Law Commons^™

Preliminary Reflections On Mckesson And American Trucking Associations, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

On June 4, 1990, the Supreme Court issued its long awaited decisions in McKesson Corp v. Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco and American Trucking Associations, Inc. v. Smith. Both cases raised the question of whether a taxpayer has a right to a refund of unconstitutional state taxes. This article analyzes these decisions separately and considers the implications of these decisions on future state tax litigation. The article has two purposes: first, to analyze the McKesson and American Trucking Association cases; and second, to consider their implications for future constitutional challenges to state taxes. The article concludes by stating …

Equal Protection Run Amok? An Analysis Of The Nebraska Supreme Court's Decision In The Northern Natural Gas Case, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

In Northern Natural Gas Co. v. State Board of Equalization and Assessment, the Nebraska Supreme Court held that the state could not constitutionally tax the personal property of one taxpayer while exempting the personal property of other taxpayers. Specifically, the court held that pipelines were entitled to an exemption of their personal property because the personal property of railroads and car-lines had been exempted from taxation pursuant to the provisions of the Railroad revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 (the 4-R Act), which requires that the railroad and car-line property be taxed in the same way as other commercial …

State Taxation Of Federally Deferred Income: The Interstate Dimension, James C. Smith, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

Most states that impose income taxes conform their levies to the federal model. Consequently, when income is realized but not recognized at the federal level-for example, when a taxpayer reinvests the gain from the sale of her former residence in a new residence or when a taxpayer realizes gain from the exchange of like-kind property -- states typically follow the federal rule in deferring recognition of that income. On the assumption that state conformity to the federal nonrecognition rules reflects an implicit endorsement of the policies underlying those rules, state deferral ordinarily raises no issue independent of those raised by …

State Taxation And The Supreme Court, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The Supreme Court's outpouring of significant state tax decisions in recent years has elicited little more than a yawn from most constitutional scholars. The nation's preeminent law reviews, which once were filled with articles examining the Court's state tax opinions, pay scant attention to them today. Leading constitutional law casebooks make only passing reference to state taxation. Indeed, the Court itself has expressed ennui over the prospect of adjudicating a seemingly endless stream of state tax controversies. The lack of academic interest in the Court's state tax jurisprudence may be attributable to several factors. Matters of greater cosmic significance -- …

Is "Internal Consistency" Foolish?: Reflections On An Emerging Commerce Clause Restraint On State Taxation, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

Before 1983, the Supreme Court had never uttered the phrase "internal consistency" in a state tax opinion. Since 1983, however, the Court has invoked the principle of "internal consistency" on four separate occasions in adjudicating the validity of state taxes under the commerce clause. Indeed, by 1987, the Court could refer almost casually to the "internal consistency" criterion as "the test ... we have applied in other contexts." The Court's talk of "internal consistency" cannot be dismissed as mere rhetoric. Three of the four taxes that have been put to the "internal consistency" test have flunked it; cases approving taxes …

Utility Gross Receipt Taxes And Inter-Exchange Telecommunications Carriers, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

This article addresses whether there is any continuing justification for applying state utility gross receipts taxes to interexchange telecommunications carriers. First, the article explores the historical basis for imposing special taxes on utilities, including telecommunications companies, and observes that such levies were designed as a quid pro quo for the special rights and privileges the state granted to utilities. Next, it traces the evolution of the telecommunications industry and demonstrates that the historical rationale for imposing gross receipts taxes on the telecommunications industry no longer applies to the competitive segment of the industry in which interexchange carriers operate. The article …

Tax Notes Does A Disservice To Florida Services Tax, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

This is a letter to the editor of Tax Notes regarding the article published by Lee Sheppard in the August 3, 1987 Tax Notes entitled, Beyond Unitary: Florida Services Tax Apportionment. The article written by Ms. Sheppard does not accurately reflect the views of Mr. Hellerstein.

