Task: State and Local tax questions
Question 1. Westinghouse raises the question as to the constitutional status of various tax incentives designed to induce in-state location. Are investment tax credits and similar credits limited to in-state expenditures under a constitutional cloud after Westinghouse? What about the practice of limiting favorable methods of depreciation, such as ACRS, to investments in in-state property?
Question 2.
(a) If the taxpayer's assertion in General Motors has been substantiated by record support, would be case have been decided differently? Why?
(b) What are the implications of General Motors as a defense to claims of unconstitutional discrimination outside the regulated industry context?
Question 3. What is the significance of Complete Auto's fourth prong-that a tax must be fairly related to services provided by the state-in light of the reading in the Court gave it in Commonwealth Edison?
Question 4. Was Justice Blackman overstating the case when he said that the court had emasculated the fourth prong? If so, what independent role does the fourth prong continue to play? Specifically, can you posit a case in which tax would violated Complete Auto' fourth prong without violating one of the other three prongs?
Give detail answers and list the sources.