The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit turned down the government’s request for a rehearing after a three-judge panel concluded that a federal tax on crude oil exports is unconstitutional.
The Monday order leaves in place the panel’s March 24 ruling that commodity trading company Trafigura Trading LLC was owed a refund of more than $4.2 million in taxes that were applied on about 50 million barrels of crude oil. The panel concluded that a tax on crude oil exports under tax code Section 4611(b) ran afoul of the Constitution’s prohibition against export taxes.
The Justice Department ...