Author: Andrew D. Appleby
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Aprill Presents Today at San Diego’s Annual Pugh Lecture
Ellen Aprill (UCLA / Loyola LA; SSRN) presents today at San Diego’s annual Richard Crawford Pugh Lecture on Tax Law & Policy. She will be discussing Bob Jones and the fundamental public policy requirement. The Richard Crawford Pugh Lecture on Tax Law & Policy brings a distinguished practitioner, judge or government official who has played
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More States Proposing Social Media Taxes and Digital Ad Taxes
As the tax world awaits a decision in the Maryland digital advertising tax cases, more state lawmakers are proposing their own iterations. Several states have focused on social media specifically, functioning as a per-user “data extraction” tax. While others mirror the Maryland approach but with refinements that may make the new tax regime less susceptible
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NYC’s Mamdani Pitches Property Tax Hike
Law360: NYC’s Mamdani Pitches Property Tax Hike As Backup Plan New York City would hike property taxes by $3.7 billion to help close a $5.4 billion budget gap if state lawmakers don’t permit the city to raise income taxes under a preliminary budget plan that Mayor Zohran Mamdani unveiled Tuesday.
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Multistate Tax Commission Names New Executive Director
Bloomberg Law: “Keith Richardson, chief of the DC Office of Tax and Revenue, has been selected as the new executive director of the Multistate Tax Commission, an intergovernmental agency promoting tax uniformity and fairness across state tax systems.”
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Tax Notes: “Revived Digital Discussions? Just Don’t Call It Amount A”
Mindy Herzfeld (Florida), Revived Digital Discussions? Just Don’t Call It Amount A , 121 Tax Notes Int’l 1135 (Feb. 16, 2026): With multilateral agreement on an approach to pillar 2 that acknowledges that global intangible low-taxed income (now net controlled foreign corporation tested income) should be considered equivalent to the global minimum tax outlined by
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Blank Presents “Audit Guides & The Administrative State” Today at Boston College
Joshua Blank (UC Irvine) presents Audit Guides & The Administrative State (co-authored with Leigh Osofsky (UNC)) at Boston College today at 5pm ET as part of its Tax Policy Collaborative hosted by James Repetti and Diane Ring:
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Love Presents “Taxing Complexity” Today at San Diego
Michael Love (Columbia, SSRN) presents Taxing Complexity at San Diego today as part of its Tax Law Speaker Series.
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WSJ: “How AI Can, and Can’t, Help With Your Taxes This Year”
Laura Saunders (WSJ): How AI Can, and Can’t, Help With Your Taxes This Year This is no ordinary tax season. More filers than ever before—individuals and pros alike—are using artificial intelligence to help prepare tax returns. To learn more about AI and taxes, I recently asked the free version of three prominent platforms—Gemini, ChatGPT (OpenAI) and Claude (Anthropic)—a range
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White House Report Examines State Income Tax Elimination
Tax Notes: White House Report Examines State Income Tax Elimination A report from the White House touts the benefits of states eliminating their income taxes in favor of a broader sales tax, but one group contends that the report’s figures don’t hold up to scrutiny. The 18-page report from the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers, issued
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Tax Notes: “Florida Man Wrestles an Alligator: Property Tax Edition”
Marie Sapirie (Tax Notes): Florida Man Wrestles an Alligator: Property Tax Edition Although this story won’t involve an alligator or a man kayaking down a public road attached to the tow hitch of a Ford F-150, it features things that only typically happen at scale in Florida — like lawmakers trying to eliminate property taxes
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More States Cracking Down on the Montana Vehicle Registration Tax “Loophole”
Michael J. Bologna (Bloomberg Law): More States Cracking Down on Tax Losses From Montana LLCs At least four states are developing tougher enforcement strategies against the “Montana loophole,” which encourages drivers to register expensive assets in other states to skirt their in-state sales tax and vehicle registration obligations.
