The Supreme Court and State Taxation: 2001-2002. Silent Acceptance

In the October 2001 Term, the United States Supreme Court continued its trend of deciding relatively few cases. Only 78 oral argument slots-representing 88 cases-were filled, and those cases resulted in even fewer signed opinions: 76. The Supreme Court declined to hear any cases involving state or local taxation issues during the 2001 Term. Paralleling the decrease in the number of cases decided by the Court, the number of cases in the area of state or local taxation has dropped steadily: the Court considered only two cases during the 2000 Term, three during both the 1999 and 1998 Terms, and only one case during the 1997 Term. The Court continues to deny certiorari in large numbers of cases involving state and local tax issues. During the time frame in which the Court was granting review in cases to be heard during the 2001 Term, the Court rejected 32 petitions raising state or local tax issues. To date, the Court has agreed to review one case raising state or local taxation issues for the 2002-2003 Term. The Supreme Court's silent acceptance of the status quo in local tax jurisprudence does not necessarily signal the Court's disinterest in state and local tax issues. It may merely reflect the difficult winnowing process all cases must undergo in order to qualify for the relatively few argument slots. And to be fair, the 2001 Term did not contain an abundance of compelling petitions that required the Court's immediate resolution of circuit splits or conflicts with the Court's prior decisions. A closer look at a few petitions of certiorari that were denied shows that, while the cases appeared to raise important questions concerning the state's proper relationship with a taxpayer and the potential constitutional hurdles a state must overcome before exercising its taxing power, it is not surprising that the Court did not agree to hear any state and local cases.