The Silence of Congress

State Taxation of Interstate Commerce

Joseph F. Zimmerman

• Publisher: SUNY Press
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9780791472064, 9780791472057
• eBook ISBN: 9780791479667
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Tax Law
• Index: Economics

Argues for greater congressional oversight of state taxation of interstate commerce.

The Silence of Congress is the first book to examine state taxation of interstate commerce and the relative inactivity on the part of Congress to regulate such commerce. As states actively seek to maximize tax revenues, congressional silence has affected both citizens and corporations and resulted in myriad tax inequalities from one state to another on such things as personal income, estates, cigarettes and alcoholic beverages, tourism, and even visiting athlete status. Inconsistencies also affect a state's ability to attract and hold lucrative business investments such as sports franchises and gambling facilities. Noting that Congress has been slow to take advantage of the broad powers granted it by the United States Constitution in this area, Joseph F. Zimmerman evaluates the usefulness of Adam Smith's four universally acclaimed maxims of fair taxation and recommends changes to ground rules that would increase cooperation between states while aiding in the creation of a more perfect economic union.

Table of contents

• The Silence of Congress
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• 1. State Competition for Tax Revenue
• 2. Excise and Documentary Taxes
• 3. Severance Taxes
• 4. The Nonresident Income Tax
• 5. Corporate Income Taxation
• 6. Escheats and Tax Revenue Competition
• 7. Competition for Other Tax Resources
• 8. The Silence of Congress
• 9. Fairness in Taxation of Interstate Income
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index