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But even if the State is driven to an action, if at the same time the citizen is put at a serious disadvantage in the assertion of his legal, in this case of his constitutional, rights, by defence in the suit, justice may require that he should be at liberty to avoid those disadvantages by paying promptly and bringing suit on his side." Id., at 285-286.

Ibid.

After finding that the railroad company's tax payment "was made under duress," id., at 287, the Court issued a judgment entitling the company to a "refunding of the tax." Thus was the taxpayer provided a "clear and certain remedy" for the State's unlawful extraction of tax moneys under duress.

In Ward v. Love County Board of Comm'rs, 253 U. S. 17 (1920), we reversed the Oklahoma Supreme Court's refusal to award a refund for an unlawful tax. A subdivision of the State sought to tax lands allotted by Congress to members of the Choctaw and Chickasaw Indian Tribes despite a provision of the allotment treaty making the "lands allotted . . . nontaxable while the title remains in the original allottee, but not to exceed twenty-one years from date of patent."" Id., at 19, quoting Act of June 28, 1898, § 29, 30 Stat. 507. To avoid a distress sale of its lands, the Choctaw Tribe paid the taxes under protest and then brought suit in state court to obtain a refund. We observed that "it is certain that the lands were nontaxable" by the State and its subdivisions under the allotment treaty and, therefore, the taxes were assessed in violation of federal law. 253 U. S., at 21. After finding that the Tribe paid the taxes under duress, id., at 23, we ordered a refund. We explained the State's duty to remit the tax as follows:

"To say that the county could collect these unlawful taxes by coercive means and not incur any obligation to pay them back is nothing short of saying that it could take or appropriate the property of these Indian allottees arbitrarily and without due process of law.

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course this would be in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment, which binds the county as an agency of the State." Id., at 24.

See also Carpenter v. Shaw, 280 U. S. 363, 369 (1930) (holding, in a case analogous to Ward, that "a denial by a state court of a recovery of taxes exacted in violation of the laws or Constitution of the United States by compulsion is itself in contravention of the Fourteenth Amendment").

In Montana National Bank of Billings v. Yellowstone County, 276 U. S. 499 (1928), we applied the same due process analysis to a tax that was unlawful because it was discriminatory, though otherwise within the State's power to impose. Montana officials had imposed a tax on shares of banks incorporated under federal law but not on shares of state-incorporated banks, relying on a Montana Supreme Court decision interpreting state law to preclude such taxation of state bank shares. The Montana National Bank of Billings paid its tax under protest and then brought suit for a refund. The bank contended that the different tax treatment violated § 5219 of the Revised Statutes, a federal statute requiring equal taxation of the shares of state and national banks. On appeal, the Montana Supreme Court overruled its previous interpretation of state law and held that thereafter shares of state banks could also be taxed, thus enabling state officials to comply with § 5219. Montana National Bank of Billings v. Yellowstone County, 78 Mont. 62, 252 P. 876 (1926). The court declined, however, to order a refund of the taxes that the Montana National Bank of Billings had paid during the period when state officials had exempted state banks in reliance on the court's earlier decision. Id., at 86, 252 P., at 883. On writ of error, this Court acknowledged that the Montana Supreme Court's decision to overrule its previous interpretation of state law ensured for the future the equal treatment demanded by federal law. The Court noted, however, that prospective relief alone "d[id] not cure the mischief which had been done under the

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earlier construction." 276 U. S., at 504. We held that the Montana National Bank of Billings "c[ould not] be deprived of its legal right to recover the amount of the tax unlawfully exacted of it by the later [Montana Supreme Court] decision which, while repudiating the construction under which the unlawful exaction was made, le[ft] the monies thus exacted in the public treasury," id., at 504-505, and therefore the bank enjoyed "an undoubted right to recover" the moneys it had paid. Id., at 504.

The Court in Montana National Bank recognized that the federal mandate of equal treatment could have been satisfied by collecting back taxes from state banks rather than by granting a refund to national banks. Id., at 505. But as to this possibility, the Court remarked:

"[I]t is unnecessary to say more than that it nowhere appears that these [taxing] officers, if they possess the power [to assess back taxes], have undertaken to exercise it or that they have any intention of ever doing so. It will be soon enough to invite consideration of this purely speculative suggestion when, if ever, the taxing officials shall have put it into practical effect." Ibid.

