar Bank’s first proposition of law asserts that “the FIT as applied
to Dollar Bank violates the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution
because it fails the internal consistency test.”
{¶ 14} Taxes, like other economic regulations, may be subject to scrutiny
under the dormant Commerce Clause. See, e.g., Armco, Inc. v. Hardesty, 467 U.S.
638, 642 (1984); Complete Auto Transit, Inc. v. Brady, 430 U.S. 274, 278-279
(1977). And here, the United States Supreme Court has given us a four-part test: a
state tax will pass constitutional muster if it is “applied to an activity with a
substantial nexus with the taxing State, is fairly apportioned, does not discriminate
against interstate commerce, and is fairly related to the services provided by the
State.” Complete Auto at 279.
{¶ 15} Dollar Bank’s argument centers on the fair-apportionment
requirement of the Complete Auto test. The “central purpose behind the
apportionment requirement is to ensure that each State taxes only its fair share of
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an interstate transaction.” Goldberg v. Sweet, 488 U.S. 252, 260-261 (1989). This
fair-share principle is the “lineal descendant” of the prohibition against multiple
taxation. Jefferson Lines, 514 U.S. at 184.
{¶ 16} In arguing the FIT violates the fair-apportionment requirement,
Dollar Bank relies on the “internal consistency” test, a test that the United States
Supreme Court has developed to “help[] courts identify tax schemes that
discriminate against interstate commerce.” Comptroller of Treasury of Maryland
v. Wynne, 575 U.S. 542, 562 (2015). The test “‘looks to the structure of the tax at
issue to see whether its identical application by every State in the Union would
place interstate commerce at a disadvantage as compared with commerce
intrastate.’” Id., quoting Jefferson Lines at 185. The resulting apportionment
formula “must be such that, if applied by every jurisdiction, it would result in no
more than all of the unitary business’s income being taxed.” Container Corp. of
Am. v. Franchise Tax Bd., 463 U.S. 159, 169 (1983). The test “asks nothing about
the degree of economic reality reflected by the tax,” but simply examines its
structure. Jefferson Lines at 185.
{¶ 17} The test “allows courts to distinguish between (1) tax schemes that
inherently discriminate against interstate commerce without regard to the tax
policies of other States, and (2) tax schemes that create disparate incentives to
engage in interstate commerce (and sometimes result in double taxation) only as a
result of the interaction of two different but nondiscriminatory and internally
consistent schemes.” Wynne at 562, citing Armco, 467 U.S. at 645-646, and
Moorman Mfg. Co. v. Bair, 437 U.S. 267, 277, fn. 12 (1978). Thus, the primary
concern of the internal-consistency test is rooting out state policies that either
discriminate against interstate commerce or result in double taxation. Id.; see
Armco at 644 (“A tax that unfairly apportions income from other States is a form
of discrimination against interstate commerce.”). When a tax fails the internal-
consistency test, it “shows as a matter of law that a State is attempting to take more
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than its fair share of taxes from the interstate transaction, since allowing such a tax
in one State would place interstate commerce at the mercy of those remaining States
that might impose an identical tax.” Jefferson Lines at 185.
C. The FIT Is Internally Consistent
{¶ 18} The FIT does not discriminate against interstate commerce, nor does
it engage in double taxation. See Wynne at 561-562. In reaching this determination,
we begin by “‘look[ing] to the structure of the tax at issue to see whether its
identical application by every State in the Union would place interstate commerce
at a disadvantage as compared with commerce intrastate.’” Id. at 562, quoting
Jefferson Lines, 514 U.S. at 185.
{¶ 19} The FIT does not result in double taxation because it is structured to
allow Ohio to tax only the portion of a bank’s equity capital that is attributable to
its business in Ohio. Recall the way the formula works. The apportionment factor
measures the percentage of a bank’s business that is conducted in Ohio. And that
factor is applied to the bank’s total equity capital to arrive at the Ohio equity capital
that is subject to the tax. So, if every state applied the FIT, each state would tax
only the discrete portion of equity capital that is attributable to the bank’s business
in that state. No part of a bank’s equity capital would be taxed by more than one
state.
{¶ 20} Table 5 from Dollar Bank’s own merit brief proves this point. This
table, based on Dollar Bank’s total equity capital and business activities for tax year
2017, shows what Dollar Bank would pay under the FIT to each state it does
business in if each state were to adopt a tax identical to the FIT:
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The left column shows payments to Ohio, the middle column shows payments to
Pennsylvania, and the right column shows payments to all other states. The table
shows that Dollar Bank had an Ohio apportionment factor of 19.4431 percent, a
Pennsylvania apportionment factor of 74.2249 percent, and an other-states
apportionment factor of 6.3320 percent. These three percentages add up to 100
percent, as they must under the internal-consistency test. See Container Corp., 463
U.S. at 169 (“the formula must be such that, if applied by every jurisdiction, it
would result in no more than all of the unitary business’s income being taxed”).
