Child Labor Tax Case (Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co.)
United States Supreme Court
259 U.S. 20 (1922)
Relevant factsFree
Congress enacted a ten percent tax on the profits of businesses employing child labor, defined by specific age and hour restrictions; Drexel Furniture (plaintiff) challenged the tax as an unconstitutional attempt to regulate child labor, a power reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment, and the lower courts agreed and struck down the tax, prompting Bailey's (defendant's) petition for Supreme Court review.
IssueFree
Whether a federal tax whose actual purpose is to penalize and regulate a subject matter reserved to the states, rather than to raise revenue, is a valid exercise of Congress's taxing power.