Housatonic Railroad Company, Inc. v. Commissioner of Revenue Services

Summary

The court affirmed dismissal of the railroad’s refund appeal because sovereign immunity was not waived for the relief sought. Although the 4-R Act reaches discriminatory petroleum taxes imposed on rail carriers, it authorizes only prospective injunctive or declaratory relief, not refunds of taxes already paid; the railroad also was not a statutory taxpayer eligible to appeal under the petroleum-tax appeal provision, and the general appeal statute did not apply instead. The dissent would have allowed the railroad to proceed under the general appeal statute because its challenge to the allegedly unlawful tax application fell outside the petroleum-tax chapter.