Supreme Court Refuses to Hear New Hampshire v. Massachusetts—An Important Case Challenging Massachusetts' Taxation of NH Residents Working Remotely for MA Firms

Ilya Somin | 6.28.2021 2:52 PM

Earlier today, the Supreme Court issued an order denying leave to file a complaint in New Hampshire v. Massachusetts. This is an important case challenging the constitutionality Massachusetts' policy of taxing the income of New Hampshire residents working remotely for Massachusetts firms during the Covid pandemic, at a time when lockdowns and other restrictions prevented them from commuting to their offices in Massachusetts, as they had been doing before.

The motions for leave to file the bills of complaint are denied. Justice Thomas and Justice Alito would grant the motions.

In my view, the court should have taken the case, and ruled in favor of the New Hampshire. Massachusetts' policy and the arguments supporting it raise broader issues about state taxation of remote workers—a problem that is likely to recur in the future as remote work continues to become more common.

This was an "original jurisdiction" case brought directly to the Supreme Court because it involves one state government suing another. Under current precedent, the justices have total discretion over whether they want to consider such cases or not. In this instance, they obviously decided they didn't.

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