Taxation-State and Local Commons^™

How The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Should Interpret Wynne, Michael S. Knoll, Ruth Mason

All Faculty Scholarship

In this special report, Knoll and Mason discuss how the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court should apply Wynne when it hears on remand First Marblehead v. Commissioner of Revenue. The authors conclude that when it originally heard the case, the Massachusetts court mistakenly considered, as part of its internal consistency analysis, whether Gate Holdings Inc. experienced double state taxation. As developed by the U.S. Supreme Court and most recently applied in Wynne, the internal consistency test is not concerned with actual double taxation that may arise from the interaction of different states’ laws. Rather, the test is designed to determine …

Basic Federal And State Tax Relevant To Estate Planning, Samuel Donaldson, Karen Boxx

Samuel A. Donaldson

No abstract provided.

Of More Than Usual Interest: The Taxing Problem Of Debt Principal, Charlene D. Luke

Seattle University Law Review

Leverage is an essential but often troubling component of the U.S. market. The financial crisis highlighted the risks and complexity of a leverage web that includes flesh-and-blood people from all walks of life and paper people from all corners of the business and investment world. In the tax area, the potentially problematic incentive effects of interest deductibility have long engaged a wide array of tax commentators and policymakers. While interest deductibility rightly receives widespread scrutiny, a more comprehensive approach to leverage is needed. This Article focuses on the surprisingly complicated tax treatment of cash (and cash equivalent) borrowings. This Article …

Recent Developments In Virginia Taxation, Craig D. Bell, William L.S Rowe

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

The Three Worlds Of Multilevel Democracy: Local Linkages, Civil Society And The Development Of The Modern State, Jefferey Sellers, Anders Lidstrom, Yooil Bae

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The Three Worlds of MultilevelDemocracydevelops and applies a novel theory of democratic governance. This theory incorporates micro-level patternsof governance and civic organization at the local scale into a comparative macro-analysisof national democratic institutions. Institutionsand politics at the micro-level of cities and communities provide the basis fora new perspective on national state-society relations. We demonstrate how these local patterns havedeveloped through historical processes that were often distinct from those thatgave rise to national democratic institutions, and analyze how they have shapeddemocratic institutions at the national level. These local patterns continue to account for significant cross-nationalcontrasts in the quality of democracy and …

Taxation, William L.S. Rowe, Emily J.S. Winbigler

University of Richmond Law Review

This article reviews significant recent developments in the lawsaffecting Virginia state and local taxation. Each section coverslegislative activity, judicial decisions, and selected opinions fromthe Virginia Department of Taxation (the "Department") and the Virginia Attorney General over the past year.

Becker V. Becker, 131 Nev. Adv. Op. 85 (Oct. 29, 2015), Paul George

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

In response to a certified question by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Nevada, the Court concluded that under NRS 21.090(1)(bb) a debtor can exempt his stock in the corporations described in NRS 78.746(2), but his economic interest in that stock is still subject to the charging order remedy in NRS 78.746(1).

Without Representation, No Taxation: Free Blacks, Taxes, And Tax Exemptions Between The Revolutionary And Civil Wars, Christopher J. Bryant

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Essay is the first general survey of the taxation of free Blacks in free and slave states between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. A few states treated all equally for tax purposes, but most states enacted taxation systems that subjected free Blacks to different requirements. Both free and slave states viewed free Blacks as an undesirable population, and this Essay posits that—within the relevant political constraints—states used taxes and tax exemptions to dissuade free Black immigration and limit the opportunities for free Blacks within their borders. This topic is salient for at least two reasons. First, the Essay sheds …

Sales Tax And Cloud Computing In India, Khagesh Gautam

Khagesh Gautam

This Article, the first of its kind, addresses the question of imposition of sales tax on Cloud computing transactions in India. Several industry estimates show that the Cloud computing market is growing in India and is poised to grow further. However, the question of how to tax these transactions remains to be addressed. This Article engages with this question, albeit only in the context of sales tax. The Indian Constitution lays down, in elaborate detail, the taxes that can exclusively be levied by the Union Parliament and those that can exclusively be levied by the State Legislatures. Sales tax on …

Sales Taxation Of Mixed Transactions In Ohio: A Proposal To End The Turmoil, Gregory L. Petersen

Akron Law Review

This note will examine Ohio's statutory framework for the exemption of personal service transactions from sales taxation in light of judicial developments and the Tax Commissioner's interpretations. The analysis begins with whether a mixed transaction, one involving personal service and tangible personal property, is subject in its entirety to sales taxation only because a small amount of personal property was included. Then the advantages and disadvantages of separating personal service and personal property expenses will be examined. There the taxpayer would charge the client sales tax for the personal property portion of the transaction, but not for the personal service …

People V. Chambers, Jesse W. Carter

Jesse Carter Opinions

Property that belonged to state should not have been sold for taxes, and thus county was responsible for reimbursing former owners for tax deed; statute of limitations did not apply to property owned by the state and devoted to a public use.

