Whether Tennessee's tax on railroad fuel discriminates against railroads under 49 U.S.C. § 11501(b)(4)

QUESTION PRESENTED Under 49 U.S.C. § 11501(b)(4), states may not impose taxes that discriminate against railroads by favoring their competitors, such as motor carriers. In this case, Tennessee imposed a fuel tax on railroads but exempted motor carriers. The Sixth Circuit upheld the tax by pointing out that Tennessee also imposed what the court deemed a “roughly equivalent” fuel tax on motor carriers. The court held it “irrelevant” that Tennessee dedicates the revenue from the motor carrier tax to building and maintaining roads—the infrastructure that motor carriers use for their business—whereas the revenue from the railroad tax is not similarly dedicated to building and maintaining railroad tracks, and railroads are left to pay for their own infrastructure. The question presented is whether Tennessee’s tax on railroad fuel discriminates against railroads under 49 U.S.C. § 11501(b)(4).