Five Organizations File Amicus Briefs Urging the Supreme Court of the United States to Hear Taxpayers' Lawsuit

On June 24, Hodgson Russ LLP filed petitions for certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States (“the Supreme Court”) in two cases involving the double taxation of taxpayers who lived in another state but were “statutory” residents of New York because they had a place to live in New York and were in New York 183 days or more. The cases are titled: Samuel Edelman and Louise Edelman, Petitioners v. New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, et al. (“Edelman”) and Richard Chamberlain and Martha Crum, Petitioners v. New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, et al. (“Chamberlain”).

Many tax professionals took note of the petitions, since nothing gets a tax practitioner's blood boiling faster than double taxation of income. And in the month since the petitions were filed, support on behalf of the taxpayers has grown. Other tax organizations have joined the taxpayers’ fight by submitting friend-of-the-court “amicus” briefs supporting the petitions. Amicus briefs are legal documents filed in appellate court cases by non-litigants with a strong interest in the subject matter. The briefs advise the courts of relevant, additional information or arguments that the court might wish to consider.

The five amicus briefs filed with the Supreme Court on July 24, 2019 were submitted by: (1) The Business Council of New York State, Inc., filed here by Reed Smith LLP; (2) The Tax Foundation, filed here by McDermott Will & Emery; (3) Professor Donald T. Williamson, The Kogod Tax Policy Center, and The National Society of Tax Professionals, filed here by Cecere PC; (4) The National Federation of Independent Business Small Business Legal Center, filed here by Dechert LLP and (5) the American Academy of Attorney-Certified Public Accountants, Inc. filed here by Clark & Trevithick APC.

In a nutshell, the amicus briefs support the notion that it is unconstitutional for New York to impose tax on the same unearned income on which the taxpayers had already paid tax in their home state (i.e. Connecticut).

Hodgson Russ’s Tim Noonan is co-counsel on both matters with Kannon Shanmugam of the Paul Weiss law firm. For prior coverage of the Edelman and Chamberlain cases, check out a few of Tim’s prior blog posts here and here. Links to the full petitions are here for Edelman and here for Chamberlain.

Comment