Vinmar International Revenue and Competitors

Vinmar, Inc. is a Texas corporation with its principal place of business in Houston. Upon receiving an order from a client in a foreign country, Vinmar purchases plastic resin from vendors in the United States. After Vinmar purchases the resin, it seeks the foreign import clearances, currency clearances, and letters of credit necessary to complete the transaction. The Harris County Appraisal District assessed taxes against the resin held by Vinmar in a Houston warehouse on January 1 of 1989 and 1990. The facts in Virginia Indonesia Co. v. Harris County Appraisal Dist. and Harris County Appraisal Review Bd., 910 S.W.2d 905 (Tex.1995), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 116 S.Ct. 2523, 135 L.Ed.2d 1048 (1996) ("VICO "), are strikingly similar to the facts in this case. In VICO, just as in this case, the Harris County Appraisal District assessed taxes against property that VICO purchased for export and temporarily stored in Harris County while awaiting import clearance and related transportation activities. In VICO, we held that the assessment of ad valorem taxes against such property violated the Import-Export Clause of the United States Constitution. Virginia Indonesia Co., 910 S.W.2d at 906, 915. In this case, Vinmar does not assert that the tax violated the Import-Export Clause. Instead, Vinmar relies on the Commerce Clause and the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.