State & Local
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May 20, 2024
Ex-Conn. Town Atty Sues Over 'False' Ethics Complaint
Former Newington, Connecticut, town attorney Benjamin Ancona Jr. and other former officials took the Hartford-area suburb to state court claiming the town's assessor and others defamed them in and regarding a now-dismissed ethics complaint that was purportedly loaded with false statements.
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May 20, 2024
Tenn. Tax Collection Falls $494M Short Of Estimate
Tennessee's tax revenue collection from August through April underperformed a budget projection by $494 million, the state Department of Finance and Administration said in a report.
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May 20, 2024
Utah Revenue Through April Rises $19M From Prior Year
Utah collected $19 million more in net general revenue from July through April than it did during the same period last fiscal year, the state Tax Commission reported.
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May 20, 2024
Colo. To Impose Fee On Car Rentals To Fund Rail Projects
Colorado will impose a daily fee on vehicle rentals to raise funding for rail and transit infrastructure projects under legislation signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis that could be subject to litigation or a challenge at the ballot box.
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May 20, 2024
Iowa Exempts Rentals Between Affiliates From Sales, Use Tax
Iowa exempts certain leases or rentals between affiliates from the state's 6% sales and use tax under a bill signed by the governor.
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May 20, 2024
Feds Fight Proposed Delay In Hunter Biden's Tax Trial
Hunter Biden shouldn't be allowed to delay his criminal tax trial in California just because his lead attorney says the dates run up against Biden's upcoming trial in Delaware on firearms charges, the special counsel's office told a federal court.
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May 20, 2024
Va. Revenue Through April Grows $1.1B From Prior Year
Virginia general revenue collection from July through April was up by $1.1 billion compared with the same period last fiscal year, according to a statement from the state Department of Accounts.
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May 20, 2024
NJ Panel Advances Tax Credit Boost For Tech Co. Investments
A New Jersey Assembly committee advanced a bill that would increase tax credits offered under the state's angel investor tax credit program for investments in certain technology businesses.
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May 17, 2024
Mich. $3.4M Sales Tax Bill Is Wrong, Sneaker Site Tells Court
The Michigan Treasury Department incorrectly calculated a sneaker resale site's sales tax liability from 2017 through 2019, as the site is a marketplace facilitator required to collect tax beginning in 2020, the site told the state Court of Claims.
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May 17, 2024
Home Distillers Tell Feds Ban Fails Under Spirit Of The Law
The Hobby Distillers Association said the federal government is exceeding its constitutional powers and treading on states' rights by banning homemade liquor under its taxing authority, as the group laid out its position Friday at the request of a Texas federal judge.
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May 17, 2024
Md. To Allow Disclosure Of Tax Info For Compliance Efforts
Maryland will allow the disclosure of tax information to outside parties to assist the state comptroller's tax compliance efforts under a bill signed by the governor.
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May 17, 2024
Fla. Appeals Court Nixes Condo Tax Sale After Address Mix-Up
A Florida state appeals panel authored a split decision ordering a lower district court to reverse a tax deed sale after a property owner in Miami-Dade claimed the county's clerk of court failed to provide notice that his condo was being put up for sale due to a delinquent tax bill.
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May 17, 2024
Credit Suisse Can't Reverse $21.3M Biz Loss Denial
Credit Suisse cannot carry forward $21.3 million in business losses from 2015-2017 to its 2018 Michigan tax return, a state appeals court said, letting stand a ruling that the bank miscalculated its business income from those years on its returns.
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May 17, 2024
Ark. High Court Nixes $35M Hotel Tax Bill On Travel Cos.
An Arkansas circuit court erred in finding that online travel companies such as Hotels.com and Expedia were on the hook for $35 million in unpaid hotel taxes, the state's Supreme Court ruled, finding that a decades-old tax statute didn't apply to them.
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May 17, 2024
Md. Allows County To Add Excise Tax On Telecom Services
Maryland will authorize the state's second-most populous county to impose an excise tax on telecommunications services in addition to the county's sales and use tax on such services under a bill signed by the governor.
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May 17, 2024
Ohio School Board Can't Appeal Property Value To Court
An Ohio school board is prohibited from appealing a board of revision's valuation of a property that the school board didn't own to a court of common pleas, a state appeals court ruled.
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May 17, 2024
Mo. Lawmakers OK Fee Carveout For Streaming, Satellite Cos.
Missouri would exempt streaming and satellite TV companies from local franchise fees that cable companies pay under a bill headed to the governor's desk after the state House of Representatives gave its approval Friday.
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May 17, 2024
Missouri Bill To Ban St. Louis Teleworker Tax Fails To Pass
A push by Missouri lawmakers to prevent St. Louis from imposing its earnings tax on remote workers stalled Friday for the fourth consecutive year when the state Senate adjourned for the year without giving the proposal final approval.
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May 17, 2024
Judge Sets Hearing For Delay In Hunter Biden's Tax Trial
A California federal judge agreed Friday to consider Hunter Biden's request to push back his $1.4 million criminal tax trial, setting a hearing to address his claim that the dates interfere with his Delaware gun trial and threaten to prevent him from getting a fair shake.