Primer On Florida's Sales Tax On Services, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

This special report describes the basic structure and operation of the Florida sales tax as adopted in its final form by the Florida Legislature on June 6, 1987 in order to clear up confusion about the tax. It begins by addressing the amount of controversy that the recently enacted sales and use tax on services has created and states that much of the controversy is based on confusion over what the law actually says and how it works. Next, the report goes into the operation of the statute and stresses that the tax applies only to services that are consumed …

A Primer On Florida's Sales Tax On Services, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

This special report is based on the Legal Study of Florida’s Sales Tax on Services prepared by Professor Hellerstein, Prentiss Wilson, Jr., and Morrison & Foerster for the Florida Department of Revenue. This special report deals with the issues arising from Florida’s extension of the sales tax to cover services. The report first discusses the issue of pyramiding of taxes and explores the question of how that issue should be treated in the context of sales services in light of the pre-existing treatment of the issue in the context of sales of tangible personal property. Next, the problem of defining …

Report And Recommendations, Sales Tax Exemption Study Commission

Walter Hellerstein Papers

No abstract provided.

Report To The Florida Legislature, Florida Department Of Revenue

Walter Hellerstein Papers

• Table of Contents, Overview and Executive Summary (use download button)

• Chapter One: Legal Issues (Pages L-3 to L-144)

• Chapter One: Legal Issues (Pages 145 to 366)
• Department of Revenue Modifications to the Hellerstein Draft
• Chapter Two: Administrative Issues (Pages C-3 to C-11)

• Chapter Three: First and Second year Revenue Effects and Related Issues (Pages R-3 to R-58)

• Appendix I: Preliminary Department of Revenue Report and Chapter 86-166, Laws of Florida (Pages A-3 to A-55)

• Appendix II: Overview of Services Taxation in Other States (Pages A-58 to A-85)
1. State of Washington Proposed legislation
2. Summary of …

Commerce Clause Restraints On State Taxation: Purposeful Economic Protectionism And Beyond, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

Few questions in recent years have spawned as much controversy and as little academic interest as the scope of commerce clause restraints on state tax power. The Supreme Court has handed down an extraordinary number of significant decisions addressed to the limitations the commerce clause imposes on state taxation. Yet these decisions have barely caught the eye of the nation's leading law reviews or constitutional scholars. Even those observers who have recognized the Court's renaissance of interest in the dormant commerce clause have largely confined their attention to state regulation, as distinguished from state taxation, of interstate commerce. If there …

Legal Study Of Florida's Sales Tax On Services, Walter Hellerstein, Prentiss Willson Jr.

Walter Hellerstein Papers

TABS

Exhibit A - Department of Revenue report, The Impact of 86-166 Law of Florida, 1986 (August 25, 1986)

B - Attachment B, Summary and Analysis of Principal Delegation Cases Decided by the Supreme Court of Florida during the Past Decade

C - Rough-Up of Conceptual Plan

3 - A bill to be entitled: An Act relating to state sales taxes; amending Chapter 212, F.S.; levying an excise tax on the sale and use of services. Includes annotations

4 - Formal Response

5 - Appendix: Some Alternatives to Traditional Sales Taxation

Organizational Meeting, Sales Tax Study Commission

Walter Hellerstein Papers

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Ch. 86-166, Laws Of Florida, 1986, Florida Department Of Revenue

Walter Hellerstein Papers

Introduction

This document was prepared by Department of Revenue staff as an initial examination of the impact of the enactment of Ch. 86-166, Laws of Florida which removed the exemption for professional, insurance and personal services and imposed a sales tax on "any service" performed or provided for a consideration, effective July 1, 1987. It is not intended to be an exhaustive treatise, nor could it be at this stage. It is intended to communicate the scope of Ch. 86-166 as it is presently understood along with some of the issues which have arisen during the initial examination of Ch. …

Selected Issues In State Business Taxation, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

This Article surveys selected issues in state business taxation. The topics were chosen with the hope that they would be of general interest to the conference for which this Article originally was prepared. The Article therefore eschews the detailed case analysis that typifies much of the law review writing about state and local taxation--including my own--and focuses instead on broader policy and economic questions that those concerned with state business taxation should find no less important. Part II of this Article considers business taxes and state tax incentives. Part III discusses federal and state tax conformity. Part IV addresses a …

Legal Perspectives On The Interstate Incidence And Shifting Of State And Local Taxes, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

