Supreme Court Rejects The Moores’ Challenge To MRT
SCOTUS upholds the TCJA’s mandatory repatriation tax (MRT). The court ruled 7-2 that the MRT is constitutional, rejecting arguments by Charles and Kathleen Moore that they should not have been taxed on income they never realized from corporate shares impacted by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The court decided that “Congress may attribute an entity’s realized and undistributed income to the entity’s shareholders or partners, and then tax the shareholders or partners on their portions of that income.” TPC’s Steve Rosenthal considers the ruling and concludes the Court may be poised to limit Congress’s taxing authority in future similar cases.
Is butane an alternative fuel? In another legal dispute, the federal government argues that oil refiners are not eligible for $391 million in alternative fuel mixture credits and requests that three lawsuits demanding the credits be dismissed. TaxNotes reports (paywall) on the government’s argument that butane is not an alternative fuel, while the lawsuits’ plaintiffs—three oil refiners—argue that butane is liquefied petroleum gas, which is “expressly defined in section 6426(d) as alternative fuels.”
Connecticut diesel tax to jump 3 cents after a year-long freeze. The state’s tax on diesel will climb to 52.4 cents per gallon, a 6.5 percent increase. The tax has been adjusted annually based on a formula that relies on wholesale diesel prices from the previous 12 months. The trucking industry wants a flat fuel tax, like the state’s retail gasoline tax, which has been unchanged since July 2000.
A tax revenue standoff in New Hampshire. The Medicaid Enhancement Tax generates $300 million in annual tax revenue, which New Hampshire’s government uses to leverage more federal health care funding. In an agreement that expires June 30, hospitals get back 91 percent of the tax . Republican Gov. Chris Sununu has proposed that hospitals get 80 percent instead, with some of the remaining revenue distributed to community mental health and other federally qualified health centers.
Chinese automakers call for big tariffs on EU imports. The car companies want the Chinese government to impose tariffs of up to 25 percent on European Union (EU) automakers if the EU imposes tariffs on Chinese vehicles. Last week the EU threatened to impose a 38 percent tariff on Chinese electric vehicle makers starting July 4.
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