Container Corp. of America v. Franchise Tax Board
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Full Opinion
CONTAINER CORPORATION OF AMERICA
v.
FRANCHISE TAX BOARD
Supreme Court of United States.
*161 Franklin C. Latcham argued the cause for appellant. With him on the briefs was Prentiss Willson, Jr.
Neal J. Gobar, Deputy Attorney General of California, argued the cause for appellee. With him on the brief was George Deukmejian, Attorney General.[*]
Briefs of amici curiae urging affirmance were filed by David H. Leroy, Attorney General of Idaho, Theodore V. Spangler, Jr., Deputy Attorney General, and David L. Wilkinson, Attorney General of Utah, for the State of Idaho et al.; by Tyrone C. Fahner, Attorney General, Fred H. Montgomery, Special Assistant Attorney General, and Lloyd B. Foster for the State of Illinois; by Michael J. Rieley, Special Assistant Attorney General, for the State of Montana; by Jeff Bingaman, Attorney General, and Lisa Gillard Gmuca, Assistant Attorney General, for the State of New Mexico; by Robert Abrams, Attorney General, Francis V. Dow, Assistant Attorney General, and Peter H. Schiff for the State of New York; by Robert O. Wefald, Attorney General, and Kenneth M. Jakes, Assistant Attorney General, for the State of North Dakota; by Dave Frohnmayer, Attorney General, Stanton F. Long, Deputy Attorney General, William F. Gary, Solicitor General, and Theodore W. de Looze, Assistant Attorney General, for the State of Oregon; by William D. Dexter, Wilson Condon, Attorney General of Alaska, James R. Eads, Jr., J. D. MacFarlane, Attorney General of Colorado, Carl R. Ajello, Attorney General of Connecticut, Richard S. Gebelein, Attorney General of Delaware, David H. Leroy, Attorney General of Idaho, and Theodore V. Spangler, Jr., Deputy Attorney General, Linley E. Pearson, Attorney General of Indiana, Robert T. Stephan, Attorney General of Kansas, Francis X. Bellotti, Attorney General of Massachusetts, Frank K. Kelley, Attorney General of Michigan, Warren R. Spannaus, Attorney General of Minnesota, John Ashcroft, Attorney General of Missouri, Paul L. Douglas, Attorney General of Nebraska, Gregory H. Smith, Attorney General of New Hampshire, Jeff Bingaman, Attorney General of New Mexico, Rufus L. Edmisten, Attorney General of North Carolina, M. C. Banks, Deputy Attorney General, Robert O. Wefald, Attorney General of North Dakota, and Albert R. Hausauer, Assistant Attorney General, Dave Frohnmayer, Attorney General of Oregon, and David L. Wilkinson, Attorney General of Utah, for the Multistate Tax Commission et al.; by Richard B. Geltman and Tany S. Hong, Attorney General of Hawaii, for the National Governors' Association et al.; by Charles F. Brannan for the National Farmers Union; for Citizens for Tax Justice et al.; and by Frank M. Keesling, pro se.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed by Lloyd N. Cutler and William T. Lake for the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; by John J. Easton, Jr., Attorney General, and Paul P. Hanlon for the State of Vermont; by Francis D. Morrissey and Peter B. Powles for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce et al.; by Don S. Harnack and Richard A. Hanson for Caterpillar Tractor Co.; by Joanne M. Garvey and Roy E. Crawford for the Committee on Unitary Tax; by John S. Nolan for the Confederation of British Industry; by Norman B. Barker for Gulf Oil Corp.; by Anthon S. Cannon, Jr., for the International Bankers Association in California et al.; by Kenneth Heady for Phillips Petroleum Co.; by John R. Hupper and Paul M. Dodyk for Shell Petroleum N. V.; by Norman B. Barker and Dean C. Dunlavey for Sony Corp. et al.; and by Joseph H. Guttentag, Carolyn E. Agger, and Daniel M. Lewis for the Union of Industries of the European Community.
