Transportation Company v. Wheeling was a United States Supreme Court case that addressed the issue of whether a state could impose a tax on a transportation company that operated within its borders. The case was brought by the Wheeling and Belmont Bridge Company, a transportation company that operated a bridge across the Ohio River between Wheeling, Virginia and Belmont County, Ohio. The company argued that the state of Virginia had no authority to impose a tax on its operations, as it was operating in a foreign state. The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling that the state of Virginia had the authority to impose a tax on the company's operations within its borders. The Court held that the power to tax was an inherent power of the state, and that the company was subject to the state's taxing authority. The Court also held that the tax was not an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce, as the company was operating within the state and the tax was not discriminatory. The Court's ruling established the principle that states have the power to tax activities within their borders, even if those activities are conducted in another state.

In Transportation Company v. Wheeling, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a state could impose taxes on interstate transportation companies that operated within its borders. The majority opinion held that states had the right to do so, but Justice Field dissented from this ruling. He argued that such taxation violated the Commerce Clause of the Constitution and interfered with Congress's exclusive power over interstate commerce. Furthermore, he noted that it would be unfair for states to tax out-of-state businesses while exempting their own in-state businesses from similar taxation schemes. Finally, he argued that if each state were allowed to impose taxes on interstate transportation companies operating within its borders without any federal oversight or regulation, then there would be no uniformity among them and chaos would ensue as different rates and regulations applied across various jurisdictions.