Sales and Use Tax Desk Book, 1992-93 ed.

• Author: Hellerstein, Walter

Sales and Use Tax Desk Book, 1992-93 Edition. By American Bar Association Section of Taxation (D. Michael Young and John T. Piper, eds.). Washington, D.C. American Bar Association Section of Taxation, 1993. $240.00 ($195.00 for members of the American Bar Association Section of Taxation).

If state taxation is a growth industry, sales and use taxation is its leading product. In recent years, sales and use taxes have become the single most important revenue source for the states, amounting to roughly one-third of all state tax collections.(1) Moreover, the scope of state sales taxes seems to expand every day, with state after state adding previously untaxed transactions, especially in the service sector, to the sales tax base. Indeed, the task of describing the sales tax consequences of particular transactions for clients is like trying to hit a moving target.

In this environment, the American Bar Association Section of Taxation's Sales and Use Tax Desk Book, 1992-93 Edition is a godsend. In one volume, the ABA Tax Section has compiled a description of the sales and use tax regimes in 45 states and the District of Columbia.(2) The Sales and Use Tax Desk Book is much more than a mere recitation of the pertinent statutes. The descriptions ably summarize the import of particular provisions and frequently include references or discussions of interpretative materials such as cases or regulations. Any one who has attempted to decipher the morass of statutory, regulatory, and adjudicatory materials that constitute the "law" of sales and use taxation in any state will immediately appreciate the enormous amount of work that has gone into preparing the Sales and Use Tax Desk Book as well as the valuable service it provides to practitioners in the area.

One of the most useful features of the Sales and Tax Desk Book is its consistent organizational format for each state. Someone faced, for example, with the question of how the states treat warranties can look to the pertinent subsection of each state's analysis to find the answer for that state. The descriptions and analyses are generously annotated allowing the state tax adviser to find the original sources quickly, if he or she feels that further study is warranted.

Another commendable feature of the Sales and Use Tax Desk Book...