*162 JUSTICE BRENNAN delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is another appeal claiming that the application of a state taxing scheme violates the Due Process and Commerce Clauses of the Federal Constitution. California imposes a corporate franchise tax geared to income. In common with a large number of other States, it employs the "unitary business" *163 principle and formula apportionment in applying that tax to corporations doing business both inside and outside the State. Appellant is a Delaware corporation headquartered in Illinois and doing business in California and elsewhere. It also has a number of overseas subsidiaries incorporated in the countries in which they operate. Appellee is the California authority charged with administering the State's franchise tax. This appeal presents three questions for review: (1) Was it improper for appellee and the state courts to find that appellant and its overseas subsidiaries constituted a "unitary business" for purposes of the state tax? (2) Even if the unitary business finding was proper, do certain salient differences among national economies render the standard three-factor apportionment formula used by California so inaccurate as applied to the multinational enterprise consisting of appellant and its subsidiaries as to violate the constitutional requirement of "fair apportionment"? (3) In any event, did California have an obligation under the Foreign Commerce Clause, U. S. Const., Art. I, § 8, cl. 3, to employ the "arm's-length" analysis used by the Federal Government and most foreign nations in evaluating the tax consequences of intercorporate relationships?
I
A
Various aspects of state tax systems based on the "unitary business" principle and formula apportionment have provoked *164 repeated constitutional litigation in this Court. See, e. g., ASARCO Inc. v. Idaho State Tax Comm'n, 458 U. S. 307 (1982); F. W. Woolworth Co. v. Taxation & Revenue Dept., 458 U. S. 354 (1982); Exxon Corp. v. Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue, 447 U. S. 207 (1980); Mobil Oil Corp. v. Commissioner of Taxes, 445 U. S. 425 (1980); Moorman Mfg. Co. v. Bair, 437 U. S. 267 (1978); General Motors Corp. v. Washington, 377 U. S. 436 (1964); Butler Bros. v. McColgan, 315 U. S. 501 (1942); Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton, Ltd. v. State Tax Comm'n, 266 U. S. 271 (1924); Underwood Typewriter Co. v. Chamberlain, 254 U. S. 113 (1920).
Under both the Due Process and the Commerce Clauses of the Constitution, a State may not, when imposing an income-based tax, "tax value earned outside its borders." ASARCO, supra, at 315. In the case of a more-or-less integrated business enterprise operating in more than one State, however, arriving at precise territorial allocations of "value" is often an elusive goal, both in theory and in practice. See Mobil Oil Corp. v. Commissioner of Taxes, supra, at 438; Butler Bros. v. McColgan, supra, at 507-509; Underwood Typewriter Co. v. Chamberlain, supra, at 121. For this reason and others, we have long held that the Constitution imposes no single formula on the States, Wisconsin v. J. C. Penney Co., 311 U. S. 435, 445 (1940), and that the taxpayer has the " `distinct burden of showing by "clear and cogent evidence" that [the state tax] results in extraterritorial values being taxed . . . .' " Exxon Corp., supra, at 221, quoting Butler Bros. v. McColgan, supra, at 507, in turn quoting Norfolk & Western R. Co. v. North Carolina ex rel. Maxwell, 297 U. S. 682, 688 (1936).
One way of deriving locally taxable income is on the basis of formal geographical or transactional accounting. The problem with this method is that formal accounting is subject to manipulation and imprecision, and often ignores or captures inadequately the many subtle and largely unquantifiable *165 transfers of value that take place among the components of a single enterprise. See generally Mobil Oil Corp., supra, at 438-439, and sources cited. The unitary business/ formula apportionment method is a very different approach to the problem of taxing businesses operating in more than one jurisdiction. It rejects geographical or transactional accounting, and instead calculates the local tax base by first defining the scope of the "unitary business" of which the taxed enterprise's activities in the taxing jurisdiction form one part, and then apportioning the total income of that "unitary business" between the taxing jurisdiction and the rest of the world on the basis of a formula taking into account objective measures of the corporation's activities within and without the jurisdiction. This Court long ago upheld the constitutionality of the unitary business/formula apportionment method, although subject to certain constraints. See, e. g., Hans Rees' Sons, Inc. v. North Carolina ex rel. Maxwell, 283 U. S. 123 (1931); Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton, Ltd. v. State Tax Comm'n, supra; Underwood Typewriter Co. v. Chamberlain, supra. The method has now gained wide acceptance, and is in one of its forms the basis for the the Uniform Division of Income for Tax Purposes Act (Uniform Act), which has at last count been substantially adopted by 23 States, including California.
