State & Local Government eJournal最新文献

{"title":"Brief of Amici Curiae Tax Law Professors Tessa Davis and Clint Wallace in Support of Respondent (SC DOR)","authors":"Clint Wallace, T. Davis","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3948193","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3948193","url":null,"abstract":"In 2016, Amazon decided that it was not responsible for collecting and remitting South Carolina sales and use tax for sales it made to South Carolina residents through its website if those sales were supplied by third-party merchants. The South Carolina Department of Revenue (DOR) was promptly alerted to this practice by confused Amazon customers who noticed some of their Amazon purchases did not include sales tax, and after an examination the DOR determined Amazon owes tax liability plus penalties and interest of over $12 million for the first quarter of 2016. Amazon continued the practice at issue here into 2019. In the pending litigation, Amazon asserts that South Carolina's 2019 marketplace facilitator legislation, which followed the U.S. Supreme Court's Wayfair decision, was necessary to enable South Carolina to require Amazon to collect sales tax on all in-state transactions completed through its website, and that the DOR’s position that Amazon was responsible for collecting sales tax for all transactions on its website--including those supplied by third-party merchants--amounts to retroactive taxation. Amazon misinterprets the relevant law and ignores the historical development of federal constitutional jurisprudence on nexus and South Carolina’s sales tax statutes. Further, Amazon’s assertions are contrary to sound tax policy and administration. We focus on dispelling three particular misconceptions in Amazon’s arguments. First, contrary to Amazon’s and other Amici’s assertions, the 2019 legislation was not necessary to enable South Carolina to impose sales tax obligations on Amazon because Amazon’s decision in 2011 to establish physical nexus in the State empowered the State to impose those obligations. Second, the formality of Amazon’s corporate organizational structure does not shield it from sales tax obligations for all sales on its website. Third, failure to collect sales taxes from Amazon would create a tax subsidy that benefits Amazon to the detriment of local sellers who compete with Amazon; that result was unintended by the General Assembly, unexpected even by Amazon when it established a physical nexus in South Carolina, and it violates established principles of equitable and even-handed tax administration.","PeriodicalId":368113,"journal":{"name":"State & Local Government eJournal","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-10-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132877809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Place of Local Government Law in the Urban Digital Age","authors":"Beatriz Botero Arcila","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3848202","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3848202","url":null,"abstract":"A central theme of local government law scholarship is how local government law shapes urban policymaking. Local government law is the body of law that establishes the formal authority of cities and, as such, it creates the limited legal framework in which municipalities operate. Consequently, it shapes the potential economic development strategies of cities. In the digital economy, the rise of digital technology firms that provide urban services and services for city governments promises to entice local innovation and business opportunities and represent important economic development opportunities. Nevertheless, the implementation and deployment of these technologies in cities have also become regulatory challenges for cities and have raised important concerns about their potential to increase urban inequality and corporate power while entrenching surveillance in the city-fabric.<br><br>However, the literature that warns on these risks rarely addresses how the legal system and, in particular local government law, shapes the form of these technologies and creates incentives for local governments and the companies themselves to adopt, regulate and design these technologies in particular ways. This Essay presents an analysis of how local government law participates in shaping the present form of the urban digital information economy.","PeriodicalId":368113,"journal":{"name":"State & Local Government eJournal","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-05-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131174412","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Curbing the Anticompetitive Impact of Commercial Land Use Regulation: An Administrative Approach","authors":"W. Bunting","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3798014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3798014","url":null,"abstract":"<br>This Article explores how the anticompetitive impact of a zoning ordinance is assessed under the antitrust laws and substantive due process and concludes that neither is likely to satisfactorily curb the anticompetitive impact of commercial land use regulation. The Article highlights the distinction between a local government’s zoning power and its more general police power. For rational basis review to act as a meaningful check on zoning power, as distinguished from more general police powers, this Article contends that such review must require a local government to produce evidence of a causal link between the zoning action and the stated government interest. Rejecting antitrust law as the proper doctrinal vehicle through which to curb the anticompetitive impact of commercial zoning restrictions, this Article proposes a three-part administrative procedure, grounded in notions of due process and the legitimate exercise of a locality’s zoning power, to reduce the frequency with which local governments impose socially inefficient restrictions on commercial land use. The concept of an economic impact statement is introduced.","PeriodicalId":368113,"journal":{"name":"State & Local Government