Thus, under Dollar Bank’s own example, no state Dollar Bank operates in would
be taxing anything other than its own share of Dollar Bank’s total equity capital.
{¶ 21} Not only is there no double taxation, but the FIT is also not
discriminatory. The FIT operates evenhandedly across its entire structure,
irrespective of the taxpayer’s status as an interstate or intrastate business. See
Wynne, 575 U.S. at 562. The amount of taxes owed under the FIT is solely a
function of the amount of a bank’s total Ohio equity capital, regardless of whether
a bank operates in interstate commerce. An in-state or out-of-state bank with the
same amount of total Ohio equity capital pays the same Ohio tax rates.
{¶ 22} Under the internal-consistency test, because each state is taxing only
the portion of equity capital apportioned to that state, there is no risk of double
taxation using the FIT. See Jefferson Lines, 514 U.S. at 184 (“multiple
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taxation . . . is threatened whenever one State’s act of overreaching combines with
the possibility that another State will claim its fair share of the value taxed”); see
also Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. v. Limbach, 1994-Ohio-122, ¶ 17 (“As to the
internally consistent claim, we conclude that if every state required taxpayers to
include mobile property sitused in their state in the numerator of the property
fraction, as Ohio does, the property would only be included in one state’s
numerator. Thus, no multiple taxation would result.”). And because the FIT
applies evenhandedly to intrastate and interstate banks, there is no unfair
discrimination. See Wynne at 562; Armco, 467 U.S. at 644-646.
D. Dollar Bank Misconstrues the Internal-Consistency Test
{¶ 23} Perhaps recognizing that application of the FIT does not result in
discrimination or double taxation, Dollar Bank attempts to rephrase the internal-
consistency test as instead asking: “If every state enacted a tax identical to the tax
at issue, would a person doing business in multiple states pay more, in the
aggregate, than a person conducting the same business entirely within a single
state?” (Emphasis added.) It argues that because it would pay a lower effective tax
rate if all its business was concentrated in Ohio, the FIT discriminates against
interstate commerce.
{¶ 24} The problem is that the United States Supreme Court has never
adopted Dollar Bank’s aggregation approach. Dollar Bank looks primarily for
support in two United States Supreme Court decisions, Armco, 467 U.S. 638, and
Wynne, 575 U.S. 542, but neither case helps its cause. Armco involved a West
Virginia tax scheme that imposed a 0.27 percent gross-receipts tax on businesses
selling tangible property at wholesale and a state manufacturing tax of 0.88 percent
for products manufactured within West Virginia. In-state manufacturers, however,
were exempt from the gross-receipts tax.
{¶ 25} The Court found the tangible-property tax was not internally
consistent because it facially discriminated against out-of-state businesses. The
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Court explained that “[t]he tax provides that two companies selling tangible
property at wholesale in West Virginia will be treated differently depending on
whether the taxpayer conducts manufacturing in the State or out of it.” Armco at
642. To illustrate the tax’s lack of internal consistency, the Court hypothesized that
“if Ohio were to adopt the precise scheme here, then an interstate seller would pay
the manufacturing tax of 0.88% and the gross-receipts tax of 0.27%; a purely
intrastate seller would pay only the manufacturing tax of 0.88% and would be
exempt from the gross receipts tax.” Id. at 644. Thus, “when the two taxes are
considered together, discrimination against interstate commerce persists” due to the
in-state exemption. Id.
{¶ 26} Dollar Bank claims the court found the tax to not be internally
consistent because the interstate business “would pay more tax, in the aggregate
among multiple states, than the wholly in-state company.” But that’s not what the
Court said. Rather, the problem with the West Virginia tax scheme was that it
discriminated against out-of-state businesses by subjecting them to a tax that in-
state businesses were not required to pay. Id. at 644.
{¶ 27} In contrast, Ohio’s FIT does not discriminate against banks based on
whether they are engaged in interstate commerce. Two banks with the same Ohio
equity capital will pay the same tax, regardless of whether they are an interstate or
intrastate bank. And if every state adopted Ohio’s scheme, any bank with the same
economic footprint and the same equity capital would pay the same tax.
