About This

Key to Link Icons

  • Georgetown restricted access
  • Interactive tutorial
  • On Westlaw
    (password required)
  • On Lexis
    (password required)
  • PDF Document

Key to Images

  • Study Aid - This is a useful resource to introduce or brush up on a new subject specialty.
  • Preeminent Treatise - This is recognized by scholars and practitioners as one of the leading authorities on a specific subject.

State & Local Tax Research Guide

Introduction

In some ways state and local taxation closely resembles the federal taxation scheme. As with the federal system, the state legislature is charged with passing its taxing statutes, similar to the Internal Revenue Code. Analogous to the Internal Revenue Service on the federal level, each state has a corresponding regulatory tax agency that passes state administrative regulations and rulings. Similarly, state courts generate judicial opinions, although most states do not have an official tax court.

State personal and corporate income tax issues can be researched largely in the same way federal tax research is conducted. Indeed, many states' personal income tax merely "piggybacks" on the federal income tax, and thus, a large component of the research will be in the federal sphere.

However, states engage in a wide variety of different taxes that are unrelated to income: e.g., property taxes, sales & use taxes, excise taxes, estate and inheritance taxes, and liquor taxes. Often, these different tax laws are scattered throughout the states' codes and are not codified together into a cohesive "tax code." Accordingly, using specialized state tax resources will help streamline the research process.

This research guide is designed to serve as a starting point for conducting research in state tax laws. It will include both print and electronic resources available in the Georgetown Law Library.

For more detailed information about conducting legal research in a particular state, please consult the Georgetown Law Library's state research guide for the state you are interested in.

Members of the Georgetown University community may seek additional assistance at the reference desk or online.

Introductory Resources

  • Jerome R. Hellerstein & Walter Hellerstein, State Taxation, (3d ed. 1998) (library ceased updating in 2008, current on Westlaw WGL-STATE) (KF6750 .H44 1998)
    • Two-volume treatise on state and local taxation. Volume I examines laws relating to corporate income and franchise taxation. Volume II discusses sales and use taxes, personal income taxes, and estate taxes.
  • M. David Gelfand, Joel A. Mintz & Peter W. Salsich, Jr., State and Local Taxation and Finance in a Nutshell, (3d ed. 2007) (KF6720.Z9 G45 2007)
    • Introductory student guide on state and local taxation.

50-State Deskbooks

  • Susan Pace Hamill, As Certain as Death: A Fifty-State Survey of State and Local Tax Laws (2007) (KF6750 .H36 2007)
  • ABA Property Tax Deskbook (KF6759.Z95 A23)
  • ABA Sales & Use Tax Desk Book (1991 - ) (KF6767 .A93)
  • Guide to Sales and Use Taxes (1992 - ) ( KF6767 .P74)
  • CCH Multistate Corporate Tax Guide (1994 - ) ( KF6755.A15 M85)

Primary Law Sources

State Tax Statutes

State tax statutes are found with the state code compilation for its respective state. Because each state code compilation has a different name, the easiest way to determine the name of a state code compilation is to use Jurisdiction Table 1 in the Bluebook or consult the Georgetown Law Library's state research guide for the state you are interested in.

Not every state has a stand-alone "tax code." In many states, tax-related statutes are spread throughout their code. For these states, using one of the state tax-specific resources listed in the "loose leaf services " section of this guide may be more helpful than using the state's annotated code.

Both Westlaw and Lexis have compiled each state's tax statutes into narrow, specialized databases.

State Tax Regulations and Administrative Guidance

Like in the Federal tax system, each state has an administrative agency that enforces the tax law, drafts regulations, and issues administrative guidance. In most states, this agency is usually the Treasury or the Office of the Comptroller. In some states, the Attorney General's office also produces administrative guidance in the form of letter rulings.

Each state's regulatory compilation has a different name. The easiest way to determine the name of the compilation is to use Jurisdiction Table 1 in the Bluebook or consult the Georgetown Law Library's state research guide for the state you are interested in.

Both Westlaw and Lexis have compiled each state's tax regulations into narrow, specialized databases.

State Tax Cases

Most states do not have a specialized tax court like the United States Tax Court. However some states have special tax tribunals that hear tax disputes before they enter the court system. At the state level, there are no state tax case reporters such as American Federal Tax Reporter or United States Tax Cases. To locate state tax case law, state tax researchers must use the designated state digest and reporter system for their jurisdiction. Please consult the Georgetown Law Library's state research guide for the state you are interested in for additional information on conducting case research in that state.

Both Westlaw and Lexis have compiled each state's tax cases into narrow, specialized databases:

Loose-Leaf Services and Specialized Databases

When conducting tax research, it is often easier to work with specialized tax loose-leaf services and databases than with more general legal databases. This is particularly true when researching state tax issues because state tax statutes may be located in various places throughout a state's code and because there is no uniformity between the ways different states handle tax administration and regulation. In addition, these specialized tax resources provide invaluable editorial content, annotations, and explanations, which are not available in the more general databases.

