Victory for online seller in Louisiana: no affiliate nexus for BarnesandNoble.com.

Federal courts rarely get the opportunity to consider whether an out-of-state company has sufficient nexus to support the imposition of a state tax. Because the federal Tax Injunction Act (2) provides that a federal district court may not "enjoin, suspend or restrain the assessment, levy or collection" of any state tax where a "plain, speedy and efficient remedy" may be had in state court, questions of nexus nearly always originate in state, rather than federal court. In St. Tammany Parish Tax Collector v. BarnesandNoble.com, (3) however, Louisiana's unique state tax enforcement structure provided the out-of-state taxpayer with a rare opportunity to litigate the nexus ...