State & Local
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March 25, 2024
NY Exempts Federally Forgiven Student Loans From Tax
New York will not subject federally forgiven student loans to state income tax under a bill approved by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
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March 25, 2024
Ala. Supreme Court Finds Plant's Valuation Properly Lowered
An Alabama chemical plant had its property valuation correctly decreased by a lower court, because the mass appraisal cost approach used by the Department of Revenue was not the only method of valuing the property, the state Supreme Court ruled.
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March 25, 2024
North Dakota, Tribe Ink Alcohol Tax Sharing Deal
North Dakota will impose a tax on the sale of alcoholic beverages on land owned by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and share the resulting revenue under an agreement signed by the governor and the tribe.
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March 25, 2024
Minn. Bill Seeks Tax Credit For Building Conversions
Minnesota would allow tax credits for certain costs related to the conversion of underutilized buildings to other commercial uses under legislation introduced Monday in the state Senate.
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March 25, 2024
Trump Can't Dismiss Hush Money Case, Trial Set For April
A New York state judge on Monday emphatically denied Donald Trump's motion to dismiss the Manhattan district attorney's hush money case in the wake of a late evidence dump by federal prosecutors, scolding the former president's attorney and setting trial for April 15.
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March 22, 2024
Wash. Capital Gains Tax Foes Pivot To Voters To Kill The Tax
Opponents of the capital gains tax in Washington state, having been frustrated in attempts to quash the tax in the courts, have now moved to trying to do so at the ballot box, hoping that voters, not the courts, will have the last word on the tax.
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March 22, 2024
Ohio Board Upholds $2.2M Hotel Value Cut Due To COVID
The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals upheld a local tax board's decision to lower the value of a hotel property by $2.2 million, saying in an order Friday that the hotel proved COVID-19 led to a reduction in value.
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March 22, 2024
Colo. Water District Illegally Doubled Tax Rate, Panel Says
A water conservancy district violated the Colorado Constitution when it doubled its property tax rate without voter approval, a state appeals court ruled, reversing a lower court's decision against a proposed class of property owners.
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March 22, 2024
Colo. Mandates Multistate Online Insurance Tax Filing
Insurance companies in Colorado will be required to pay certain taxes through multistate third-party web-based application under legislation that Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed into law Friday.
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March 22, 2024
Ariz. Says Federal Tax On Rebates Contradicts IRS Guidance
A decision by the Internal Revenue Service to impose federal income tax on rebates issued last year by Arizona violates the agency's own recent guidance, the state told a federal court, saying a preliminary injunction against the tax would not unduly burden the agency.
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March 22, 2024
Holland & Knight Hires Caplin & Drysdale Member In DC
Holland & Knight LLP has boosted its Washington-based tax team, hiring a Caplin & Drysdale Chtd. member who first joined his former firm 25 years ago from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
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March 22, 2024
Colo. Foreign Students Not Residents, Tax Dept. Says
A foreign student, intern or trainee temporarily in Colorado would not be considered domiciled in Colorado under the state's six-month rule and would not need to pay the state's income tax, the state tax department said.
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March 22, 2024
NH Senate OKs Creating Formula For Property Tax Caps
New Hampshire would establish a formula adjusting local property tax caps to take into consideration inflation and population growth as part of a bill passed by the state Senate.
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March 22, 2024
Wis. Exempts Bullion With Precious Metals From Sales Tax
Wisconsin is creating a sales tax exemption for coins, bars and other items that contain a certain amount of precious metals as part of a bill signed by the governor.
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March 21, 2024
La. House Tax Writers Advance Cuts To Severance Tax Rates
Louisiana would reduce its standard severance tax rate by 4 percentage points over eight years and cut its tax rate on inactive and orphan wells in half starting this year under two bills the state House of Representatives' tax-writing committee approved.
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March 21, 2024
Ohio Justices Urged To Reject Shoe Co.'s Tax Sourcing Claim
The Ohio Supreme Court should reject an apparel company's claim for a refund of gross receipts tax on shoes sold to an in-state distribution center because it didn't provide evidence showing the goods were later delivered outside Ohio, the state tax agency argued.
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March 21, 2024
Power Co. Asks Texas Justices To Let It Fix Appraisal Error
A Texas power company should be permitted to correct the value of its transmission lines listed on county appraisal rolls as the information provided to the appraiser wasn't accurate, the company's attorney told the state Supreme Court on Thursday.
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March 21, 2024
Trump's Mystery Docket: Inside NY's Secretive Filing System
The first criminal indictment of a former American president may have arrived in 21st century New York, but it landed in a court system stuck in the past — where the official record is a disorganized and incomplete mass of paper with no accounting of what's inside.
