Defining Discrimination in a State Tax Context

Stephen Kranz and Diann Smith discussed defining state tax discrimination on Internet purchases. Ms. Smith said that “it seems that if Congress does not specifically designate a separate discrimination definition, it is perfectly reasonable that the statutory discrimination concept is the same as the commerce clause discrimination concept.” Mr. Kranz added that Congress “clearly … has the authority” to define tax discrimination, but that “any definition could have a negative impact outside the realm in which it was specifically created.”