B
Two aspects of the unitary business/formula apportionment method have traditionally attracted judicial attention. These are, as one might easily guess, the notions of "unitary business" and "formula apportionment," respectively.
(1)
The Due Process and Commerce Clauses of the Constitution do not allow a State to tax income arising out of interstate activities even on a proportional basis unless there is a " `minimal connection' or `nexus' between the interstate activities *166 and the taxing State, and `a rational relationship between the income attributed to the State and the intrastate values of the enterprise.' " Exxon Corp. v. Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue, supra, at 219-220, quoting Mobil Oil Corp. v. Commissioner of Taxes, supra, at 436, 437. At the very least, this set of principles imposes the obvious and largely self-executing limitation that a State not tax a purported "unitary business" unless at least some part of it is conducted in the State. See Exxon Corp., supra, at 220; Wisconsin v. J. C. Penney Co., supra, at 444. It also requires that there be some bond of ownership or control uniting the purported "unitary business." See ASARCO, supra, at 316-317.
In addition, the principles we have quoted require that the out-of-state activities of the purported "unitary business" be related in some concrete way to the in-state activities. The functional meaning of this requirement is that there be some sharing or exchange of value not capable of precise identification or measurement beyond the mere flow of funds arising out of a passive investment or a distinct business operation which renders formula apportionment a reasonable method of taxation. See generally ASARCO, supra, at 317; Mobil Oil Corp., supra, at 438-442. In Underwood Typewriter Co. v. Chamberlain, supra, we held that a State could tax on an apportioned basis the combined income of a vertically integrated business whose various components (manufacturing, sales, etc.) operated in different States. In Bass, Ratcliff & Gretton, supra, we applied the same principle to a vertically integrated business operating across national boundaries. In Butler Bros. v. McColgan, supra, we recognized that the unitary business principle could apply, not only to vertically integrated enterprises, but also to a series of similar enterprises operating separately in various jurisdictions but linked by common managerial or operational resources that produced economies of scale and transfers of value. More recently, we have further refined the "unitary business" concept in Exxon Corp. v. Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue, *167 447 U. S. 207 (1980), and Mobil Oil Corp. v. Commissioner of Taxes, 445 U. S. 425 (1980), where we upheld the States' unitary business findings, and in ASARCO Inc. v. Idaho State Tax Comm'n, 458 U. S. 307 (1982), and F. W. Woolworth Co. v. Taxation & Revenue Dept., 458 U. S. 354 (1982), in which we found such findings to have been improper.
The California statute at issue in this case, and the Uniform Act from which most of its relevant provisions are derived, track in large part the principles we have just discussed. In particular, the statute distinguishes between the "business income" of a multijurisdictional enterprise, which is apportioned by formula, Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code Ann. §§ 25128-25136 (West 1979), and its "nonbusiness" income, which is not.[1] Although the statute does not explicitly require that income from distinct business enterprises be apportioned separately, this requirement antedated adoption of the Uniform Act,[2] and has not been abandoned.[3]
A final point that needs to be made about the unitary business concept is that it is not, so to speak, unitary: there are variations on the theme, and any number of them are logically consistent with the underlying principles motivating the approach. For example, a State might decide to respect formal *168 corporate lines and treat the ownership of a corporate subsidiary as per se a passive investment.[4] In Mobil Oil Corp., 445 U. S., at 440-441, however, we made clear that, as a general matter, such a per se rule is not constitutionally required:
"Superficially, intercorporate division might appear to be a[n] . . . attractive basis for limiting apportionability. But the form of business organization may have nothing to do with the underlying unity or diversity of business enterprise." Id., at 440.
