TaxConnections Member Annette Nellen

Continuing with my list of ten news items and activities from 2015 that I think have particular tax policy relevance.  Today, for my third item is Justice Kennedy’s concurring opinion in Direct Marketing Association v Brohl, Exec Dir, Colorado Dept of Revenue, No. 13-1032 (3/3/15). In this opinion, Justice Kennedy posits that perhaps given “changes in technology and consumer sophistication,” it is time to revisit the Court’s 1992 decision in Quill, 504 U.S. 298! He also noted that Quill was a case “questionable even when decided, [that] now harms States to a degree far greater than could have been anticipated earlier.”  This is a major item for 2015. It is really an invitation to any and all states with a sales tax to send a bill to a remote (non-present) vendor and hope that the vendor will challenge the assessment all the way up the administrative and judicial review process to land on the US Supreme Court’s agenda. Read More