In the case of Old Colony Trust Company v. City of Seattle et al., 1925, the U.S Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether a city ordinance that required street railway companies to maintain and repair streets used by their tracks was constitutional. The Old Colony Trust Company, as trustee for the Boston Elevated Railway Company, argued that this requirement constituted an unlawful taking of property without just compensation under the Fifth Amendment. However, after reviewing previous rulings on similar issues and considering arguments from both sides, the court ruled in favor of Seattle. It held that such ordinances were within a municipality's police power to regulate public utilities for safety purposes and did not constitute an unconstitutional taking since they merely required companies to bear costs associated with their operations.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Old Colony Trust Company v. City of Seattle et al., 1925, argued that the city's tax on stock dividends did not violate constitutional rights and was within its jurisdiction to impose. The justice disagreed with the majority's interpretation of "income" under Washington law, arguing that it should include stock dividends as a form of profit or gain derived from capital investment. They also contended that there was no federal prohibition against taxing such income at a state level, nor any violation of due process or equal protection principles since all shareholders were treated equally under this taxation scheme. Furthermore, they believed that corporations and their shareholders could be considered separate entities for tax purposes; thus making it permissible for cities to levy taxes on both corporate profits and individual shareholder gains without constituting double taxation.