Unintended Consequences Of Cigarette Prohibition, Regulation, And Taxation, Jonathan D. Kulick, James E. Prieger, Mark A. R. Kleiman

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Abstract Laws that prohibit, regulate, or tax cigarettes can generate illicit markets for tobacco products. Illicit markets both reduce the efficacy of policies intended to improve public health and create harms of their own. Enforcement can reduce evasion but creates additional harms, including incarceration and violence. There is strong evidence that more enforcement in illicit drug markets can spur violence. The presence of licit substitutes, such as electronic cigarettes, has the potential to greatly reduce the size of illicit markets. We present a model demonstrating why enforcement can increase violence, show that states with higher tobacco taxes have larger illicit …

The Contemporary Tax Journal Volume 5, No. 1 – Spring/Summer 2015

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Politics, Disclosure, And State Law Solutions For 501(C)(4) Organizations, Linda Sugin

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC, there has been an explosion in section 501(c)(4) organizations active in politics. Unable to effectively process applications, the IRS mishandled organizations with conservative political ties, producing a scandal from which the agency has yet to recover. It proposed regulations that would have helped it more easily determine eligibility for 501(c)(4) exemption, but after massive public outcry, the regulations were withdrawn. No new regulations will be proposed before the 2016 presidential election.

Given the federal government’s inability to address the problem of dark money politicking by 501(c)(4) organizations through …

Fragmented Oversight Of Nonprofits In The United States: Does It Work? Can It Work?, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The United States is well known for its distinctive, although not unique, division of political authority between the federal government and the various states. This division is particularly evident when it comes to oversight of nonprofit organizations. The historical focus of federal government oversight has been limited primarily to qualification for tax exemption and other tax benefits, with more plenary power resting with state authorities. Over time, however, the federal government’s role has come to overlap significantly with that of the states, and many nonprofits have become subject to regulation by multiple states as their operations and donor bases expand …

Deciphering The Supreme Court's Opinion In Wynne, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

In Wynne, the Supreme Court held that Maryland's personal income tax regime violated the dormant Commerce Clause because It taxed income on a residence and source basis without giving a credit to residents for in· come taxed on a source basis by other states. The Court suggested, how· ever, that a state may tax residents on all their Income without providing a credit for taxes paid by other states if the state did not tax nonresidents on income from sources within the state, even though such a taxing regime might result in double taxation of interstate commerce.

Gore Enterprise Holdings, Inc. V. Comptroller Of The Treasury: A Missed Opportunity To Remedy Maryland’S Disconnected Taxation Policy And Inimical Corporate Atmosphere, Skylar Ludwick

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Introduction To Conservation Easements In The United States: A Simple Concept And A Complicated Mosaic Of Law, Nancy Mclaughlin, Federico Cheever

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

The idea of a conservation easement – restrictions on the development and use of land designed to protect the land’s conservation or historic values – can be relatively easily understood. More significant and more challenging is the complex body of state and federal laws that shapes the creation, funding, tax treatment, enforcement, modification, and termination of conservation easements.

The explosion in the number of conservation easements over the past four decades has made them one of the most popular land protection mechanisms in the United States. The National Conservation Easement Database estimates that the total number of acres encumbered by …

Proposed Congressional Limitations On State Taxation Of Multinational Corporations, Kristen Gustafson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Incorporating Ny Land Banks Into The Delinquent Property Tax Enforcement Processes, J. Justin Woods

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Student Publications

This article argues that New York municipalities should integrate land banks into the tax enforcement process to break the unhealthy cycle perpetuated by real estate and lien speculators. By transferring all tax liens and foreclosed properties to local land banks, municipalities can generate an important funding source that will help cover land banks' operations while simultaneously maximizing land banks' ability to reinvest lien proceeds and equity into redeveloping or demolishing properties with little or no value. If New York municipalities use their Land Bank Act powers fully, local and regional land bank efforts can become a vital tools for planning …

Desperate Times Call For Desperate Measures: States Lead Misguided Offensive To Enforce Sales Tax Against Online Retailers, Ricky Hutchens

Vanderbilt Law Review

It is a near universal experience. An individual wants to purchase an item. He shops around to find the best price. After a diligent search, he realizes that if he makes the purchase online, he can avoid being charged sales tax on the item. Depending on the price of the item and the tax rate, the savings can be substantial- sometimes enough to justify paying for shipping. But many consumers fail to consider another consequence: choosing an online retailer effectively denies tax revenue to a buyer's home state. In the United States, state governments have three basic options for generating …

Will Retroactive Proposition 30 Ever Be Challenged?, Frank J. Doti

Frank J. Doti

Professor Doti's article challenges the constitutionality of California Proposition 30. California voters passed Proposition 30 in 2012 to increase for seven years the income tax rates for those making more than $250,000. The highest tax bracket for individuals with more than $500,000 in taxable income was increased from 9.3% to 12.3%. Proposition 30 was approved by voters on November 6, 2012, but the increased rates were made retroactive—without effective notice—to January 1, 2012.