Thus, for example, California law provides:
"In the case of a corporation . . . owning or controlling, either directly or indirectly, another corporation, or other corporations, and in the case of a corporation . . . owned or controlled, either directly or indirectly, by another corporation, the Franchise Tax Board may require a consolidated report showing the combined net income or such other facts as it deems necessary." Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code Ann. § 25104 (West 1979).[5]
*169 Even among States that take this approach, however, only some apply it in taxing American corporations with subsidiaries located in foreign countries.[6] The difficult question we address in Part V of this opinion is whether, for reasons not implicated in Mobil,[7] that particular variation on the theme is constitutionally barred.
(2)
Having determined that a certain set of activities constitute a "unitary business," a State must then apply a formula apportioning the income of that business within and without the State. Such an apportionment formula must, under both the Due Process and Commerce Clauses, be fair. See Exxon Corp., supra, at 219, 227-228; Moorman Mfg. Co., 437 U. S., at 272-273; Hans Rees' Sons, Inc., 283 U. S., at 134. The first, and again obvious, component of fairness in an apportionment formula is what might be called internal consistency that is, the formula must be such that, if applied by every jurisdiction, it would result in no more than all of the unitary business' income being taxed. The second and more difficult requirement is what might be called external consistency the factor or factors used in the apportionment formula must actually reflect a reasonable sense of how income is generated. The Constitution does not "invalidat[e] an apportionment formula whenever it may result in taxation *170 of some income that did not have its source in the taxing State . . . ." Moorman Mfg. Co., supra, at 272 (emphasis added). See Underwood Typewriter Co., 254 U. S., at 120-121. Nevertheless, we will strike down the application of an apportionment formula if the taxpayer can prove "by `clear and cogent evidence' that the income attributed to the State is in fact `out of all appropriate proportions to the business transacted . . . in that State,' [Hans Rees' Sons, Inc.,] 283 U. S., at 135, or has `led to a grossly distorted result,' [Norfolk & Western R. Co. v. State Tax Comm'n, 390 U. S. 317, 326 (1968)]." Moorman Mfg. Co., supra, at 274.
California and the other States that have adopted the Uniform Act use a formula commonly called the "three-factor" formula which is based, in equal parts, on the proportion of a unitary business' total payroll, property, and sales which are located in the taxing State. See Cal. Tax & Rev. Code Ann. §§ 25128-25136 (West 1979). We approved the three-factor formula in Butler Bros. v. McColgan, 315 U. S. 501 (1942). Indeed, not only has the three-factor formula met our approval, but it has become, for reasons we discuss in more detail infra, at 183, something of a benchmark against which other apportionment formulas are judged. See Moorman Mfg. Co., supra, at 282 (BLACKMUN, J., dissenting); cf. General Motors Corp. v. District of Columbia, 380 U. S. 553, 561 (1965).
Besides being fair, an apportionment formula must, under the Commerce Clause, also not result in discrimination against interstate or foreign commerce. See Mobil Oil Corp., supra, at 444; cf. Japan Line, Ltd. v. County of Los Angeles, 441 U. S. 434, 444-448 (1979) (property tax). Aside from forbidding the obvious types of discrimination against interstate or foreign commerce, this principle might have been construed to require that a state apportionment formula not differ so substantially from methods of allocation used by other jurisdictions in which the taxpayer is subject to taxation as to produce double taxation of the same income *171 and a resultant tax burden higher than the taxpayer would incur if its business were limited to any one jurisdiction. At least in the interstate commerce context, however, the antidiscrimination principle has not in practice required much in addition to the requirement of fair apportionment. In Moorman Mfg. Co. v. Bair, supra, in particular, we explained that eliminating all overlapping taxation would require this Court to establish not only a single constitutionally mandated method of taxation, but also rules regarding the application of that method in particular cases. 437 U. S., at 278-280. Because that task was thought to be essentially legislative, we declined to undertake it, and held that a fairly apportioned tax would not be found invalid simply because it differed from the prevailing approach adopted by the States. As we discuss infra, at 185-187, however, a more searching inquiry is necessary when we are confronted with the possibility of international double taxation.
