so-called "octroi" taxes, when foreign articles or merchandise have once satisfied all customs requirements at a port, or place of entry, and have been permitted to pass the frontier, they are exempted from any further taxation as imports, or so long as they retain such a distinctive character.[1] But, in Mexico, each State of the republic has practically its own custom-house system; and levies taxes on all goods—domestic and foreign—passing its borders; and then, in turn, the several towns of the States again assess all goods entering their respective precincts. The rate of State taxation, being determined by the several State Legislatures, varies and varies continually with each State. In the Federal district—i. e., the city of Mexico—the rate was recently two per cent of the national tariff; but, in the adjoining State of Hidalgo, it was ten per cent, and in others it is as high as sixteen per cent.[2] The rate levied by
- ↑ The right to import is held to carry with it a right to sell on the part of the importer, without further restrictions, i. e., in the original packages. Thus, the United States Supreme Court has decided that a license-tax imposed by a State of the Federal Union, as a prerequisite to the right to sell an imported article, is equivalent to a duty on imports, and in violation of the provision of the Federal Constitution, which prohibits the States from imposing import duties; and the decision has been carefully recognized by the authorities of the several States in dealing with imported liquors under local license or other restrictive laws.
- ↑ "In all cases these duties are not imposed for the mere transit of goods through the States, but for the fact of being consumed with-