Lawyers, especially constitutional lawyers, have long been concerned with the problems associated with the interstate incidence and shifting of state and local taxes. The Constitution has frequently been invoked as a restraint on the states' power to levy taxes on persons, property, or activities outside their borders. Yet the lawyer's view of tax incidence embodied in these constitutional disputes often bears little resemblance to the economist's. In recent years, however, lawyers have sought to import economic concepts of shifting and incidence into the legal analysis of the constitutional limitations on the states' power to export tax burdens to residents of …

Political Perspectives On State And Local Taxation Of Natural Resources, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

This article investigates the questions that have dominated the political debate over state and local taxation of natural resources in the federal system. It seeks to identify areas of consensus, clarify points of disagreement, and examine proposals that could provide a basis for reconciling the competing concerns. Part I briefly considers the issues as they arise within the framework of the individual state. Part II addresses interstate and interregional conflict. Part III turns to the dialogue over the role, if any, that the federal government should play in mediating the disputes.

State Income Taxation Of Multijurisdictional Corporations, Part Ii: Reflections On Asarco And Woolworth, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The first part of this Article, "State Income Taxation of Multijurisdictional Corporations: Reflections on Mobil, Exxon, and H.R. 5076" [79 Mich. L. Rev. 113], did not contemplate a sequel. The Supreme Court's decisions last term in two state corporate income tax cases, however, created an irresistible opportunity to write one. The Court's opinions in ASARCO and Woolworth picked up where its opinions in Mobil and Exxon left off. Yet the direction taken by these more recent decisions veers sharply from the course ostensibly set by their predecessors. This Article will consider the Court's latest pronouncements in this area in a …

State Income Taxation Of Multijurisdictional Corporations, Part Ii: Reflections On Asarco And Woolworth, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The first part of this Article, State Income Taxation of Multiurisdictional Corporations: Reflections on Mobil, Exxon, and H A 5076, did not contemplate a sequel. The Supreme Court's decisions last term in two state corporate income tax cases, however, created an irresistible opportunity to write one. The Court's opinions in ASARC0 and Woolworth picked up where its opinions in Mobil and Exxon left off. Yet the direction taken by these more recent decisions veers sharply from the course ostensibly set by their predecessors. This Article will consider the Court's latest pronouncements in this area in a continuing if quixotic effort …

Reflections On Commonwealth Edison Co. V. Montana, Mike Mcgrath, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

On the final day of its 1980-81 term, the United States Supreme Court handed down its long-awaited decision in Commonwealth Edison Co. v. Montana, which sustained Montana's coal severance tax over commerce and supremacy clause objections. In a six-to-three decision, the Court upheld the right of the states to set their own tax rates without fear of judicial interference. The Court's conclusion was rooted in its recognition that the determination of the rate or amount of a state tax is fundamentally a political question, which "must be resolved through the political process . . . by state legislatures in …

State Taxation In The Federal System: Perspectives On Louisiana's First Use Tax On Natural Gas, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The Louisiana First Use Tax is presently the subject of no less than eleven judicial proceedings in state and federal courts, including an original action pending before the Supreme Court and the Special Master to whom the case has been assigned. Any attempt to evaluate in detail the merits of these various challenges to the Louisiana levy in light of the myriad and complex issues they raise would hardly be possible in this forum. Indeed, at this junction, any such undertaking would probably be premature in light of the fact that many of the legal and evidentiary issues raised by …

State Income Taxation Of Multijurisdictional Corporations: Reflections On Mobil, Exxon, And H.R. 5076, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The state tax field is experiencing a renaissance of sorts. The Supreme court has displayed a renewed interest in the area, handing down an unusual number of significant decisions addressed to the constitutional restraints on state tax power. State courts have exhibited a similar revival of interest in these problems through an outpouring of uncharacteristically thoughtful opinions concerning state taxation of multistate and multinational enterprise. Congress, whose concern with state taxation of interstate and foreign commerce has been sporadic, is again considering legislation that would limit state taxing authority in these domains. Even the executive branch, which seldom intervenes in …

State Income Taxation Of Multijurisdictional Corporations: Reflections On Mobil, Exxon, And H.R. 5076, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The state tax field is enjoying a renaissance of sorts. The Supreme Court has displayed a renewed interest in the area, handing down an unusual number of significant decisions addressed to the constitutional restraints on state tax power. State courts have exhibited a similar revival of interest in these problems through an out-pouring of uncharacteristically thoughtful opinions concerning state taxation of multistate and multinational enterprise. Congress, whose concern with state taxation of interstate and foreign commerce has been sporadic, is again considering legislation that would limit state taxing authority in these domains.

