State & Local
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May 13, 2025
House Panel Clears $3.8T Extension of 2017 Tax Overhaul Law
The House Ways and Means Committee voted along party lines early Wednesday to approve a $3.8 trillion tax bill that would make permanent many of the tax cuts for businesses and individuals enacted in President Donald Trump's first term.
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May 13, 2025
CarMax Says SC Failed To Justify Apportionment Change
South Carolina's tax agency did not prove that CarMax used intercompany transactions to distort an entity's business activity and its state tax burden, the company told an appeals court, arguing that the state was wrong to make CarMax use an alternative apportionment method.
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May 13, 2025
Ohio Justices Pan Denial Of Tax Break For Farm Vehicle
Several Ohio Supreme Court justices sounded critical Tuesday of the state tax agency's argument that a timber farming business owed use tax on its purchase of a Mercedes-Benz vehicle that the owner testified was mostly used to help workers treat the land.
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May 13, 2025
Minn. Sens. Advance Social Media Tax, Ditch Film Credit Cut
A Minnesota tax package that includes a proposed excise tax on social media data collection is headed to the full state Senate for consideration after a committee removed a provision Tuesday that would have cut the state's film production tax credit.
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May 13, 2025
Pa. Sens. Reject Bill To Legalize Pot Through State-Run Shops
A Pennsylvania Senate committee on Tuesday voted to reject a bill to legalize adult-use marijuana and regulate its sale via state-run stores.
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May 13, 2025
Pot Dispensary Asks Mo. High Court To Block County Taxes
In incorporated areas of Missouri counties, a municipality's imposition of a 3% sales tax on adult-use cannabis supersedes a county's ability to impose its own additional tax, a dispensary told the Missouri Supreme Court during oral arguments Tuesday.
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May 13, 2025
Ala. Will Lower State Sales And Use Tax Rate On Groceries
Alabama will lower the state sales and use tax rate on groceries from 3% to 2% starting next fiscal year under a bill signed by the governor.
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May 13, 2025
Ariz. County Will Ask Voters To Extend Local Jail Tax 20 Years
Maricopa County, Arizona, will ask voters to extend the existing 0.2% jail facilities excise tax for 20 years with the approval of a countywide ballot measure under a bill signed by the governor.
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May 13, 2025
La. April Revenues Drop $169M From Last Year
Louisiana general revenue collection in April trailed last year by $169 million, according to a report by the state Department of Revenue.
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May 13, 2025
Idaho Revenues Through April Down $55M From Forecasts
Idaho's general fund revenue collection from July through April trailed estimates by $55 million, the state Division of Financial Management reported.
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May 13, 2025
Minn. Revenue Tops Forecast By $391M In April
Minnesota general fund revenue in April exceeded an estimate by $391 million, the state Department of Management and Budget reported.
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May 13, 2025
Ore. Panel OKs State Tax Court's Standing For Associations
Oregon associations and other organizations, in addition to aggrieved individuals and businesses, could seek relief in the state tax court under legislation approved by a Senate panel.
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May 13, 2025
Ala. To Exempt Menstrual Products, Diapers From Sales Tax
Alabama will exempt menstrual products, maternity clothing, diapers and baby supplies from state sales and use tax under a bill signed by the governor.
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May 12, 2025
Feds Say Tribal Tariff Dispute Must Stay In US Trade Court
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is fighting Montana tribal members' attempt to stop the transfer of their lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's Canada tariff orders from federal court to the U.S. Court of International Trade, saying the CIT has exclusive jurisdiction over the case.
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May 12, 2025
Texas Voters To Decide On Prohibiting Tax On Capital Gains
Texas voters will decide if the state should create a constitutional amendment barring taxes on individuals' realized or unrealized capital gains under a resolution approved by state lawmakers.
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May 12, 2025
Gunster Tax Ace Jumps To Spencer Fane In Tampa
Spencer Fane LLP announced Monday that it has bolstered its tax, trusts and estates practice group in Tampa with the addition of a former Gunster shareholder.
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May 12, 2025
Ga. General Fund Receipts Through April Up $312M
Georgia's total general fund receipts from July through April beat last year's total for the same period by $312 million, according to a report from the governor's office released Monday.
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May 12, 2025
GOP Floats $30,000 SALT Cap, Renewed R&D Credit
House Ways and Means Republicans proposed a $30,000 state and local tax deduction cap and a renewed research and development credit in updated legislation to extend their 2017 tax overhaul law, which the committee plans to consider Tuesday.
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May 12, 2025
Biz Groups Back Bill To Expand FDII Tax Benefits
A coalition of business lobbying groups has thrown its weight behind proposed legislation that would expand tax breaks for domestically held intellectual property, saying the changes would build on the goals of the 2017 federal tax overhaul.
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May 12, 2025
Ind. Revenue Through April Falls $51M Short Of Estimate
Indiana's general fund revenue from July through April underperformed an estimate by $51 million, according to a report by the state Budget Agency.
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May 12, 2025
Calif. Total Receipts Through April Beat Forecasts By $5.6B
California's total receipts from July through April outpaced forecasts by $5.6 billion, according to a report by the State Controller's Office.
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May 12, 2025
Arizona Creates Process To Identify Unclaimed Digital Assets
Arizona established a process and criteria for determining if digital assets may be deemed abandoned property that must be delivered to the state as part of a bill signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs.
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May 09, 2025
Ariz. Cities Required To Give Notice For Local Tax Ordinances
Arizona municipalities that propose an ordinance to adopt or repeal a provision of the state's code for the administration of local transaction privilege taxes must notify businesses before the proposed ordinance is approved or rejected, under a bill signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs.
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May 09, 2025
PL 86-272 Expansion May Face Rocky Path Through Congress
The fate of an element of a House budget reconciliation bill that would broaden state income tax protections for businesses may rest with the Senate parliamentarian's view on whether the provision passes muster under reconciliation rules.
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May 09, 2025
Tariffs And Tax Breaks Offer Risky Lifeline To US Film Industry
President Donald Trump's call for a 100% tariff on films made outside the U.S. has potential to improve a struggling domestic industry if it is considered in conjunction with new federal tax incentives to restore production, but the idea hasn't yet gathered support in Congress, according to lawyers who spoke to Law360.
Expert Analysis
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Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
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Colorado Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
In the third quarter of 2024, Colorado's banking and financial services sector faced both regulatory updates and changes to state law due to recent federal court decisions — with consequences for local governments, mortgage lenders, state-chartered trust companies and federally chartered lenders serving Colorado consumers, says Sarah Auchterlonie at Brownstein Hyatt.
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Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
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AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys
The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
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Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners
Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.
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Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics
Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.
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It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers
Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.
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Frames Of Deference: SALT In Review
From a challenge to New York state regulations that follows on the end of Chevron deference to a court ruling siding with the Nebraska Revenue Department's view of a tax deduction, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
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Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls
Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.
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How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
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Local Taxes And Repercussions: SALT In Review
From a study of local taxes to news that corporations will relocate to tax-friendlier places, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
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Financial Incentives May Alleviate Affordable Housing Crisis
There is a wide array of financial incentives and assistance that the government can provide to both real estate developers and individuals to chip away at the housing affordability problem from multiple angles, say Eric DeBear and Madeline Williams at Cozen.
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Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.