Catherine Monson’s Texas-based graphics and visual communications company has 47 franchisees across the country. Each pays state income taxes where they operate. So it came as a surprise to Monson when seven states – none of which had a local franchisee sent stiff corporate income tax bills to her headquarters for the operation of the franchisees.

Although her business, Fastsigns International, has no employees, offices or other physical presence in any of those states, revenue-starved state tax officials used ambiguities in state laws to tax Monson’s business. She ended up paying more than $115,000 to Arizona, California, Missouri, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

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By Howard Fine Monday, August 6, 2012Los Angeles Business Journal A tax nightmare began for Pete Vegas when a truck carrying his L.A. company’s food made a routine stop at a weigh station Read more…

States are so desperate for cash that they’re getting sneaky. Combine the sluggish economy with Obamacare’s expensive Medicaid expansion and spiraling public-sector union benefit payments, and the usual tricks just aren’t balancing the books anymore. That’s why some are looking to tap out-of-state businesses as a new source of revenue. Read more…

Congress needs to consider interstate taxation in any efforts to ease regulatory constraints on the maritime industry, a Florida boat manufacturer said July 12 during a hearing of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight, and Regulations. Read more…

States are getting desperate for revenue, a fact I know firsthand. They hunt down out-of-state businesses like mine and slap them with massive tax assessments.

My company, Fastsigns, is a 27-year-old graphics and visual communications franchisor based in Carrollton. It’s a small business with 109 employees. So when a state unexpectedly sends us a tax bill for thousands of dollars — a state in which we don’t have any employees, offices or even a stick of inventory — it’s a very big deal and an expensive problem. Read more…

As president of a national food company, I thought I had seen it all. Until, that is, the state of Washington decided to send me a $180,000 tax bill for simply visiting the the state. I understand that states are starved for revenue these days, but Washington has gone too far. Based on one visit over a seven-year period, it decided that my company, Sage V Foods, should be required to pay business and occupation taxes. Washington made that determination even though Sage V Foods has no employees, no property, no sales offices and no inventory in the state – nothing. Read more…