eJournal","volume":"24 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121515463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Why More Employers Are Getting SALT-y on Remote Work Arrangements","authors":"R. Pomp, J. Friedman","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3847963","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3847963","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the consequences of the extreme increase in remote work, due to the pandemic, on state taxation. Discussed in the article is state sourcing and apportioning of nonresident wage income, employer withholding tax obligations, and corporate tax nexus. <br><br>The authors predict an increase in litigation as a result of states seeking to retain the ability to tax nonresident wages. For example, New York considers employees to be working in-state (and thus subject to taxation) even when they are not physically present in New York so long as they are working remotely for reasons of personal convenience. But, the authors argue, the pandemic should be an exception: if an employee’s New York office is closed they have no choice but to work remotely. Furthermore, Massachusetts has issued an emergency rule that continues to treat nonresident employees as though they continue to commute into Massachusetts, even though they currently work from home. This, the article urges, is constitutionally problematic.<br><br>Some states have altered employer wage withholding obligations to ensure that remote employees are taxed based on where they commuted to prior to the pandemic: Massachusetts, Mississippi, and South Carolina are states that have enacted temporary trailing nexus policies. Illinois, Minnesota, and Maryland have indicated that employers are subject to wage withholding obligations if their employees are working remotely in those states. This article stresses that employers must know where their employees are working remotely from in order to comply with these obligations. <br><br>Finally, it is uncertain how the increase in remote work will affect corporate tax nexus. While case law supports subjecting out-of-state corporations to taxation as a result of in-state remote employees, it is not clear how the pandemic, and the temporary nature of today’s remote work, will be treated by the law. While the District of Columbia, Indiana, North Dakota, and South Carolina have clarified that corporate tax nexus will not be imposed due to the current circumstances, many states have remained silent on the matter. As a result, taxpayers are left to speculate about their compliance obligations.","PeriodicalId":368113,"journal":{"name":"State & Local Government eJournal","volume":"51 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-09-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116004344","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"No Vacancy or Open for Business? Making Accommodations for Digital-Platform Short-Term Rentals in Major American Municipalities","authors":"Braedon Sims, J. Peterson","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3680721","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3680721","url":null,"abstract":"Technological development encourages changes in the law if new technology sufficiently reorders organizational or individual practices such that citizens, businesses, and governments encounter a new social or economic reality as a result of technological change. Internet platform companies create particular dilemmas for public officials who must try to harness the efficiency gains associated with the platform economy while minimizing the proliferation of negative externalities it encourages. In this Article, we consider the opportunities and challenges created for local governments by the rise of digital, peer-to-peer short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb by analyzing the regulatory provisions governing transient accommodations in residential zones from municipal ordinances across 219 major cities in the United States.<br><br>We situate developments in land use policy related to transient accommodations alongside other instances of technologically induced changes in the law, and consider the extent to which attempts to regulate short-term rentals mirror efforts to integrate other sectors from the sharing economy into the regulated sphere. We explain the geography and function of municipal ordinances governing the short-term rental marketplace nationwide, and analyze the different purposes most likely served by each regulatory mechanism by evaluating the manner in which the various approaches to regulating short-term rentals allocate burdens and benefits in the local community. In addition to providing a full overview of the regulatory landscape governing short-term rental activity in residential zones in major American municipalities, we offer evidence from detailed case studies of the lawmaking process in three significant municipalities whose approach to regulating transient accommodations in residential neighborhoods is either especially stringent, informed by laissez faire principles, or relatively balanced in scope and nature. These case studies in regulation include an analysis of the policy process via close readings of primary sources such as city council minutes and records, and permit us to investigate how different permutations of local interests inform the regulatory processes regarding land use in municipal governments. We conclude by advocating for local officials to be permitted flexibility to regulate short-term rentals using the means most consistent with their particular community’s needs.","PeriodicalId":368113,"journal":{"name":"State & Local Government eJournal","volume":"30 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126473371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Do Fines Cause Financial Distress? Evidence From Chicago","authors":"Ryan E. Kessler","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3592985","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3592985","url":null,"abstract":"This paper studies the effect of government fine and