II
A
Appellant is in the business of manufacturing custom-ordered paperboard packaging. Its operation is vertically integrated, and includes the production of paperboard from raw timber and wastepaper as well as its composition into the finished products ordered by customers. The operation is also largely domestic. During the years at issue in this case 1963, 1964, and 1965 appellant controlled 20 foreign subsidiaries located in four Latin American and four European countries. Its percentage ownership of the subsidiaries (either directly or through other subsidiaries) ranged between 66.7% and 100%. In those instances (about half) in which appellant did not own a 100% interest in the subsidiary, the remainder was owned by local nationals. One of the subsidiaries was a holding company that had no payroll, sales, or property, but did have book income. Another was *172 inactive. The rest were all engaged in their respective local markets in essentially the same business as appellant.
Most of appellant's subsidiaries were, like appellant itself, fully integrated, although a few bought paperboard and other intermediate products elsewhere. Sales of materials from appellant to its subsidiaries accounted for only about 1% of the subsidiaries' total purchases. The subsidiaries were also relatively autonomous with respect to matters of personnel and day-to-day management. For example, transfers of personnel from appellant to its subsidiaries were rare, and occurred only when a subsidiary could not fill a position locally. There was no formal United States training program for the subsidiaries' employees, although groups of foreign employees occasionally visited the United States for 2-6 week periods to familiarize themselves with appellant's methods of operation. Appellant charged one senior vice president and four other officers with the task of overseeing the operations of the subsidiaries. These officers established general standards of professionalism, profitability, and ethical practices and dealt with major problems and long-term decisions; day-to-day management of the subsidiaries, however, was left in the hands of local executives who were always citizens of the host country. Although local decisions regarding capital expenditures were subject to review by appellant, problems were generally worked out by consensus rather than outright domination. Appellant also had a number of its directors and officers on the boards of directors of the subsidiaries, but they did not generally play an active role in management decisions.[8]
*173 Nevertheless, in certain respects, the relationship between appellant and its subsidiaries was decidedly close. For example, approximately half of the subsidiaries' long-term debt was either held directly, or guaranteed, by appellant. Appellant also provided advice and consultation regarding manufacturing techniques, engineering, design, architecture, insurance, and cost accounting to a number of its subsidiaries, either by entering into technical service agreements with them or by informal arrangement. Finally, appellant occasionally assisted its subsidiaries in their procurement of equipment, either by selling them used equipment of its own or by employing its own purchasing department to act as an agent for the subsidiaries.[9]
B
During the tax years at issue in this case, appellant filed California franchise tax returns. In 1969, after conducting an audit of appellant's returns for the years in question, appellee issued notices of additional assessments for each of those years. The respective approaches and results reflected in appellant's initial returns and in appellee's notices of additional assessments capture the legal differences at issue in this case.[10]
*174 In calculating the total unapportioned taxable income of its unitary business, appellant included its own corporate net earnings as derived from its federal tax form (subject to certain adjustments not relevant here), but did not include any income of its subsidiaries. It also deducted as it was authorized to do under state law, see supra, at 167, and n. 1 all dividend income, nonbusiness interest income, and gains on sales of assets not related to the unitary business. In calculating the share of its net income which was apportionable to California under the three-factor formula, appellant omitted all of its subsidiaries' payroll, property, and sales. The results of these calculations are summarized in the margin.[11]
The gravamen of the notices issued by appellee in 1969 was that appellant should have treated its overseas subsidiaries as part of its unitary business rather than as passive investments. Including the overseas subsidiaries in appellant's unitary business had two primary effects: it increased the income subject to apportionment by an amount equal to the total income of those subsidiaries (less intersubsidiary dividends, see n. 5, supra), and it decreased the percentage of that income which was apportionable to California. The net *175 effect, however, was to increase appellant's tax liability in each of the three years.[12]
Appellant paid the additional amounts under protest, and then sued in California Superior Court for a refund, raising the issues now before this Court. The case was tried on stipulated facts, and the Superior Court upheld appellee's assessments. On appeal, the California Court of Appeal affirmed, 117 Cal. App. 3d 988, 173 Cal. Rptr. 121 (1981), and the California Supreme Court refused to exercise discretionary review. We noted probable jurisdiction. 456 U. S. 960 (1982).