Georgetown subscribes to the following specialized state tax loose-leaf services and databases.

  • CCH Intelliconnect
    CCH's state tax reporters offer the full text of state and local tax laws, regulations, rulings, releases, court decisions and attorney general opinions. The Library does not receive these reporters in print, but you can access them on CCH Intelliconnect by selecting browse (on the left menu), then selecting "Laws, Regulations, and other Primary Sources", then browsing for "State Tax Law - by State", then selecting the state tax reporter.
  • Checkpoint, RIA.
    Consolidates the full text of primary and secondary materials in the areas of federal, state, and international taxation. For state taxation, choose "State & Local" in the "Practice Area" drop down menu on the left of the screen.
  • State and Local Tax Service, RIA. [KF6750.A6 S7]
    Provides coverage of state and local taxes for all fifty-one jurisdictions. Contains state and local laws, regulations, cases, rulings, selected forms, editorial explanations, court annotations and agency decisions. Print subscription was cancelled in 2007. Contains the full-text of all state supreme and appellate court tax cases 1950-2007; attorney general opinions; primary and secondary rulings 1988-2007; state administrative cases 1980-2007; and federal court cases dealing with state issues 1860-2007. Also available electronically through Checkpoint, RIA.
  • Multistate Corporate Income Tax Guide, CCH.
    This service, which is available electronically through CCH Intelliconnect, features corporate income-based research for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Includes case annotations and the full text of laws, regulations, court decisions and other administrative decisions. [Subscription Database
  • Multistate Property Tax Guide, CCH.
    This service, which is available electronically through CCH Intelliconnect, features property tax materials for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Includes case annotations and the full text of laws, regulations, court decisions and other administrative decisions.
  • Multistate Corporate Tax Guide, Panel. [KF6755.A15 M85]

Secondary Sources

Treatises

  • Jerome R. Hellerstein & Walter Hellerstein, State Taxation, (3d ed. 1998) (library ceased updating in 2008, current on Westlaw WGL-STATE) (KF6750 .H44 1998)
    • Two-volume treatise on state and local taxation. Volume I examines laws relating to corporate income and franchise taxation. Volume II discusses sales and use taxes, personal income taxes, and estate taxes.
  • Tax Management Multistate Tax Portfolios, BNA. [KF6750.A6 T272] and electronically.
    • A multi-volume compilation of portfolios on corporate income taxes, business entities and transactions, business credits and incentives, compensation and benefits, personal income taxes and other additional topics. 
  • State Tax Guide: All States, CCH. [KF6750.A6 C66 1980]
    • This title was cancelled in print in December 2008, so no longer current for new statutes. This handy reference provides charts for easy determination of the taxes levied in every state. Summarizes state statutes. Also available electronically through CCH Intelliconnect.
  • All States Tax Guide, RIA. [KF6750.A6 A4 1960]
    • This service contains summaries of all taxes levied in each state, and includes citations to primary resources. Also available electronically through Checkpoint, RIA.
  • State Tax Handbook, CCH. [KF6750 .C65]
    • This quick reference guide provides overviews of the taxation schemes of each state and the District of Columbia

Journals

  • State Tax Notes, Tax Analysts (1991 - ) (published weekly) [KF6750.A15 S75]
  • State Tax Review, CCH (1992 - 2009) [KF6750.A15 S77] and electronically (1993 - )
  • The Journal of Multistate Taxation, Warren, Gorham & Lamont (1991 - 1998) [K10. O5925], which is continued by The Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives
  • The Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives, RIA (1999 - 2010) [K10 .O5925] and electronically (1991 - ) on RIA Checkpoint
  • The Journal of State Taxation, (1984 - 2009) [K10 .O71] and electronically (1982 - )

The following journals do not specialize in state tax law, but nonetheless may be useful resources.

News & Current Awareness

Study Aids

  • M. David Gelfand, Joel A. Mintz & Peter W. Salsich, Jr., State and Local Taxation and Finance in a Nutshell, (3d ed. 2007) (KF6720.Z9 G45 2007)
  • West's Tax Law Dictionary. [KF6287 .S65 1993]

Other Resources

Professional Organizations & Associations

Policy-Oriented Materials, Think-Tanks, and Advocacy Groups

For more information on researching tax policy, please consult the Georgetown Law Library's tax policy guide.

Statistical Data

Further Research Tools

Suggested subject searches in the GULLiver catalog:

Other relevant research guides:

Feel free to consult our entire collection of Research Guides. Should you have any additional questions, please contact the Reference Department for assistance.

 

 

Revised 9/26/2011 (JZ)
Updated 12/16/2011 (JZ)

Page last saved 16-Dec-2011