In the case of Ma-King Products Company v. Blair, Commissioner in 1925, the U.S Supreme Court was tasked with deciding whether a state could impose an excise tax on corporations for the privilege of doing business within its borders. The plaintiff, Ma-King Products Company argued that this taxation violated their rights under both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment as it did not apply to all businesses operating within Oklahoma. However, after reviewing previous cases and considering arguments from both sides, the court ruled against Ma-King Products Company stating that states have broad powers to levy taxes as long as they do not violate any specific constitutional prohibitions or discriminate between different types of businesses without reasonable grounds. In this case, there were no such violations found by imposing an excise tax only on corporations.

The dissenting opinion in the Ma-King Products Company v. Blair case argued that the majority's decision to uphold a tax on oleomargarine violated both the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. The dissent contended that there was no rational basis for taxing margarine at a higher rate than butter, as they are essentially similar products used for similar purposes. It further asserted that this discriminatory taxation served only to protect dairy farmers from competition, which is not a legitimate government interest under constitutional law. Therefore, it concluded that such arbitrary and unreasonable discrimination against one type of product in favor of another constituted an unconstitutional deprivation of property without due process and denied equal protection under laws.