debt collection policy on individual financial well-being in the context of Chicago, where beginning in 2011 the city adopted a more aggressive traffic fine and debt collection policy. Using detailed traffic fine, credit report, and consumer bankruptcy records, I estimate that the policy change did not have a large effect on financial well-being as measured by credit scores, credit card balances past due, or debt in collections. The policy change did, however, cause a 1.1 standard deviation increase in the Chapter 13 bankruptcy rate, amounting to approximately 43,000 additional Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings through the end of 2017. The bankruptcy response was driven by an influx of filings by relatively low-income, low-asset individuals with significant traffic fine debt. For most Chapter 13 bankruptcy filers with traffic fine debt, bankruptcy provided no debt relief and limited asset protection at significant cost in bankruptcy court and attorney fees. These results highlight inefficiencies in revenue generation via fines.","PeriodicalId":368113,"journal":{"name":"State & Local Government eJournal","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-05-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130942119","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The Real Effects of Land Use Regulation: Quasi-Experimental Evidence From a Discontinuous Policy Variation","authors":"M. Fregoni, M. Leonardi, S. Mocetti","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3612806","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3612806","url":null,"abstract":"We provide quasi-experimental evidence of the effects of a relaxation of land use constraints on local economic activity. We exploit the fact that in 1999 the central government imposed fiscal rules on municipal governments and in 2001 it relaxed them for municipalities with less than 5,000 inhabitants. First, we show that municipalities rely on the urbanization revenues that they collect from issuing building permits to avoid fiscal distress and to finance current expenditure. The rise of building permits is concentrated in the non-residential market and is stronger after 2003, when urban revenues were allowed to pay for municipalities’ current expenditures. Second, we exploit this de facto reduction of firms’ entry barriers to examine downstream effects. We find a positive impact on employment growth and firms’ entry that is concentrated in non-tradable sectors.","PeriodicalId":368113,"journal":{"name":"State & Local Government eJournal","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115832101","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Predicting Tif Distress: A Statistical Analysis of Tax Incremental Finance Districts in Wisconsin","authors":"John Kovari","doi":"10.1111/pbaf.12248","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/pbaf.12248","url":null,"abstract":"Tax incremental financing (TIF) is the most prevalent, complex, and controversial economic development tool used by local governments today. TIF proponents argue that TIF increases stagnant property values, but critics suggest that TIF is an unnecessary subsidy and distorts real estate markets. Although&#160;case studies offer evidence supporting both sides, the argument begs an important question: because some TIF districts are successful and others unsuccessful, is there a way to predict TIF distress and help prevent TIF failure? Practitioners and academics highlight the importance of pre&#8208;implementation planning and strict monitoring of TIF performance. However, even with the most strident planning and monitoring, TIF districts still often fail. Utilizing a dataset of all 1,080 active TIF districts in Wisconsin, this paper adopts techniques popular in assessing local government fiscal health by focusing on indicators such as budgetary solvency and macroeconomic conditions in predicting TIF distress.","PeriodicalId":368113,"journal":{"name":"State & Local Government eJournal","volume":"96 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114415493","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Michigan Local Officials’ Views on the Next Recession: Timing, Concerns, and Actions Taken","authors":"D. Horner, Thomas M. Ivacko","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3491389","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3491389","url":null,"abstract":"This report presents the assessments of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding the next recession, including its expected timing and impacts, and whether their jurisdictions have taken action to prepare for it. These findings are based on statewide surveys of local government leaders in the Spring 2019 wave of the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS).","PeriodicalId":368113,"journal":{"name":"State & Local Government eJournal","volume":"151 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-10-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122520733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Michigan Local Government Preparations and Concerns Regarding the 2020 U.S. Census","authors":"Natalie Fitzpatrick, Thomas M. Ivacko","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.3491387","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3491387","url":null,"abstract":"This report presents the opinions of Michigan’s local government leaders regarding the upcoming 2020 U.S. Census, including their confidence in the potential accuracy of the count both locally and at the state level, assessments of groups within their jurisdiction that may be difficult to count, and any local actions currently being taken to boost census participation among residents. These findings are based on statewide surveys of local government leaders in the Spring 2019 wave of the Michigan Public Policy Survey (MPPS), with a comparison to the Spring 2010 wave of the MPPS.","PeriodicalId":368113,"journal":{"name":"State & Local Government eJournal","volume":"82 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115169073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}