III
A
We address the unitary business issue first. As previously noted, the taxpayer always has the "distinct burden of showing by `clear and cogent evidence' that [the state tax] results in extraterritorial values being taxed." Supra, at 164. One necessary corollary of that principle is that this Court will, if reasonably possible, defer to the judgment of state courts in deciding whether a particular set of activities constitutes a "unitary business." As we said in a closely related context in Norton Co. v. Department of Revenue, 340 U. S. 534 (1951):
"The general rule, applicable here, is that a taxpayer claiming immunity from a tax has the burden of establishing his exemption.
*176 "This burden is never met merely by showing a fair difference of opinion which as an original matter might be decided differently. . . . Of course, in constitutional cases, we have power to examine the whole record to arrive at an independent judgment as to whether constitutional rights have been invaded, but that does not mean that we will re-examine, as a court of first instance, findings of fact supported by substantial evidence." Id., at 537-538 (footnotes omitted; emphasis added).[13]
See id., at 538 (concluding that, "in light of all the evidence, the [state] judgment [on a question of whether income should be attributed to the State] was within the realm of permissible judgment"). The legal principles defining the constitutional limits on the unitary business principle are now well established. The factual records in such cases, even when the parties enter into a stipulation, tend to be long and complex, and the line between "historical fact" and "constitutional fact" is often fuzzy at best. Cf. ASARCO, 458 U. S., at 326-328, nn. 22, 23. It will do the cause of legal certainty little good if this Court turns every colorable claim that a state court erred in a particular application of those principles into a de novo adjudication, whose unintended nuances would then spawn further litigation and an avalanche of critical comment.[14] Rather, our task must be to determine whether the state court applied the correct standards to the case; and if it did, whether its judgment "was within the realm of permissible judgment."[15]
*177 B
In this case, we are singularly unconvinced by appellant's argument that the State Court of Appeal "in important part analyzed this case under a different legal standard," F. W. Woolworth, 458 U. S., at 363, from the one articulated by this Court. Appellant argues that the state court here, like the state court in F. W. Woolworth, improperly relied on appellant's mere potential to control the operations of its subsidiaries as a dispositive factor in reaching its unitary business finding. In fact, although the state court mentioned that "major policy decisions of the subsidiaries were subject to review by appellant," 117 Cal. App. 3d, at 998, 173 Cal. Rptr., at 127, it relied principally, in discussing the management relationship between appellant and its subsidiaries, on the more concrete observation that "[h]igh officials of appellant gave directions to subsidiaries for compliance with the parent's standard of professionalism, profitability, and ethical practices." Id., at 998, 173 Cal. Rptr., at 127-128.[16]
*178 Appellant also argues that the state court erred in endorsing an administrative presumption that corporations engaged in the same line of business are unitary. This presumption affected the state court's reasoning, but only as one element among many. Moreover, considering the limited use to which it was put, we find the "presumption" criticized by appellant to be reasonable. Investment in a business enterprise truly "distinct" from a corporation's main line of business often serves the primary function of diversifying the corporate portfolio and reducing the risks inherent in being tied to one industry's business cycle. When a corporation invests in a subsidiary that engages in the same line of work as itself, it becomes much more likely that one function of the investment is to make better use either through economies of scale or through operational integration or sharing of expertise of the parent's existing business-related resources.
Finally, appellant urges us to adopt a bright-line rule requiring as a prerequisite to a finding that a mercantile or manufacturing enterprise is unitary that it be characterized by "a substantial flow of goods." Brief for Appellant 47. We decline this invitation. The prerequisite to a constitutionally acceptable finding of unitary business is a flow of value, not a flow of goods.[17] As we reiterated in F. W. Woolworth, *179 a relevant question in the unitary business inquiry is whether " `contributions to income [of the subsidiaries] result[ed] from functional integration, centralization of management, and economies of scale.' " 458 U. S., at 364, quoting Mobil, 445 U. S., at 438. "[S]ubstantial mutual interdependence," F. W. Woolworth, supra, at 371, can arise in any number of ways; a substantial flow of goods is clearly one but just as clearly not the only one.