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Call For Papers And Commentators: 29th Annual Critical Tax Conference At Connecticut
The 29th Annual Critical Tax Conference will be hosted by the University of Connecticut School of Law: The 29th Annual Critical Tax Conference will be held at the University of Connecticut School of Law March 20-21, 2026. The conference continues a tradition that began in 1995 to analyze tax law through lenses of race, gender,
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Consumer Credit and the Incidence of Tariffs: Evidence from the Auto Industry
Kristine W. Hankins, Morteza Momeni, and David Sovich, Consumer Credit and the Incidence of Tariffs: Evidence from the Auto Industry, American Economic Review, 116 (2): 627–73 (2026): Captive finance subsidiaries create a channel for trade policy to affect consumer credit. Examining the impact of the Trump administration’s metal tariffs on captive automobile lenders, we find that
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IRS Enforcement Leadership Changes
Bloomberg Law: IRS Leader Shake-Up Bleeds Criminal, Civil Enforcement Oversight The line between tax auditors policing mere civil infractions versus serious tax crimes is blurring in the latest reorganization at the top of the IRS. Jarod Koopman, a longtime and respected criminal investigator, took over the top job for compliance at the IRS in October. Under the
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WSJ: Leaving California
WSJ: The Hardest Part About Being a Billionaire in California: Proving You Left A proposed billionaire tax has some of the richest Californians eyeing the exits. First they’ll have to contend with the state’s dogged tax collectors. California has one of the nation’s highest personal income-tax rates on high earners. It’s also home to officials who pore
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Viswanathan Presents “Earmarked Taxes and Redistribution” Today at San Diego
Manoj Viswanathan (UC Law SF) presents Earmarked Taxes and Redistribution at San Diego today as part of its Tax Law Speaker Series.
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White House Proposal to allow 401(k) Withdrawals for Home Purchases
Brett Samuels (Bloomberg Law): Trump’s 401(k) Home Buyer Idea Requires Retirement Rule Shifts A forthcoming White House proposal would allow use of 401(k)s for down payments on home purchases, meaning shifts in long-held regulations on plan withdrawals, and possibly new legislation.
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States Seek to End Data Center Tax Breaks
Daniel Moore (Bloomberg Law): Data Centers Won Billions in Tax Breaks. Some States Are Balking Ohio and other states are weighing whether to roll back sales tax exemptions for data centers amid a boom in development and concerns about the resources required to power them.
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2025 IFA International Tax Student Writing Award; Call For Entrants In 2026 Competition
The winner of the International Fiscal Association’s 2025 International Tax Student Writing Competition is: Jacob Cohen (UVA / Skadden): Crystals and Mud in International Taxation: Why the Principal Purpose Test’s Impact Will Not Meet Expectations. Faculty Sponsor: Ruth Mason
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Florida Gets Support for SCOTUS Lawsuit Over California Tax Reg
Perry Cooper (Bloomberg Law): Florida Gets Support for SCOTUS Lawsuit Over California Tax Reg The US Supreme Court should take up a dispute between Florida and California to rein in states that tax or otherwise regulate conduct beyond their borders, two groups told the justices in a pair of amicus briefs.
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Tax Analysts: Federal and International Tax Developments to Watch in 2026
Mary Katherine Browne et al., Five Tax Cases to Watch in 2026, 190 Tax Notes Fed. 382 (Jan. 12, 2026): Litigation involving IRS regulation of microcaptive insurance, the validity of a related-party partnership’s basis adjustment claim, and the denial of a medical marijuana dispensary’s business deductions are among the tax cases to watch in 2026.
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States Continue to Decouple From OBBBA
Michael J. Bologna (Bloomberg Law): More States Expected to Decouple From Trump’s Tax-Cutting Agenda Lawmakers in Delaware, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island took on a task that most states ignored last year: passing legislation to separate from the tax-cutting features of President Donald Trump’s signature 2025 law. Now governors and legislators in nearly two
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State Tax Highlights of 2025: Tax Notes State Advisory Council
Tax Notes State: The Old and the New: In this inaugural installment of Briefly Noted, members of the Tax Notes State Advisory Council…share their state tax highlights of 2025.
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Federal Tax Litigation Issues to Watch in 2026
Tristan Navera, Bloomberg Law: Three Must-Watch Litigation Issues for Tax Professionals in 2026: A deluge of legal challenges to Trump administration actions in 2025 are likely to generate rulings next year that will reshape many areas of federal tax law and could alter how the IRS conducts business. The administration issued a slew of new
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State and Local Tax Cases to Watch in 2026
Richard Tzul, Bloomberg Law: Three State and Local Tax Cases Practitioners Must Watch in 2026: Next year has the potential for landmark state and local tax decisions that affect the broader legal landscape in addition to the discrete tax issues they address. Pending cases in New York, South Carolina, and Maryland touch on apportionment, agency