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May 17, 2024
Md. Urges Court To Nix Google's Digital Ad Tax Challenge
Google's challenge to Maryland's digital ad tax should be summarily thrown out because the federal law cited by the company in its case is itself unconstitutional, whereas the tax is constitutionally sound, Maryland's comptroller told the state's tax court.
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May 17, 2024
Kansas Gov. Vetoes Tax Omnibus, Calls For Special Session
Kansas Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed three tax bills, one of which would have restructured the state's income tax brackets and made other tax changes, saying the plan was too costly for the state.
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May 17, 2024
RI General Revenue Through April Exceeds Forecast By $6M
Rhode Island's total general revenue from July through April was $6 million higher than budget estimates, according to a report by the state's Department of Revenue.
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May 17, 2024
Kan. Tax Collection Through April Up $316M From Last Year
Kansas' total tax revenue collected from July through April grew $316 million from the previous fiscal year, according to a monthly report by the state Department of Revenue.
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May 17, 2024
Taxation With Representation: Wachtell Lipton, Freshfields
In this week's Taxation with Representation, Nippon Life acquires Corebridge Financial, Crescent Energy buys SilverBow Resources and Uber purchases Foodpanda.
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May 17, 2024
Virgin Islands Silent 2 Years On $1.1M Tax Refund, Court Told
A man living on the island of St. Thomas claims he requested a tax refund of more than $1.1 million from the U.S. Virgin Islands Bureau of Internal Revenue more than two years ago and still hasn't heard back, according to a complaint in federal court.
Expert Analysis
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High Court Ax Of Atty-Client Privilege Case Deepens Split
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury as improvidently granted maintains a three-way circuit split on the application of attorney-client privilege to multipurpose communications, although the justices have at least shown a desire to address it, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
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Comparing NY And NJ Reverse False Claims Statutes
Michael Horn and Lilli Wofsy at Archer & Greiner examine the New York and New Jersey False Claims Acts that give private parties a right to file suits alleging failure to pay the government money, and important distinctions between these state statutes and the federal law that could protect companies facing lawsuits amid substantial incentives for private litigants.
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Ohio Tax Talk: Amnesty Or Voluntary Disclosure?
Ohio's governor recently signed legislation to allow a two-month tax amnesty if the revenue is needed, but considering Ohio's current tax surplus and the fact that many taxpayers would be precluded, those owing back taxes should consider whether voluntary disclosure remains a better option, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.
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Property In Pa. And Corporate Income In Mo.: SALT In Review
From the latest attempt to do away with Pennsylvania's property tax to an assault on Missouri's corporate income tax, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
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The Forces Defining Sales Tax Policy And Compliance In 2023
In the coming year, expect to see tax policymakers grapple with the complexity of state and local tax compliance, cryptocurrency, metaverse transactions, and more, says Scott Peterson at Avalara.
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Start The Revolution Without Me: SALT In Review
From a sweeping push toward taxing the rich to a proposed tax review board in Indiana, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
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Atty-Client Privilege Arguments Give Justices A Moving Target
Recent oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case regarding the scope of the attorney-client privilege appeared to raise more questions about multipurpose counsel communications than they answered, as the parties presented shifting iterations of a predictable, easily applied test for evaluating the communications' purpose, say Trey Bourn and Thomas DiStanislao at Butler Snow.
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States Must Align Distribution Age Rules With Secure 2.0
To prevent unintended escheatment of retirement benefits, states will need to undertake legislative efforts to amend unclaimed property standards that conflict with the Secure 2.0 Act's required minimum distribution age increases, says Michael Giovannini at Alston & Bird.
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Va. Tax Nixed, NJ Shoplifter Targeted: SALT In Review
From a tax declared unconstitutional in Virginia to a New Jersey prosecutor's attempt to include sales tax in a shoplifting charge, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
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Midterm Cannabis Results Remind That Progress Is Not Linear
It may appear odd that the majority of state proposals for adult-use cannabis failed in November’s midterm elections when legalization is polling at an all-time high, but history moves in fits and starts, and there are clearly still some blind spots and hidden variables affecting voter perceptions, say Whitt Steineker and Mason Kruse at Bradley Arant.
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Wash. B&O Tax Proposal Is A Step In The Right Direction
The Washington Tax Structure Work Group’s proposal to swap the state’s problematic business and occupation tax for a Texas-style margins tax is far from a perfect solution, but it has opened the door for a long-overdue conversation about B&O tax changes that would provide much-needed administrative relief, says Nikki Dobay at Greenberg Traurig.
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This Year's Top 10 Developments In State And Local Tax
Attorneys at Grant Thornton rank the 10 biggest state and local tax issues of 2022, including the adoption of state pass-through entity taxes, Maryland's digital advertising tax and American Rescue Plan Act litigation.
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What To Expect In 2023: SALT In Review
Starting with predictions for the coming year, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.