Bill Backstrom and Jay Adams were quoted in yesterday’s Law360 article entitled Attorneys React To Supreme Court ‘Amazon Tax’ Ruling. In the article, Bill, head of Jones Walker’s Tax & Estates Practice Group and a partner in the firm’s New Orleans office, and Jay, a senior partner in Jones Walker’s New Orleans office, shared their thoughts on the significance of the March 3, 2015 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl, et al., which held that the reporting requirements in Colorado’s “Amazon tax” law can be challenged in federal court without running afoul of the Tax Injunction Act (TIA).
Specifically, Bill was quoted as noting:
The court gave us some useful guidance as to the limits of the TIA. What the court did not address is the limit of comity in state tax matters that are pursued in federal district court.
Jay was quoted in the article as explaining:
The most interesting part of the decision for state and local taxpayers is Justice Kennedy’s concurrence. The concurrence clearly states Justice Kennedy’s thoughts on the vitality of the court’s prior decisions in Quill and Bellas Hess. I question whether Justice Kennedy’s concurring opinion provides a sufficient basis for a state court to reject the decisions in Quill and Bellas Hess, and their physical presence requirement, and thereby provide the court with the opportunity to reconsider those decisions, which Justice Kennedy would clearly welcome.
