Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Stephen Burroughs and Michele Borens
The Circuit Court of Henrico County, Virginia, recently affirmed a ruling by the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Taxation (Commissioner) that determined a cable provider’s set-top boxes are not “machines” for local property tax purposes and therefore not subject to Henrico County property tax. Virginia statute classifies property…
By Mike Penza and Madison Barnett
The New York Supreme Court, Albany County, held that New York’s unapportioned vehicle registration fees violated the Commerce Clause. The court found that the flat fees—imposed on all carriers operating motor vehicles in New York—were indistinguishable from those struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in American Trucking Ass’ns.…
By Charles Capouet and Charlie Kearns
The Kentucky Supreme Court held that the interpretation of inheritance tax statutes by the Kentucky Board of Tax Appeals was not entitled to Chevron deference. Deference is given only to an administrative agency’s interpretation of the statutes which it administers. The Board is merely a reviewing tribunal; it is…
By Mike Kerman and Maria Todorova
The Illinois Appellate Court held that a property tax exemption for nonprofit hospitals which provided certain services or subsidies equal in value to their estimated property tax liabilities was facially unconstitutional because it did not require exclusive charitable use of the property, as prescribed under the Illinois Constitution. Carle …
In a recent unpublished decision, Residuary Trust A v. Director, Division of Taxation (Kassner), the New Jersey Appellate Division relied on the “square corners doctrine” to hold that the New Jersey Division of Taxation was prohibited from imposing tax for the 2006 tax year based on a policy change not announced until 2011. In…
By Michael Penza and Amy Nogid
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit invalidated Florida’s rental tax imposed on the Seminole Tribe of Florida’s (the Tribe) leases of tribal land to non-Indian corporations, but upheld Florida’s utility tax collected from the Tribe.
The Tribe operated casinos on two of its reservations; non-Indian corporations…
On June 2, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law conducted a hearing on three state tax bills: the Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act, the Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act, and the Business Activity Tax Simplification Act.
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By Olga Jane Goldberg and Open Weaver Banks
A Texas court ruled that natural gas stored in an underground reservoir is subject to property tax, whether or not the gas is in interstate commerce. Without actually deciding whether the natural gas was in interstate commerce, the Houston Court of Appeals (1st District) held that tax…
By Zachary Atkins and Douglas Mo
A California Court of Appeal held that the sale of real property to a lessee having an original lease term of more than 35 years did not result in a change in ownership triggering reassessment for property tax purposes. Proposition 13 established a 2% per-year ceiling on increases in…
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo introduced his 2015-2016 budget and accompanying legislation on January 19, 2015. After much negotiation, the Legislature just enacted the Budget Bill. As a result, New York’s tax law has been significantly altered for the second time in two years.
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