SeeSALT Blog
The Alabama Tax Tribunal held the taxpayers’ wholesale sales of fuel that entered and exited the state via the Colonial Pipeline were subject to the state’s wholesale oil license fee. The sales in question were made to Alabama license holders and involved fuel imported from out-of-state. The fuel would either enter Alabama from out-of-state through the Colonial Pipeline or be injected in the pipeline at a point in Alabama. In either instance, the fuel was bound for final movement out of Alabama with there being no subsequent point in Alabama where the fuel could exit the pipeline.
to include with their sales tax returns an additional schedule that reports gross receipts based on the “ship to” or destination location. The bill targeted online retailers with over $50 million in annual sales of tangible personal property. Qualifying online retailers that failed to report this information would have been subject to a penalty of $5,000.
California’s Court of Appeal held a local sales tax ordinance (Measure K) was a general tax, not a special tax, and therefore its adoption did not require a two-thirds vote (supermajority) under California’s Constitution. A tax is “special” and therefore would require a two-thirds vote, when the expenditure of its revenues is dedicated to a specific project or projects. The plaintiffs argued that Measure K was a special tax because the funds were earmarked for the funding of the county’s public safety services and essential services. The Court of Appeal disagreed, concluding tax proceeds that are deposited in a separate account for unspecified “other essential services” could be used for any and all government services that qualify as an “essential service” and are therefore not dedicated to a specific project or purpose, indicative of a general tax. Thus, the court held Measure K was valid.
