Taxation-State and Local Commons^™

A Potential Game Changer In E-Commerce Taxation, David Gamage, Andrew J. Haile, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In this essay, we evaluate recent legislative proposals for Congress to authorize state taxation of e-commerce. We argue that these proposals contain a potential game-changing innovation — the requirement that states provide remote sellers with “adequate software” for calculating use tax due within the state. Properly implemented, we explain how this innovation could force states to internalize the compliance costs of levying tax collection obligations on remote sellers, thereby incentivizing the states to simplify their sales and use tax statutes and resolving concerns about states overburdening interstate commerce.

The Case For A State-Level Debt-Financing Authority, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In this essay, we argue for the adoption of state-level debt-financing authorities as part of a broader package for reforming local government borrowing.

A Changing Federal-State Balance In Unemployment Insurance?, Christopher J. O'Leary

Employment Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Report Of The Hearing Officer, Multistate Tax Compact Article Iv [Uditpa] Proposed Amendments, Richard Pomp

Faculty Articles and Papers

The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) promulgated its model Uniform Division of Income for Tax Purposes Act (UDITPA) in 1957. UDITPA provides a model law for dividing the income of a multistate corporation among the states in which it is doing business. UDITPA is incorporated into the Multistate Tax Compact, which is administered by the Multistate Tax Commission.

UDITPA has never been amended since its original adoption more than fifty years ago. The ULC attempted a revision in 2006 but abandoned it in response to business pressures. The MTC stepped into the vacuum and undertook its own reforms. It proposed five …

How Tax Increment Financing (Tif) Districts Correlate With Taxable Properties, Randall K. Johnson

Faculty Works

This article deals with Tax Increment Financing (TIF), which is a popular economic development tool. TIF borrows against future tax revenues to subsidize current development projects. In Illinois, this economic development tool is justified by its promise to expand the local tax base: by increasing tax revenues, increasing the number of tax payers or increasing the number of taxable properties in the area. However, it is not clear that TIF delivers on its promise. A new dataset, which is introduced in this article, helps to clarify the issue. It does so by providing information about the number of TIF Districts …

Report Of The Hearing Officer: Multistate Tax Compact Article Iv [Uditpa] Proposed Amendments, Richard Pomp

Faculty Articles and Papers

The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) promulgated its model Uniform Division of Income for Tax Purposes Act (UDITPA) in 1957. UDITPA provides a model law for dividing the income of a multistate corporation among the states in which it is doing business. UDITPA is incorporated into the Multistate Tax Compact, which is administered by the Multistate Tax Commission.

UDITPA has never been amended since its original adoption more than fifty years ago. The ULC attempted a revision in 2006 but abandoned it in response to business pressures. The MTC stepped into the vacuum and undertook its own reforms. It proposed five …

Oath Of Office Vs. The Pledge, Larry Witner, Ron Washburn

Accounting Department Faculty Working Papers

All members of Congress take an oath of office to support the Constitution. Some of them make a pledge to Americans for Tax Reform (Grover Norquist, president) to oppose tax increases. For reasons stated in the article, we contend that the pledge has no force and effect and is not binding on members of Congress.

The article identifies and numbers 8 topics. This outline-type format helps a) to organize the subject matter, b) to highlight issues, and c) to reduce the word count as we don’t have to worry about smooth transitions.

The Future Of State And Local Economic Development Policy: What Research Is Needed?, Timothy J. Bartik

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Impact Of The 2003 Illinois Gaming Tax Rate Increase On Marketing Spending And Cross-State Substitution, Mikael Bengt Ahlgren

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this research was to investigate three potential consequences related to the 2003 Illinois Gaming Tax rate restructuring. The first section presents the assessment of whether a higher tax rate motivated an Illinois casino operator to reduce of marketing/promotional expenditures in an attempt to negatively influence revenues. The second establishes if the surrounding state gaming operators reacted to the increased Gaming Tax rate in Illinois, by raising their marketing spending. The last section clarifies whether the changes to the Illinois Gaming Tax Schedule impacted gaming volumes in the neighboring/competing states of Indiana, Iowa, and Missouri.

