The Washington Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of a county document recording surcharge that financed affordable housing, eviction prevention, and housing stability services. A trade association of homebuilders challenged the surcharge as a property tax that violates the uniformity requirement of the Washington Constitution. The court held that the surcharge was a tax because

The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed a lower court decision that had denied an Illinois’ coal producer’s motion for a preliminary injunction. The coal producer sought to stop the enforcement of a Kentucky law that directed the agency that regulates Kentucky utilities – the Kentucky Public Utility Commission (PUC) – to

On January 5, members of the California Assembly introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment (ACA) 11. The bill would impose both a new excise tax and a new payroll tax, and increase personal income tax rates to fund universal single-payer health care coverage and a health care cost control system for state residents. These new taxes

On August 10, 2021, the Hawaii Department of Taxation issued Tax Information Release No. 2021-06, clarifying the treatment and taxability of software sales under Hawaii’s general excise tax (GET). According to the Information Release, the sale of prewritten software is considered the sale of taxable tangible personal property regardless of whether the software is

Addressing cross-motions for summary judgment from the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and the City of Seattle, the Superior Court of Washington for King County held that the City’s new payroll expense tax, which applies to businesses that spend $7 million or more on payroll in Seattle, is constitutionally permissible.

On July 6, 2020, the

On May 24, 2021, the Magistrate Division of the Oregon Tax Court denied a taxpayer’s motions for summary judgment, finding the taxpayer’s claim for refund was filed beyond the statute of limitations.  Specifically, on December 4, 2015, the taxpayer filed its Oregon corporation excise tax return for tax year end February 28, 2015. The taxpayer

On May 7, 2021, the Washington Department of Revenue issued Excise Tax Advisory 3223.2021, providing guidance on the proper taxation of grocery food and restaurant delivery services provided through marketplace facilitators. Marketplace facilitators that are facilitating the retail sale of prepared food or groceries through its marketplace are responsible for collecting and remitting sales

On March 24, 2021, the Nevada Senate introduced Senate Bill No. 346, which would impose an excise tax on the retail sale of specified digital products to an end user in Nevada. “Specified digital products” is defined as electronically transferred digital audio works, digital audio-visual works, digital books, digital codes, and other digital products.

The Arkansas Supreme Court held that a furniture and electronics retailer’s weekly and semi-monthly rent-to-own leases are subject to the excise tax on short-term – less than 30 days – rentals of tangible personal property. Under the retailer’s rental-purchase agreements, customers select an initial rental term of monthly, semi-monthly, or weekly. At the end of

On February 19, 2021, the New York Senate introduced S4959, which would impose a monthly excise tax on the collection of the consumer data of individual New York consumers by commercial data collectors. The tax rate varies based on the number of New York consumers the commercial data collector collects data on within the