Montana National Bank thus held that one forced to pay a discriminatorily high tax in violation of federal law is entitled, in addition to prospective relief, to a refund of the excess tax paid—at least unless the disparity is removed in some other manner.

We again applied this analysis to a discriminatory tax in Iowa-Des Moines National Bank v. Bennett, 284 U. S. 239 (1931). The Court held unanimously that the State of Iowa's taxation of the shares of state and national banks at a higher rate than those of competing domestic corporations violated the Equal Protection Clause. Id., at 245-246. With respect to the banks' claim for a refund of excess taxes paid, Justice Brandeis explained:

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"The [banks'] rights were violated, and the causes of action arose, when taxes at the lower rate were collected from their competitors. It may be assumed that all ground for a claim for refund would have fallen if the State, promptly upon discovery of the discrimination, had removed it by collecting the additional taxes from the favored competitors. By such collection the [banks'] grievances would have been redressed, for these are not primarily overassessment. The right invoked is that to equal treatment; and such treatment will be attained if either their competitors' taxes are increased or their own reduced." Id., at 247.

But the State did not elect to set matters right by collecting additional taxes from the banks' competitors for the four tax years encompassed by the suit. And the Court found it "well settled" that the banks could not be "remitted to the necessity of awaiting such action by the state officials upon their own initiative." Ibid. The Court held, therefore, that the banks were "entitled to obtain in these suits refund of the excess of taxes exacted from them." Ibid.

B

These cases demonstrate the traditional legal analysis appropriate for determining Florida's constitutional duty to provide relief to petitioner McKesson for its payment of an unlawful tax. Because exaction of a tax constitutes a deprivation of property, the State must provide procedural safeguards against unlawful exactions in order to satisfy the commands of the Due Process Clause." The State may choose to provide a form of "predeprivation process," for example, by authorizing taxpayers to bring suit to enjoin imposition of a

17 See, e. g., Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U. S. 319, 333 (1976) ("This Court consistently has held that some form of hearing is required before an individual is finally deprived of a property interest"); Central of Georgia R. Co. v. Wright, 207 U. S. 127, 138-142 (1907); Davidson v. New Orleans, 96 U. S. 97, 104-105 (1878).

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tax prior to its payment, or by allowing taxpayers to withhold payment and then interpose their objections as defenses in a tax enforcement proceeding initiated by the State. However, whereas "[w]e have described 'the root requirement' of the Due Process Clause as being 'that an individual be given an opportunity for a hearing before he is deprived of any significant property interest,'" Cleveland Bd. of Education v. Loudermill, 470 U. S. 532, 542 (1985) (citation omitted), it is well established that a State need not provide predeprivation process for the exaction of taxes. 18 Allowing taxpayers to litigate their tax liabilities prior to payment might threaten a government's financial security, both by creating unpredictable interim revenue shortfalls against which the State cannot easily prepare, and by making the ultimate collection of validly imposed taxes more difficult. To protect government's exceedingly strong interest in financial stability in this context, we have long held that a State may employ various financial sanctions and summary remedies, such as distress sales, in order to encourage taxpayers to make timely payments prior to resolution of any dispute over the validity of the tax assessment.

18 See, e. g., Bob Jones University v. Simon, 416 U. S. 725, 746 (1974); Phillips v. Commissioner, 283 U. S. 589, 595-597 (1931); Dodge v. Osborn, 240 U. S. 118, 122 (1916).

19 See, e. g., California v. Grace Brethren Church, 457 U. S. 393, 410 (1982) (“During [prepayment litigation] the collection of revenue under the challenged law might be obstructed, with consequent damage to the State's budget, and perhaps a shift to the State of the risk of taxpayer insolvency'"), quoting Perez v. Ledesma, 401 U. S. 82, 128, n. 17 (1971) (BRENNAN, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part); Dows v. City of Chicago, 11 Wall. 108, 110 (1871) ("It is upon taxation that the several States chiefly rely to obtain the means to carry on their respective governments, and it is of the utmost importance to all of them that the modes adopted to enforce the taxes levied should be interfered with as little as possible. Any delay in the proceedings of the officers, upon whom the duty is devolved of collecting the taxes, may derange the operations of government, and thereby cause serious detriment to the public").

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