Glenn Hegar, Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas v. Texas Entertainment Association, Inc.

On April 15, the MTC filed an amicus brief on petition for certiorari in the United States Supreme Court in the case of Glenn Hegar, Comptroller of Public Accounts of the State of Texas v. Texas Entertainment Association, Inc. The issue in the case is how to distinguish taxes from fees under the Tax Injunction Act (TIA). The case concerns the Texas Sexually Oriented Business Fee and whether, regardless of its name, it should be treated as a tax for purposes of the TIA, thus denying the federal courts jurisdiction. The Texas petition highlights the current split between the federal circuits and why the Fifth Circuit analysis is an outlier. The MTC brief supports Texas’s petition for certiorari and argues in favor of the Court granting the petition to implement a uniform interpretation of the TIA that emphasizes state tax sovereignty and results in a narrow approach to granting jurisdiction to the federal courts under the Act.