{¶ 28} Wynne doesn’t help Dollar Bank either. That case involved
Maryland’s income-tax scheme, which included a “‘state’” and a “‘county’”
income tax, both of which were collected by the State. 575 U.S. at 545-546. For
income taxes paid to another state for income earned outside Maryland, Maryland
offered its residents a credit against the “state” tax but not the “county” tax. Id. at
546. The result was that “part of the income that a Maryland resident earn[ed]
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outside the State” was subject to taxation in both Maryland and in the state in which
it was earned. Id.
{¶ 29} To show that Maryland’s regime lacked internal consistency, the
Supreme Court provided an example of what would happen if every state were to
adopt a tax scheme like Maryland’s:
April and Bob both live in State A, but . . . April earns her income
in State A whereas Bob earns his income in State B. In this
circumstance, Bob will pay more income tax than April solely
because he earns income interstate. Specifically, April will have to
pay a 1.25% tax only once, to State A. But Bob will have to pay a
1.25% tax twice: once to State A, where he resides, and once to State
B, where he earns the income.
Id. at 565. Contrary to what Dollar Bank suggests, the Court did not find that the
scheme violated the internal-consistency test solely because Bob—the interstate
earner—was paying more in taxes. Rather, the problem was that Bob would “pay
a 1.25% tax twice” on the same income. (Emphasis added.) Id. The test thus
showed that Maryland’s regime was “inherently discriminatory and operate[d] like
a tariff,” the “‘paradigmatic example of a law discriminating against interstate
commerce.’” Id., quoting W. Lynn Creamery, Inc. v. Healy, 512 U.S. 186, 193
(1994).
{¶ 30} The FIT is nothing like the tax scheme found unconstitutional in
Wynne. The FIT applies only to a bank’s Ohio share of equity capital. And if every
state adopted the same regime, no dollar of a bank’s equity capital would be taxed
more than once. See, e.g., Jefferson Lines, 514 U.S. at 185 (“If every State were to
impose a tax identical to Oklahoma’s, that is, a tax on ticket sales within the State
for travel originating there, no sale would be subject to more than one State’s tax.”).
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{¶ 31} Dollar Bank complains that because it conducts business in several
states, the FIT’s regressive-rate structure means that it pays more in taxes than if it
consolidated all its business in Ohio. Table 6 from its merit brief illustrates this
objection by showing what Dollar Bank would have paid for tax year 2017 if it had
concentrated all its operations in Ohio:
Comparing the computations in Tables 5 and 6, Dollar Bank deduces that because
it paid more as an interstate business ($5,095,438) than it would have paid as an
intrastate business operating exclusively in Ohio ($4,215,176), the FIT fails the
internal-consistency test.
{¶ 32} While its calculations are correct, the legal conclusions Dollar Bank
draws from them are not. The disparity exists simply because Ohio chooses to
impose a regressive tax that incentivizes banks to increase their Ohio equity capital,
not because of any discrimination against interstate commerce. Consider a scenario
in which every state adopted the FIT and two banks have the same amount of total
equity capital (let’s say $500 million). One bank operates exclusively in Ohio; the
other bank evenly divides its operations between two states. The Ohio bank would
pay a lower effective tax rate than the multistate bank because more of its total
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equity capital is being taxed at the lower 0.4 percent rate.1 But while the multistate
bank is paying a higher effective tax rate, none of its equity capital is being taxed
twice—unlike in Wynne—nor is the higher rate the result of a discriminatory
interstate element—unlike the in-state exemption in Armco. The multistate bank is
paying more in taxes simply because it doesn’t conduct much business in a single
state.
{¶ 33} Now imagine a hypothetical bank located only in Ohio that has $400
million in Ohio equity capital and a multistate bank that has $1500 million in equity
capital that is evenly divided among three states. In a scenario in which every state
adopts the FIT, it is the Ohio bank that will pay a higher effective Ohio tax rate.2
The difference again, though, is not due to any discrimination against in-state banks
any more than the difference in the previous example was due to discrimination
against out-of-state banks. Ohio’s tax scheme simply favors banks that do more
business in Ohio.
{¶ 34} Indeed, the United States Supreme Court has never employed the
internal-consistency test in the manner that Dollar Bank proposes. On the contrary,
the Supreme Court has explicitly upheld a tax scheme resulting in higher aggregate
taxes under the internal-consistency test. In Am. Trucking Assns., Inc. v. Michigan
Pub. Serv. Comm., the court analyzed a Michigan tax that imposed a flat $100
vehicle tax solely on trucks that undertook point-to-point hauls between Michigan
1. The effective tax rate equals total tax divided by total equity capital. Here, the Ohio bank pays
0.8 percent on its first $200 million ($1.6 million) and 0.4 percent on the remaining $300 million
($1.2 million), yielding a 0.56 percent effective rate on $500 million in capital ($2.8 million in total
tax). Conversely, the multistate bank pays 0.8 percent on its first $200 million ($1.6 million) and
0.4 percent on its remaining $50 million ($200,000), yielding a 0.72 percent effective rate on $250
million in capital ($1.8 million in total tax).