Even the executive branch, which seldom intervenes in …

Hughes V. Oklahoma: The Court, The Commerce Clause, And State Control Of Natural Resources, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The Supreme Court's recent Commerce Clause opinions reflect an apparent effort to rationalize and modernize the analytical framework for delineating the implied restraints that the Clause imposes on state legislation. In the state tax field, the Court has articulated a coherent set of criteria controlling the validity of state taxes on interstate commerce and has discarded doctrine inconsistent with these standards. In the state regulatory context, the Court has likewise enunciated meaningful decisional principles governing the constitutionality of state regulations affecting interstate commerce and has applied them without substantial concern for their impact on its precedents of an earlier era. …

Construing The Uniform Division Of Income For Tax Purposes Act: Reflections On The Illinois Supreme Courts Reading Of The "Throwback" Rule, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

Part I of this article examines the structure and underlying policy of the Uniform Division of income for Tax Purposes Act's provisions relating to the apportionment of income arising from economic activity conducted across state lines. In particular, it considers the Act's "throwback" rule, which reapportions income ordinarily apportioned to a state in which it is not taxable to one in which it is. Part II explores in detail the Illinois court's resolution of the problem raised by GTE, namely, how to assign sales of tangible personal property, which are used as a basis for apportioning income, when such sales …

State Taxation And The Supreme Court: Toward A More Unified Approach To Constitutional Adjudication?, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The Supreme Court's decisions delineating the constitutional limitations on state tax power have often defied rational analysis. The Court read the commerce clause as forbidding a state tax on the privilege of doing interstate business but not on the privilege of doing interstate business in corporate form. It construed the import-export clause as prohibiting a state tax on bales of imported hemp awaiting use in manufacturing but not on piles of imported ore and plywood awaiting such use. It interpreted the supremacy clause as barring a state tax upon the sale of goods to one government contractor but not to …

State Taxation And The Supreme Court: Toward A More Unified Approach To Constitutional Adjudication?, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

The Supreme Court's decisions delineating the constitutional limitations on state tax power have often defied rational analysis. The Court read the commerce clause as forbidding a state tax on the privilege of doing interstate business but not on the privilege of doing interstate business in corporate form. It construed the import-export clause as prohibiting a state tax on bales of imported hemp awaiting use in manufacturing but not on piles of imported ore and plywood awaiting such use. It interpreted the supremacy clause as barring a state tax upon the sale of goods to one government contractor but not to …

State Taxation Of Interstate Business And The Supreme Court, 1974 Term: Standard Pressed Steel And Colonial Pipeline, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

It was an item of more than routine interest when the Supreme Court, late in the 1973 term, noted probable jurisdiction in two cases raising issues of central importance with respect to state tax power over interstate business. Standard Pressed Steel Co. v. Department of Revenue presented critical questions concerning due process and commerce clause limitations on a state's power to impose an unapportioned gross receipts tax on an interstate vendor; Colonial Pipeline Co. v. Traigle posed the recurring and unresolved question of the scope and vitality of the doctrine that the “privilege” of doing interstate business is immune from …

Michelin Tire Corp. V. Wages: Enhanced State Power To Tax Imports, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

In Michelin Tire Corp. v. Wages, the Supreme Court abandoned a century of precedent in holding that the Import-Export Clause does not bar a state from imposing a nondiscriminatory ad valorem property tax on imported goods. The provision forbidding the states from laying "any Imposts or Duties on Imports or Exports" was never intended to prohibit such a levy, the Court now tells us, and the case first suggesting that it did, Low v. Austin, was "wrong decided." Over a mild protest of Mr. Justice White, the Court thus obviated any examination of the principal issue the parties …