Retroactive tax laws eviscerate respect for the law and may result in a deprivation of due process of law under the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. …

Wynne: It's Not About Double Taxation, Michael S. Knoll, Ruth Mason

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article discusses Wynne v. Comptroller, a dormant Commerce Clause case against Maryland pending before the Supreme Court. We use economic analysis to rebut Maryland’s claim that its tax regime does not discriminate against interstate commerce. We also argue that the parties’ framing of the central issue in the case as whether the Constitution requires states to relieve double taxation draws focus away from the discrimination question, and therefore could undermine the Wynnes’ case and lead to unjustified narrowing of the dormant Commerce Clause. We also show how our approach to tax discrimination resolves many of the issues that …

Definitions, Religion, And Free Exercise Guarantees, Mark Strasser

Mark Strasser

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the free exercise of religion. Non-religious practices do not receive those same protections, which makes the ability to distinguish between religious and non-religious practices important. Regrettably, members of the Court have been unable to agree about how to distinguish the religious from the non-religious—sometimes, the implicit criteria focus on the sincerity of the beliefs, sometimes the strength of the beliefs or the role that they play in an individual’s life, and sometimes the kind of beliefs. In short, the Court has virtually guaranteed an incoherent jurisprudence by sending contradictory signals with …

A Taxing Endeavor: Local Government Protection Of Our Nation's Coasts In The "Wake" Of Climate Change, Simone Savino

Simone Savino

A storm is brewing, and not just in our nation’s coastal waters. The effects of climate change are becoming alarmingly apparent: sea levels are rising, storm surges are intensifying and ocean temperatures are warming at increasing speeds. Higher storm surges have led to increased flooding in coastal zones and nearby low-lying regions. The need for greater disaster preparedness in areas vulnerable to storm surges is evident, not just in the United States, but worldwide. As a direct result, coastal towns and cities have been left with the daunting task, and cost, of implementing littoral adaptation measures such as beach renourishment …

Shut Up: Pay More: This What You Voted For. Why You Don't See Me At San Francisco's Hall Of Justice, David D. Butler

David D. Butler

Urban violence, much of it politically motivated, has driven the taxpaying Middle Class into the suburbs. This has left only the tax eating poor and the tax avoiding rich in the big cities. This has resulted in urban bankruptcy in Detroit and even in California with its gifts of the technological Gold Rush, the Pacific Ocean, and the Sierra Nevada and Santa Lucia Mountains. The poor are more issolated than ever confined to the functional equivalent of no go zones. They speak a differenct language, dress differently, and sell drugs until they are caught and caged, providing good pay and …

Modernizing The State Corporate Income Tax: Market-Based Apportionment For Content Providers, Richard Pomp

Faculty Articles and Papers

This Issue Paper discusses how technology has overtaken the traditional ways the states tax the income of “content providers” that operate broadcast and cable networks, sell advertising, and produce content such as movies and television programs. This content is licensed at wholesale to distributors and along with the advertising, is watched by customers of these distributors on their televisions, smart phones, tablets, gaming consoles, and computers— either in their homes or on the move.

The so-called “model” for taxing multistate businesses like content providers--the Uniform Division of Income for Tax Purposes Act (UDITPA)--was developed in 1957 and has been adopted …

Grand Chapter, Order Of The Eastern Star Of The State Of Illinois V. Topinka: Court Upholds, But Suggests Change In, Bed Tax Law, Anton Dirnberger Ii, John Harig

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Taxing Honesty, Adam Thimmesch

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

It is commonly accepted that state use taxes, most notably those that are due on Internet purchases, are largely unenforceable against individual consumers. Consistent with that view, states have focused their enforcement efforts on forcing retailers to collect those taxes at the point of sale, and taxpayers have maintained nearly complete indifference toward remitting the tax of their own accord. This combination of factors has transformed the state use tax into a de facto tax on honesty—a tax with which only our most principled, risk-averse, or perhaps foolish even attempt to comply. The current structure of these taxes is further …

Controversies In Tax Law: A Matter Of Perspective (Introduction), Anthony C. Infanti

Book Chapters

This volume presents a new approach to today’s tax controversies, reflecting that debates about taxation often turn on the differing worldviews of the debate participants. For instance, a central tension in the academic tax literature — which is filtering into everyday discussions of tax law — exists between “mainstream” and “critical” tax theorists. This tension results from a clash of perspectives: Is taxation primarily a matter of social science or social justice? Should tax policy debates be grounded in economics or in critical race, feminist, queer, and other outsider perspectives?

To capture and interrogate what often seems like a chasm …