C
The State Court of Appeal relied on a large number of factors in reaching its judgment that appellant and its foreign subsidiaries constituted a unitary business. These included appellant's assistance to its subsidiaries in obtaining used and new equipment and in filling personnel needs that could not be met locally, the substantial role played by appellant in loaning funds to the subsidiaries and guaranteeing loans provided by others, the "considerable interplay between appellant and its foreign subsidiaries in the area of corporate expansion," 117 Cal. App. 3d, at 997, 173 Cal. Rptr., at 127, the "substantial" technical assistance provided by appellant to the subsidiaries, id., at 998-999, 173 Cal. Rptr., at 128, and the supervisory role played by appellant's officers in providing general guidance to the subsidiaries. In each of these respects, this case differs from ASARCO and F. W. Woolworth,[18] and clearly comes closer than those cases did to presenting a "functionally integrated enterprise," Mobil, supra, at 440, which the State is entitled to tax as a single entity. We need not decide whether any one of these factors *180 would be sufficient as a constitutional matter to prove the existence of a unitary business. Taken in combination, at least, they clearly demonstrate that the state court reached a conclusion "within the realm of permissible judgment."[19]
IV
We turn now to the question of fair apportionment. Once again, appellant has the burden of proof; it must demonstrate that there is " `no rational relationship between the income attributed to the State and the intrastate values of the enterprise,' " Exxon Corp., 447 U. S., at 220, quoting Mobil, supra, at 437, by proving that the income apportioned to *181 California under the statute is "out of all appropriate proportion to the business transacted by the appellant in that State," Hans Rees' Sons, Inc., 283 U. S., at 135.
Appellant challenges the application of California's three-factor formula to its business on two related grounds, both arising as a practical (although not a theoretical) matter out of the international character of the enterprise. First, appellant argues that its foreign subsidiaries are significantly more profitable than it is, and that the three-factor formula, by ignoring that fact and relying instead on indirect measures of income such as payroll, property, and sales, systematically distorts the true allocation of income between appellant and the subsidiaries. The problem with this argument is obvious: the profit figures relied on by appellant are based on precisely the sort of formal geographical accounting whose basic theoretical weaknesses justify resort to formula apportionment in the first place. Indeed, we considered and rejected a very similar argument in Mobil, pointing out that whenever a unitary business exists,
"separate [geographical] accounting, while it purports to isolate portions of income received in various States, may fail to account for contributions to income resulting from functional integration, centralization of management, and economies of scale. Because these factors of profitability arise from the operation of the business as a whole, it becomes misleading to characterize the income of the business as having a single identifiable `source.' Although separate geographical accounting may be useful for internal auditing, for purposes of state taxation it is not constitutionally required." 445 U. S., at 438 (citation omitted).
Appellant's second argument is related, and can be answered in the same way. Appellant contends:
"The costs of production in foreign countries are generally significantly lower than in the United States, primarily *182 as a result of the lower wage rates of workers in countries other than the United States. Because wages are one of the three factors used in formulary apportionment, the use of the formula unfairly inflates the amount of income apportioned to United States operations, where wages are higher." Brief for Appellant 12.
Appellant supports this argument with various statistics that appear to demonstrate, not only that wage rates are generally lower in the foreign countries in which its subsidiaries operate, but also that those lower wages are not offset by lower levels of productivity. Indeed, it is able to show that at least one foreign plant had labor costs per thousand square feet of corrugated container that were approximately 40% of the same costs in appellant's California plants.
The problem with all this evidence, however, is that it does not by itself come close to impeaching the basic rationale behind the three-factor formula. Appellant and its foreign subsidiaries have been determined to be a unitary business. It therefore may well be that in addition to the foreign payroll going into the production of any given corrugated container by a foreign subsidiary, there is also California payroll, as well as other California factors, contributing albeit more indirectly to the same production. The mere fact that this possibility is not reflected in appellant's accounting does not disturb the underlying pre