Description
Where do U.S. state sales tax systems go from here? Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court resolved the looming jurisdictional issue with its decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair. States quickly adopted the presumed constitutional economic nexus standard—approving minimum thresholds that, when met, require remote sellers to collect the states’ sales and use taxes from in-state customers. States also seized the opportunity to adopt marketplace laws that impose tax collection duties on marketplace facilitators like EBay, Amazon.com, and Etsy.com. The states are relatively aligned: all but two have an economic nexus standard and all but three have approved marketplace facilitator rules. Still, businesses remain concerned over the gaps and new gray areas, especially administration.
Experts from the Council On State Taxation will discuss how state sales tax systems are structurally flawed: under-taxing household purchases, overtaxing business inputs, and offering too little administrative simplification. Businesses are even more concerned in the wake of state budget shortfalls caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting economic downturn. Taxpayers question how state and local lawmakers will cover fiscal gaps and whether these efforts will stymie needed reforms in sales and use taxation.
Learning objectives:
- Understanding the extent to which states rely on state sales tax revenue.
- Explore how making structural changes in the states’ sales and use tax systems could improve overall fairness and efficacy of these taxes.
- Learn the key administrative simplifications states and local taxing jurisdictions could make to ease sales tax compliance burdens.
- Compare which sales tax modernization efforts will pay off and which may create more problems.
- Learn what tax policy options states are likely to consider to overcome budget deficits.
- Discover what we can learn from consumption taxes in other industrialized nations.
- Understand whether businesses and purchasers should worry about state legislatures enacting digital taxes.
Audience:
Executives, business leaders, state tax & finance professionals, tax counsel, and executives working on state tax issues.
This webinar is in collaboration with the Council On State Taxation.
René Blocker
- Practice Lead, State Indirect Tax
- Bloomberg Tax
René Blocker is Practice Lead for Indirect Taxes at Bloomberg Industry Group. She is responsible for maintaining and updating Bloomberg Tax & Accounting’s Sales and Use Tax and Excise Tax Navigators and Portfolios. She joined Bloomberg BNA as a State Tax Law Editor in December 2015. René's experience in state tax includes 11 years working at the Multistate Tax Commission, and four years serving as Deputy Attorney General for the Attorney General of New Jersey where she litigated state tax cases. She holds a J.D. from Cornell Law School, and received her B.A. in Political Science from Brooklyn College, City University of New York.
Aziza Farooki
- Director, Policy
- Council On State Taxation
Aziza Farooki is the Director, Policy at the Council On State Taxation where she engages in various aspects of COST’s policy and advocacy efforts. Prior to joining COST in 2007, Aziza managed research funds in various departments at The Ohio State University in Columbus, OH, and later served as the Program Administrator for the John Glenn College of Public Affairs’ Washington Academic Internship Program in Washington, DC.
Aziza obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with minors in History of Art and Economics, and her Master of Public Administration degree with concentration in program evaluation from The Ohio State University.
Karl Frieden
- Vice President/General Counsel
- Council On State Taxation
Karl Frieden is the Vice President/General Counsel of the Council On State Taxation (COST). Karl’s responsibilities at COST include managing its amicus program, leading its advocacy program on state tax legislation and regulation relating to federal tax reform, and overseeing state tax research studies for COST’s affiliate - the State Tax Research Institute (STRI).
Prior to joining COST, Karl was a tax partner with Ernst & Young and Arthur Andersen. Earlier in his career, he was the Deputy General Counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue. Karl has had extensive experience with most types of state and local taxes and with international income and indirect taxes. Karl has spoken on state and local and global tax issues at business, government and tax policy forums in the US, Europe and Asia. He has frequently testified before state legislatures and the US Congress on state tax policy issues.
Karl is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center where he co-teaches a course on “Survey of State and Local Taxation.” He is the author of numerous articles on state and local taxation; and wrote the book, Cybertaxation: The Taxation of E-Commerce (CCH 2000) – the first comprehensive book written on the taxation of the digital economy.
Fred Nicely
- Senior Tax Counsel
- Council On State Taxation
Fred Nicely is a Senior Tax Counsel at the Council On State Taxation (COST). His role as Senior Tax Counsel extends to all aspects of the COST mission statement which is to preserve and promote equitable and nondiscriminatory state and local taxation of multijurisdictional business entities. Before joining COST, Fred served in the Ohio Department of Taxation for four years as Deputy Tax Commissioner over Legal and for the prior seven years as the Department’s Chief Counsel. Fred’s responsibilities at the Department included testifying before legislative committees, participating as an alternative delegate for Ohio at Streamlined Sales Tax Project meetings, and reviewing legal documents issued by the Department. Fred also has extensive experience in public utility tax law, having served as an administrator of the Department’s public utility tax division. Fred’s undergraduate degree in psychology (with a concentration in accounting) is from the Ohio State University. He obtained his MBA and JD from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.
Patrick Reynolds
- Senior Tax Counsel
- Council On State Taxation
Patrick J. Reynolds is part of the COST advocacy team, where he is staff liaison to the Unclaimed Property Committee and the Sales Tax Committee, and he contributes to tax policy development, drafting, and legislative advocacy. Previously, he was Senior Managing Counsel with J. C. Penney and for 14 years provided legal support for audits, litigation, and appeals for income, franchise, sales/use, property and transfer taxes, as well as unclaimed property. Pat started his career with Price Waterhouse in Omaha, Nebraska, and subsequently served for six years as an attorney in the Nebraska Department of Revenue's Legal Division. He received his JD from Creighton University School of Law and his BSBA – Accounting from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is a member of the Nebraska and Texas state bars and is a licensed CPA.
