Constitutional Law › Tax Law › Energy & Utilities Law

Challengers Double Down on Opposition to California’s Carbon Allowance Auctions

A second lawsuit has been filed challenging one of the centerpieces of California’s innovative cap-and-trade climate change regulatory program: the auction process implemented by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to...more

California's Cap and Trade Program Goes to Court Again

The other shoe finally dropped. The much-speculated and much-anticipated “tax vs. fee” AB 32 Cap and Trade lawsuit has finally been filed. A diverse coalition of businesses and trade groups filed a lawsuit in a state superior...more

World Trade Organization Rules Against Ontario’s “Buy Local” Program

The Province of Ontario has imposed a requirement that in order to participate in its feed in tariff program (FIT) for solar energy a project much source at least 60% of the solar project content from within the Province....more

The Supreme Court Speaks; Some Taxpayers Shudder

Originally published in the Commercial Property Executive on January 16, 2013. Property owners frequently raise legitimate questions about hard-to-fathom differences between assessments of similar properties, as well as...more

Sutherland Salt Shaker - November 2012

In This Issue: - The Lone Star State Swings the Lasso Around E-Commerce Services - Don’t Mess with Texas: No Three-Factor MTC Election for You! - SALT Pet of the Month - The Clicks Keep on Coming in...more

California Cap and Trade to Launch End of the World, Brave New World or Carbon Tax?

Six years after then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the California Global Warming Solutions Act, also known as AB 32, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) holds its first auction of emissions allowances on November...more

PPL Corp. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue

Brief For Southeastern Legal Foundation, CATO Institute, And Goldwater Institute As Amici Curiae In Support Of The Petition For...

An American energy company called PPL bought one of many state-owned British utilities privatized in the 1980s. In 1997, PPL thus became subject to the U.K.'s new "windfall tax," which was based in part on "profit-making...more

Tax Injunction Act Does Not Bar a Levy Imposed on a Single Entity

On June 20, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled that the federal district court for the District of Maryland has jurisdiction to adjudicate a case involving the constitutionality and validity of a...more

Allegheny County Countywide Reassessment Plan Adopted

As we previously reported in this newsletter, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down Allegheny County’s use of a 2002 base-year property tax assessment scheme as unconstitutional in Clifton v. Allegheny County (Pa. April...more