State & Local
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June 16, 2025
The Tax Angle: EITC Audits, UTPR, Energy Credits
From a look at Republicans' efforts to audit the earned income tax credit, complaints about unfair foreign taxation under the OECD's Pillar Two framework and Democrats' push against Republican plans to strip the Inflation Reduction Act's energy credits from the code, here's a peek into a reporter's notebook on a few developing tax stories.
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June 17, 2025
CORRECTED: Texas Tees Up Biz Property Tax Relief
Texas teed up an increase to its business personal property tax exemption and its homestead exemption under two bills signed Monday by Gov. Greg Abbott.
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June 16, 2025
Mo. Enacts Tax Breaks For Home Disasters, Sporting Events
Missouri will offer a tax credit for insurance policy deductibles incurred when homes are damaged by severe weather and increase a tax credit for tickets sold to certain sporting events under a bill signed by the governor.
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June 16, 2025
NJ Adopts Rules Following MTC Stance On Internet Activities
New Jersey will follow portions of the Multistate Tax Commission's guidelines on when a company's internet activities exceed a federal law's protection against state income taxes, according to final regulations the state's tax agency released Monday.
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June 16, 2025
Minn. Scales Down, Extends Tax Break For Data Centers
Minnesota is repealing part of a tax break on purchases by large data centers while extending the remainder of the exemption under legislation signed by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz following a special session.
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June 16, 2025
NJ Total Revenues Through May Up $1.58B
New Jersey's total revenue collection for July through May beat last year's collection by $1.58 billion, according to a report by the state Treasury.
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June 16, 2025
Ind. Net Revenue Through May Falls $28M Short Of Forecast
Indiana's net revenue collection from July through May missed a target by $28 million, a state agency reported.
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June 16, 2025
Idaho Revenue Falls $99M Short Of Projections Through May
Idaho's general revenue collection from July through May underperformed estimates by $99 million, according to the state Division of Financial Management.
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June 16, 2025
Massachusetts Home Overvalued By $25K, Board Says
A local assessment of a Massachusetts home lacked persuasive value, a state tax board said, reducing the property's valuation by $25,000.
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June 16, 2025
Texas Authorizes Increased Tax Exemption For Biz Property
Texas authorized a fiftyfold increase to the state's tax exemption for business personal property starting in 2026 pending the outcome of a public vote under a bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
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June 16, 2025
Massachusetts Directive Clarifies Cable Box Sales Tax Break
Massachusetts tax applies to the sales or rentals of cable boxes that do more than receive transmitted programming or implement parental control functions, the state Department of Revenue clarified.
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June 13, 2025
Ex-Ill. Speaker Madigan Gets 7½ Years For Bribery
An Illinois federal judge on Friday sentenced former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to seven and a half years in prison and fined him $2.5 million for his conviction on bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud charges, saying his determination that Madigan perjured himself on the stand at trial impacted the stiff penalty.
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June 13, 2025
La. To Require New Sales Tax Breaks To Apply State And Local
Louisiana will require new sales and use tax exemptions to apply to both state and local sales tax under a bill signed by the governor.
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June 13, 2025
NY Tax Doesn't Apply To Co.'s Concrete Services
New York sales and use tax doesn't apply to a concrete pumping truck company's pumping services because the pumping qualifies as capital improvements, which is exempt from tax, the state tax department said.Â
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June 13, 2025
La. Lawmakers OK Inventory Tax Exemption Ballot Measure
Louisiana voters would decide whether to amend the state constitution to allow parishes to exempt business inventory from property taxation under legislation passed by lawmakers.
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June 13, 2025
NY Says Biz's Marketplace Facilitator Collects Tax On Sales
An out-of-state business that stores goods in New York doesn't need to register for sales tax if the marketplace facilitator it uses already collects the tax and it doesn't make other sales in the state, the state tax department said.
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June 13, 2025
NY Contractor Told To Collect Sales Tax On Charges
New York's sales and use tax should be collected by a contractor on labor charges when its customers fail to provide a tax-exemption certificate for capital improvements, the state tax department ruled.Â
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June 13, 2025
NY Co.'s Hotel Cleaning Services Don't Trigger Sales Tax
A New York-based company's receipts for hotel cleaning services aren't subject to New York state and local sales and use taxes because the customer's own employees performed the cleaning services, the state tax department said in an advisory opinion.
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June 13, 2025
Tax Credit Sales Would Be Difficult To Insure Under House Bill
House Republicans' sweeping budget bill proposes to promptly scale back the clean energy tax incentives established by the 2022 climate law, a move that would make it difficult for tax insurers to back project development deals that want to sell their tax credits for cash.
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June 13, 2025
Conn. Net Revenue Through May Up $1.16B From Last Year
Connecticut net revenues from July through May outpaced collections made during the same period last fiscal year by $1.16 billion, according to the state Department of Revenue.
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June 13, 2025
La. Severance Tax Cut Sent To Governor For Approval
Louisiana would nearly halve its severance tax rate to 6.5% on oil produced from new wells under a bill sent to the governor.Â
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June 13, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Debevoise, Latham, Paul Weiss
In this week's Taxation With Representation, Brown & Brown Inc. buys Accession Risk Management Group Inc., Allison Transmission Holdings Inc. acquires Dana Inc.'s off-highway unit, Qualcomm Inc. buys Alphawave IP, and Warner Bros. Discovery announced it will split into two publicly traded companies.
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June 13, 2025
Minnesota Revenue Tops Forecast By $23M In May
Minnesota's general fund revenue collection in May outpaced forecasts by $23 million, according to a report by the state Office of Management and Budget.
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June 13, 2025
Fed. Tax Bill Primed To Reignite Conformity Talks In States
The federal budget reconciliation bill's tax proposals, including extensions of certain elements of President Donald Trump's signature 2017 tax plan, are primed to rekindle debates among state lawmakers over how states should conform to the federal code.
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June 12, 2025
GOP Tax Bill Penalizes Professionals, CPA Group Says
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by House Republicans penalizes accountants and other professionals and would unfairly eliminate a state and local tax deduction for certain pass-through entities, a national group of certified public accountants said Thursday.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.
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5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond
As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.