United States v. Central Pacific Railroad Company was a Supreme Court case that addressed the issue of whether the United States government had the right to impose taxes on the Central Pacific Railroad Company. The Central Pacific Railroad Company argued that the taxes imposed by the government were unconstitutional and violated the Contract Clause of the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court held that the taxes imposed by the government were constitutional and did not violate the Contract Clause. The Court reasoned that the taxes were necessary to fund the government and that the Contract Clause did not prohibit the government from imposing taxes on the railroad company. The Court also held that the taxes were not an unconstitutional taking of property without just compensation. The Court concluded that the taxes were a valid exercise of the government's power to tax and did not violate the Contract Clause.

In United States v. Central Pacific Railroad Company, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether Congress had the power to grant subsidies in aid of railroad construction under its authority to regulate interstate commerce. Justice Field delivered a dissenting opinion arguing that Congress did not have such power and that any attempt by it to do so would be unconstitutional. He argued that while Congress has broad powers over interstate commerce, those powers are limited by other constitutional provisions which protect private property rights from government interference or taking without just compensation. In this case, he argued that granting subsidies for railroad construction amounted to an unconstitutional taking of private property because it would give one company an unfair advantage over others competing in the same market and thus interfere with their right to compete on equal terms with each other. Furthermore, he noted that if such grants were allowed then there could be no limit on what kind of public works projects might be funded through similar means and thus lead ultimately lead down a path towards socialism where all industry is owned or controlled by the federal government - something which was clearly outside of Congressional authority as defined by the Constitution