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SALT Blawg – State and Local Tax Blog
State and Local Tax ("SALT") blog issues require state and local tax knowledge. Chamberlain Hrdlicka's SALT Blawg (SALT Blog) provides exactly that knowledge with news updates and commentary about state and local tax issues.
You can expect to find relevant information about topics such as income (corporate and personal) tax, franchise tax, sales and use tax, property (real and personal) tax, fuel tax, capital stock tax, bank tax, gross receipts tax and withholding tax. SALT Blawg, offers tax talk for tax pros … in your neighborhood.
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Chamberlain Hrdlicka Blawgs
In every taxing jurisdiction in the United States, tax authorities may assert penalties if a taxpayer commits fraud. This Blawg entry focuses on the Texas Comptroller’s view of its authority to impose fraud penalties, and considerations for taxpayers when seeking to fight fraud penalties that the Comptroller asserts.
Texas Tax Code § 111.061 authorizes the Texas Comptroller to impose a penalty in the amount of 50% of any underlying tax liability if the failure to pay the underlying tax or report such tax when due “was a result of fraud or an intent to evade the tax.” This legal ...
ARIZONA
Arizona Court Holds that Cooperative Direct Mail Advertising is Not Subject to Use Tax
The Arizona Appeals Court held that cooperative direct mail advertising was not subject to the state’s use tax, since the dominant purpose of the taxpayer’s business was to obtain nontaxable design, mailing and printing services, and not tangible personal property.
INDIANA
Indiana Legislature Passes Bill to Phase Out Inheritance Tax
The Indiana General Assembly has passed legislation, SB 293, which will phase out the state’s inheritance tax, gradually ...
CALIFORNIA
California Shifts Burden of Proof in Vacation or Secondary Home Assessment Appeals from County to Taxpayer
The California Legislature adopted Bill 711, effective January 1, 2012, which clarifies that an owner-occupied single-family dwelling means one that is the owner’s principal place of residence. Thus, only single-family dwellings that are the principal place of residence of the taxpayer qualify for a homeowner’s property tax exemption. With regard to such properties, the assessor has the burden of proof in any assessment appeals ...
by William Grimsinger
On Monday, November 28, 2011, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that the margin tax does not violate the Texas Constitution (specifically, the Bullock Amendment at Article VIII, Section 24) because it is not a tax on the net incomes of natural partners and that the Court did not have jurisdiction to entertain an equal and uniform taxation challenge.
This decisive ruling, with seven justices in the majority and two dissenting, puts an end to speculation about the fate of the margin tax. The margin tax will remain in place at least through 2012 and likely 2013. However ...
by William Grimsinger
On July 29, 2011, suit was filed in the Texas Supreme Court alleging that the Texas Margin Tax is unconstitutional under the Constitution of the State of Texas because: (1) it imposes an income tax on a natural person’s share of partnership income without voter approval (contrary to the Bullock Amendment) and (2) the Comptroller’s interpretation of the tax violates the equal and uniform taxation clause of the Texas Constitution.
Under the original Margin Tax statute passed in 2006, any challenge to the tax statute must be brought in the Texas Supreme Court ...