Clause 5. No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State.
TAXES ON EXPORTS
This prohibition applies only to the imposition of duties on goods by reason of exportation.[1517] The word "export" signifies goods exported to a foreign country, not to an unincorporated territory of the United States.[1518] A general tax laid on all property alike, including that intended for export, is not within the prohibition, if it is not levied on goods in course of exportation nor because of their intended exportation.[1519] Where the sale to a commission merchant for a foreign consignee was consummated by delivery of the goods to an exporting carrier, the sale was held to be a step in the exportation and hence exempt from a general tax on sales of such commodity.[1520] The giving of a bond for exportation of distilled liquor is not the commencement of exportation so as to exempt from an excise tax spirits which were not exported pursuant to such bond.[1521] A tax on the income of a corporation derived from its export trade is not a tax on "articles exported" within the meaning of the Constitution.[1522]
A stamp tax imposed on foreign bills of lading,[1523] charter parties,[1524] or marine insurance policies,[1525] is in effect a tax or duty upon exports, and so void; but an act requiring the stamping of all packages of tobacco intended for export in order to prevent fraud was held not to be forbidden as a tax on exports.[1526]
Clause 6. No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another: nor shall Vessels bound to, or from, one State, be obliged to enter, clear, or pay duties in another.
THE "NO PREFERENCE" CLAUSE
The limitations imposed by this section were designed to prevent preferences as between ports on account of their location in different States. They do not forbid such discriminations as between individual ports. Acting under the commerce clause, Congress may do many things which benefit particular ports and which incidentally result to the disadvantage of other ports in the same or neighboring States. It may establish ports of entry, erect and operate lighthouses, improve rivers and harbors, and provide structures for the convenient and economical handling of traffic.[1527] A rate order of the Interstate Commerce Commission which allowed an additional charge to be made for ferrying traffic across the Mississippi to cities on the east bank of the river was sustained over the objection that it gave an unconstitutional preference to ports in Texas.[1528] Although there were a few early intimations that this clause was applicable to the States as well as to Congress,[1529] the Supreme Court declared emphatically in 1886 that State legislation was unaffected by it.[1530] After more than a century the Court confirmed, over the objection that this clause was offended, the power which the First Congress had exercised[1531] in sanctioning the continued supervision and regulation of pilots by the States.[1532] Alaska is not deemed to be a State within the meaning of this clause.[1533]
Clause 7. No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.