About This Blog
Taxes in New York (TiNY) is a blog by the Hodgson Russ LLP State and Local Tax Practice Group members Chris Doyle, Peter Calleri, and Zoe Peppas. The weekly reports are intended to go out every Tuesday after the New York State Division of Tax Appeals (DTA) publishes new ALJ Determinations and Tribunal Decisions. In addition to the weekly reports, TiNY may provide analysis of and commentary on other developments in the world of New York tax law.
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LinkedIn ProfileShowing 4 posts from February 2018.
TiNY Report for February 22, 2018 (covering DTA cases from February 15)
“The defense is wrong!” There’s a courtroom scene in “My Cousin Vinny” in which defense attorney Vinny Gambini (Joe Pesci) hands expert witness/girlfriend Mona Lisa Vito (Marisa Tomei) two photographs and asks her to confirm that the defense’s theory of the case “holds water.” After reviewing the photos with a critical eye, Ms. Vito loudly declares “No, the defense is wrong!” It all works out; while the truth Ms. Vito deduces from the tire tracks in the photographs trashes Mr. Gambini’s articulated theory of the case, it nonetheless exculpates the defendants Mr. Gambini represents.
Do I have a point? Sure. It’s OK if you’re wrong every once in a while.
And I think I was wrong two weeks ago when, after excoriating the authors of the Memorandum in Support (MIS) of the Governor’s Revenue Budget Bill for a lack of balance and accuracy, I made the following statement: “[T]o say that the result in Sobotka ‘leads to absurd results’ while not acknowledging that the proposed ‘legislative fix’ leads to results that many would view as even more absurd is, at best, disingenuous.” After publishing that, I tested my hypothesis by talking with a few knowledgeable tax practitioners, and their opinions were that Sobotka and the legislative fix could lead to equally absurd results.
Anyway, it seems I may have been engaging in the same type of hyperbole I accused the MIS’s authors of when I said that the legislative fix would lead to results “that many would view as even more absurd,” and I apologize. At TiNY, inaccuracy is bad, but hypocrisy is worse.
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TiNY Report for February 15, 2018 (covering DTA cases issued February 8)
This week we had 5 ALJ Determinations and 2 Tribunal Decisions. No orders.
TiNY Report for February 8, 2018 (covering DTA cases issued February 1)
A slow news day: Just one Tribunal decision.
TiNY Report for February 1, 2018 (covering DTA cases issued January 25)
One Tribunal Decision and three ALJ Orders this week.