The analysis relied …

Recent Tax Developments In Virginia: 2011-2012, William L.S Rowe, Craig D. Bell

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Taxation, Craig D. Bell

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Putting State Courts In The Constitutional Driver's Seat: State Taxpayer Standing After Cuno And Winn, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

This article explores the implications of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in DaimlerChrysler Corp. v. Cuno and Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. In Cuno and Winn, the Court held that state taxpayers lacked standing in the federal courts. Because the states have more liberal taxpayer standing rules than do the federal courts, Cuno and Winn will not terminate taxpayers’ constitutional challenges to state taxes and expenditures, but will instead channel such challenges from the federal courts (where taxpayers do not have standing) to the state courts (where they do). Moreover, municipal taxpayer standing in the federal courts, which …

The 'No Surplusage' Canon In State-Local Tax Litigation, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

Previous installments of this column have examined numerous canons or conventions of statutory interpretation in their application to state and local tax controversies. This installment considers another canon: the precept that courts should prefer interpretations that render no part of a statute superfluous. A recent treatise phrased the principle thus:

If possible, every word and every provision [of an enactment] is to be given effect. . . . None should be ignored. None should needlessly be given an interpretation that causes it to duplicate another provision or to have no consequence.

The first part below describes the canon generally. The …

Statistical Analysis Of A Vehicle Miles Travled Fee For Nevada, Andrew Nordland

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Increases in the number of electric, hybrid-electric, and other alternative fuel vehicles, combined with increasing vehicle fuel efficiency present problems with the ability of the fuel tax to collect sufficient revenue. A Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) Fee is being considered as an option to replace the existing fuel tax for the collection of revenue for road maintenance, reconstruction and expansion. This study provides an analysis about costs, preference of a potential billing cycle, level of comfort with a mileage collection device, potential changes in transit use, and the effectiveness of a VMT Fee for Nevada. Multinomial logit models are developed …

The Effect Of Casino Tax Policy On Short-Run Gaming Development, Kahlil Philander

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examines the effect of casino tax rate structure on investment by casino operators. Using a panel data set consisting of all states with legal commercial casino gambling from 1998 to 2009, a fixed-effect model with two-stage least squares is estimated to examine the effect of gambling taxes on firms' short-run behavior. The study finds that maximum casino tax rates decrease casino employment, with an estimated average elasticity of -0.5. This result is noted to be robust to several different model specifications and data subsets. No robust relationship is found between maximum tax rates and casino wages. No significant …

Medical Devices Excise Tax (Mdet) — A Market-Specific Vat?, Richard Thompson Ainsworth, Andrew Shact, Gail Wasylyshyn

Faculty Scholarship

VATs flourish in complex, clearly defined markets. New York discovered this when it converted its single-stage retail sales tax on hotel rooms, the Hotel Room Occupancy Tax (HROT), into a multi-stage European-style VAT. The HROT VAT-conversion demonstrates that (a) in a clearly defined market where (b) a single stage tax is imposed on (c) only part of a complex supply chain that (d) losses attributable to supply-chain-fragmentation can be remedied by moving to a multi-stage VAT.

The Medical Devices Excise Tax (MDET) imposes as 2.3% excise tax on the sale by manufacturers, producers or importers of clearly identified medical devises …

Technology, Travel Companies & Taxation: Should Expedia Be Required To Collect And Remit State Occupancy Taxes On Profits From Facilitating Hotel Room Rentals?, Kerra J. Melvin

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

Online travel companies (“OTCs”) like Expedia and Hotels.com facilitate discounted hotel room rates for customers by contracting with hotels at a wholesale rate and then allowing customers to book rooms on their websites at a marked-up rate that is above the wholesale rate but below the market rate. Many states allow cities and counties to assess an occupancy or bed tax upon persons reserving hotel rooms, with the collections typically used to promote state and local tourism. Such statutes generally require the hotel operator to collect and remit the tax. OTCs have traditionally remitted the wholesale rate and the occupancy …

Real-Time Solution To Refund Fraud: Vat Lessons From Belgium, Brazil, And Quebec, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

This article provides support for a proposal to eliminate refund fraud in the U.S. by turning Forms W-2, and 1099 into self-certified/ self-authenticated tax documents. The proposal suggests that a “digital signature” of these documents should be taken after they are completed. The signature should then be made part of the final document.

This proposal was initially advanced in Refund Fraud? Real-Time Solution! The underlying premise of that article was that the US could dramatically reduce, if not eliminate, refund fraud if it borrowing digital security techniques from the VAT. The article did not however, explain or expand upon these …

Vat Experimentation — New York & Illinois, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

US States are experimenting with VATs to solve market-specific problems with tax compliance and revenue yields. Experimentation has been going on for years. Sometimes the experiment is a success; at other times it needs more work.

Although not called VATs either before, during or after adoption – that is what these experiments are. Market-specific VATs are producing benefits long promoted by VAT advocates, notably: an increase in revenue without an increase in tax rates; increased administrative efficiency without significant costs to business; more stable deposits from fractionated payments; and lower enforcement costs from the self-enforcing nature of the VAT.

There …

The Contemporary Tax Journal Volume 2, No. 1 – Spring 2012

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.