New York Withholding Tax Case Rightly Tossed From Federal Court

The Tax Injunction Act and the comity doctrine bar a New York man’s suit challenging a withholding tax assessment from being heard in federal court, the Second Circuit ruled.

After Frank DeMartino’s company, TADCO Construction Corp., failed to remit $20,000 to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, the state assessed the balance against him as a “responsible person” for the company’s liability. DeMartino paid his personal balance, and later sued the department when he discovered a remaining balance on TADCO’s account he alleged was “manufactured out of thin air” in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

The US ...