2. Calculated identically to the previous example: the Ohio bank pays 0.8 percent on its first $200
million ($1.6 million) and 0.4 percent on the remaining $200 million ($800,000), yielding a 0.6
percent effective rate on $400 million in capital ($2.4 million in total tax). The multistate bank has
$500 million in Ohio equity capital, yielding the same 0.56 percent effective rate as the Ohio bank
in the previous example ($1.6 million on the first $200 million + $1.2 million on the remaining $300
million = $2.8 million in total tax).
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cities. See 545 U.S. 429, 431 (2005). A group of interstate-trucking companies
argued that the tax failed the internal-consistency test because a company operating
interstate that also made point-to-point hauls within a single state would have to
pay the fee to multiple states while a purely intrastate company would pay the fee
only once. The Court rejected the challenge, explaining that while the interstate
company would pay higher fees, it “would have to do so only because it engages in
local business in all those States.” (Emphasis in original.) Id. at 438. “An interstate
firm with local outlets normally expects to pay local fees that are uniformly
assessed upon all those who engage in local business, interstate and domestic firms
alike.” Id.
{¶ 35} To accept Dollar Bank’s argument would require us to conclude that
the Commerce Clause forbids all regressive tax structures. After all, any regressive
state-tax structure has the potential to tax similarly sized businesses more if they
spread their activities around various states than if they concentrate their activities
in a single state. But there is no United States Supreme Court precedent that would
support such a surprising conclusion. Rather, the Supreme Court has “‘long held
that the Constitution imposes no single [apportionment] formula on the States’”
(bracketed text in original), Goldberg, 488 U.S. at 261, quoting Container Corp.,
463 U.S. at 164, and has afforded states “broad discretion to configure their systems
of taxation as they deem appropriate,” Oregon Waste Sys., Inc. v. Dept. of
Environmental Quality, 511 U.S. 93, 108 (1994), thus “declin[ing] to undertake the
essentially legislative task of establishing a ‘single constitutionally mandated
method of taxation,’” Goldberg at 261, quoting Container Corp. at 171.
{¶ 36} Indeed, as the tax commissioner points out, the FIT’s rate structure
can be understood as reflecting the legislative task to create a tax policy that
incentivizes financial institutions to do business in Ohio. Under Supreme Court
precedent, Ohio is free to pursue such a policy because the Commerce Clause does
not erect a per se barrier against a state’s adoption of tax policies that seek to
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achieve “fair encouragement of in-state business.” Armco, 467 U.S. at 645. Nor
does it forbid a state’s attempt to “compete with other States for a share of interstate
commerce; such competition lies at the heart of a free trade policy.” Boston Stock
Exchange v. State Tax Comm., 429 U.S. 318, 336-337 (1977).
{¶ 37} Because Dollar Bank has failed to demonstrate “clear
incompatibility” between Ohio’s tax scheme and the constitution, Cincinnati,
Wilmington & Zanesville RR. Co., 1 Ohio St. at 82-83, we reject its arguments that
the FIT violates the dormant Commerce Clause.
E. Dollar Bank’s Remaining Propositions of Law
{¶ 38} In addition to its dormant Commerce Clause argument, Dollar Bank
raises two other propositions of law. In its second proposition, it asks us to “cure
the internal consistency failure” of the FIT by altering its apportionment method so
as to allow Dollar Bank’s tax tier to be determined without regard to Dollar Bank’s
location. But, of course, we have no authority to rewrite statutes. And because we
find there is no internal-consistency failure to be cured, there is no reason to
consider Dollar Bank’s request.
{¶ 39} Dollar Bank next tersely claims that the FIT is unconstitutional
under the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. We summarily
reject the argument because it does no more than repackage Dollar Bank’s
Commerce Clause challenge—which we have already rejected—as a Due Process
Clause challenge.
III. CONCLUSION
{¶ 40} Dollar Bank has failed to show that the FIT is unconstitutional. We
accordingly affirm the Board of Tax Appeals’ decision upholding the tax
commissioner’s denial of Dollar Bank’s refund request.
Decision affirmed.
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Reed Smith, L.L.P., Paul E. Melniczak, Kyle O. Sollie, and Michael I.
Lurie, for appellant.
D. Andrew Wilson, Attorney General, and Daniel Fausey, Assistant
Attorney General; and Organ Law, L.L.P., Kirsten R. Fraser, and Lindsey M.
Woods, for appellee.
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