TiNY Report for December 26, 2019 (covering DTA cases issued December 19)

The Christmas Eve Massacre of 2019

'Twas the day before Christmas, sitting in my desk chair

I booted-up my computer to see what was there.

I logged onto Explorer and the DTA site,

Did the Tribunal post something on which I might write?

I found nothing from the Tribunal to mock or to praise.

But there were early postings from four ALJs!

And the quality of the rulings was better than usual,

With issues substantive and sometimes Constitutional.

In skimming the wisdom of unbiased fact-weighers

The sentiments expressed seemed anti-taxpayer

So I dutifully read and scoured each one

And now observe with confidence: No Petitioner won . . .

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TiNY Report for December 19, 2019 (reporting on DTA cases issued December 12)

I’m going out on a limb here, but I’m guessing that the DTA will not be issuing any cases next week because of the holiday – I may end up eating my words like I did after Thanksgiving. But as we gear up for the holidays, I thought it would be appropriate to do a holiday movie quote after each case - which may or may not be relevant or typical quotes you think of when you think holiday movie.

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TiNY Report for December 12, 2019 (reporting on DTA cases issued December 5)

There are three determinations and three orders this week.  But first, this rant:

The longer I do this tax thing, the more I appreciate the fine line state legislatures must walk.  Unlike the federal government, states typically are not permitted to “deficit spend.”  So for every dollar that goes out the door during a state’s fiscal year, a dollar has to come in the door.  In times of economic malaise, finding those dollars can be difficult.  And finding dollars became more difficult when the first President Bush said “read my lips,” making increases in tax rates and new taxes an easy target for every self-proclaimed fiscally conservative candidate, with a consequence of making it more difficult for career law-writers to raise tax rates.  So legislatures reach for gimmicks, and tax administrators stretch interpretations, all in the service of their state’s fiscal volcano whose growing hunger is assuaged—not by an increasing number of virgins—but instead by larger dump trucks of dollars. 

And while I appreciate the difficulty of legislating taxes, there are constant reminders of when it has been done poorly.  Cases in point:  Two of this week’s determinations consider the tobacco products tax under Tax Law Article 20.  New York has a slew of special taxes and tax compliance procedures applicable to the tobacco/cigarette industry.  Even if they were well-intentioned, these special laws have, I posit, the unintended consequence of fomenting illegal activity.  I can imagine you groaning “Lighten up-Francis.*  Surely you don’t mean that taxes create crime.”  But that is exactly what I mean.  Any time a state, through targeted taxes, makes a product two times more expensive when purchased in-state than when purchased in the surrounding states, profit-maximizing ne’er-do-wells are going to crank-up illegal smuggling activities.  In New York, think cigarettes.  In California, think gasoline.

Along the same lines, laws that make compliance more complex, expensive, and/or difficult discourage compliance.  No surprise there.

I don’t applaud or encourage illegal behavior.  But when a legislature enacts (or perpetuates) laws which make the economics (or the compliance environment) of a situation so lopsided as to discourage legal behavior, the causal relationship should be acknowledged.

And now, back to our regularly-scheduled programming.

* Meme from “Stripes” (1981).  Google it.

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TiNY Report for December 5, 2019

We are easing into the holiday season here, which is to say that we are trying to get as many things as humanly possible wrapped-up so we may better address the inevitable year-end client emergencies. The DTA is being a team player by not posting many decisions/determinations/orders. Indeed, there is nothing new on the DTA’s website as of this writing. That said, we’ll check the DTA’s website over the next few days to make sure it didn’t pull the old switcheroo on us and decide to start posting on Fridays.

This week is an ideal time to repost our “Disclaimer.” A link to our Disclaimer is always at the bottom of our TiNY webpage, but we expect it is rarely read. So, during slow news weeks like this, we sometimes post the Disclaimer so all of our readers understand TiNY’s limitations. In short: You shouldn’t rely on TiNY Reports for anything other than a quick overview of the cases addressed.

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TiNY Report for December 2, 2019 (reporting on DTA cases issued November 21)

Apparently the DTA doesn’t take Black Friday off.  Our office was closed that day, and I am Thankful for that (see what I did there?).  But the DTA was open for business, and, after a week without any cases, it posted five determinations on Friday. So, assuming the DTA posts cases on Thursday, you’ll get a double-dose of TiNY this week.  The Pilgrims should have had it so good!

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