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March 21, 2024
SC Revenue Dept. Says Digital Textbooks Tax-Exempt
A company's sales of digital textbooks are exempt from sales and use tax because there is no distinction with the content of its physical textbooks, the South Carolina Department of Revenue said in a letter ruling.
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March 21, 2024
Tenn. Senate OKs $1.6B In Rebates In Corp. Tax Cut Plan
Tennessee would return about $1.6 billion in past corporate franchise taxes and cut the tax going forward under legislation approved Thursday by the state Senate as Democrats expressed concern over the funding of the package.
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March 21, 2024
NY High Court Says Lease To For-Profit Co. Nixes Tax Break
A nonprofit organization's property that is leased to a for-profit dialysis center isn't eligible for a property tax exemption, New York's highest court ruled Thursday, finding the center's medical services were too far removed from the nonprofit's mission of fundraising to support healthcare.
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March 21, 2024
Minn. Tax Info Bill Violates Privacy, Biz Groups Tell Sen. Panel
Corporations doing business in Minnesota would be harmed by disclosure of state tax information under proposed legislation, business groups told a state Senate panel.
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March 21, 2024
DA Rips Trump For 'Wild' Accusations Over Late Documents
The Manhattan district attorney is pushing back on claims of misconduct from former President Donald Trump's legal team as the two sides spar over the late production of thousands of pages of documents that have cast doubt on the timing of his hush-money trial.
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March 21, 2024
Kan. House Advances Republican Budget, Kills Amendment
Kansas House Republicans advanced a bill that would enact a budget for 2025 but struck down a Democratic amendment that would have added Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's proposed property tax relief.
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March 21, 2024
Quintairos Prieto Taps Atlanta Atty To Lead New Tax Group
Quintairos Prieto Wood & Boyer PA said it had created a tax division that will be led by an Atlanta-based partner who has guided clients on civil and criminal tax law, reinforcing its national expertise in litigation, regulatory and corporate law matters.
Expert Analysis
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A Tale Of 2 State Tax Sourcing Decisions: The Pa. Court's Path
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s recent decision in Synthes v. Commonwealth appropriately effectuated the Legislature's intent that ambiguous provisions in Section 17 of the Uniform Division of Income for Tax Purposes Act be construed to reflect the marketplace for the taxpayer's services, says Bruce Fort at the Multistate Tax Commission.
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A Tale Of 2 State Tax Sourcing Decisions: The Va. Court's Path
The Virginia Supreme Court's textualist approach in Department of Taxation v. R.J. Reynolds diverges from a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court analysis and mistakenly precludes consideration of the goals and history underlying provisions of the Uniform Division of Income for Tax Purposes Act, says Bruce Fort at the Multistate Tax Commission.
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Digital Ads And Electric Vehicles: SALT In Review
From the latest move toward a tax on digital advertising to a proposed tax on the charging of electric vehicles, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
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Could The Supreme Court Legalize Marijuana Federally?
Amid slow legislative and executive movement on cannabis reform, it’s worth examining whether the U.S. Supreme Court could provide a pathway to federal cannabis legalization — a decision that would surely require strange bedfellows given the court’s current ideological makeup, say Whitt Steineker and Mason Kruse at Bradley Arant.
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Pennsylvania Is Gathering Momentum On Adult-Use Cannabis
Though Pennsylvania has been relatively slow-moving on cannabis reform, recent support from state leaders and pressure from neighboring states signal that legalization efforts are picking up steam, and could lead to the enactment of adult-use legislation soon, says Devin Malone at Clark Hill.
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Drinking And Driving: SALT In Review
From several proposed tax breaks related to vehicular considerations to one that would aid bourbon distillers in Kentucky, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
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Kentucky Tax Talk: Trouble With The Incentive Oversight Bill
The potential retroactivity of a bill to increase the transparency and General Assembly oversight of Kentucky’s tax incentive programs would be problematic for businesses that received awards in recent years, despite the legislation being aimed toward future development, say attorneys at Frost Brown.
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Justices' MoneyGram Opinion Could Spur State Legislation
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision that federal law governs the escheatment of over $250 million in unclaimed MoneyGram checks provides clarity for some issuers, but aspects of related common law remain uncertain and states may take the opportunity to pass multistate escheatment legislation, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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Justices Leave Questions Open On Dual-Purpose Atty Advice
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent dismissal of In re: Grand Jury on grounds that certiorari was improvidently granted leaves unresolved a circuit split over the proper test for deciding when attorney-client privilege protects a lawyer's advice that has multiple purposes, say Susan Combs and Richard Kiely at Holland & Hart.
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Biz Purchases In Nebraska, Lobsters In Maine: SALT In Review
From a proposed tax exemption on business purchases in Nebraska to an attempt to punish lobster boycotts in Maine, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
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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.