So what does the 2013 Legislative session (beginning tomorrow) have in store for the Texas franchise tax? Laylan Copelin of the Austin American-Statesman wrote a great in-depth article about this topic over the weekend. See “Eliminating business tax on the agenda?” published January 5. At this time, it’s way too early to predict the tax’s […]
Last Friday, the Texas Supreme Court announced its decision in the Nestle USA, Inc. case. This was Nestle’s second constitutional challenge to the Texas franchise tax. Not surprisingly, the Court rejected Nestle’s challenge–it upheld the tax. Nestle’s Challenge to the Texas Franchise Tax Nestle’s approach was to take a “shotgun blast” to the tax. I […]
Good news about the Texas Franchise Tax–the Comptroller has recently conceded that more taxpayers qualify for the special half-percent rate.
Last month I posted an entry about a constitutional challenge to the “Sexually Oriented Business Fee,” or SOB Tax. This is the $5 per-customer charge imposed on Texas adult entertainment establishments that allow alcohol to be consumed on their premises. See my June 29 post on the Sexually Oriented Business Fee for additional background. In that entry, I […]
Update: On July 9, Judge Jenkins published a Final Judgment holding that the SOB Fee does NOT violate the Texas Constitution. See my July 30 post on the Texas Sexually Oriented Business Fee for more details. The Texas Sexually Oriented Business Fee may soon be declared unconstitutional as an improperly allocated occupation tax. Yesterday, District Court Judge […]
On June 5, the Texas House Ways & Means Committee held a hearing on potential Texas franchise tax changes. The Austin American Statesman has published an article about the hearing, and the TSCPA has also covered it in its blog. A four and a half hour long recording of the hearing is available here. After watching the hearing, it appears that […]
The Texas House Ways & Means Committee recently announced a hearing on changes to the Texas franchise tax, also known as the margin tax. The hearing is scheduled for June 5. The notice for the meeting is posted here. The Committee wishes to discuss “equity and administrative issues” about the margin tax, including but not limited […]
You’ve probably heard about Amazon.com recent $269 million Texas sales tax settlement with the Comptroller. Back in 2010, the Comptroller alleged that under existing state law, Amazon should have been collecting Texas sales tax from all of its Texas customers. Then in 2011, the Legislature balanced the budget by adding a provision to the tax code making it […]
We’re only a little over a week away from the May 15 filing deadline for the 2012 Texas franchise tax reports. With that in mind, I wanted to discuss a few areas you may wish to consider while you prepare those Texas franchise tax reports and extensions.
This morning, three public policy experts asked the Ways & Means Committee of the Texas House of Representatives to consider a full repeal of the Texas property tax. The speakers included Peggy Venable from the Texas Chapter of American for Prosperity, Talmadge Heflin from the Texas Public Policy Foundation, and Debra Medina, former GOP Texas gubernatorial candidate […]
