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Richard Jones was quoted in the article "Massachusetts Eyes Expanding Capital Gains Tax After Court Case," published by Bloomberg Tax [sub.req'd] on January 31, 2025.

The article discusses Gov. Maura Healey's proposal for fiscal 2026 to expand the state's capital gains tax, three years after a VAS Holdings high court ruling that had wide implications for the Commonwealth's constitutional authority regarding capital gains taxes.

Rich said that the proposed statute makes explicit that Massachusetts is “doing an end run around unitary business principle,” which treats business entities as a single unit for tax purposes if those entities have integrated operations, as reflected in the high court's ruling in VAS Holdings.

“All us state tax lawyers and practitioners across the country were highly attuned to this VAS Holdings decision because the constitutional principles of unitary business principle affects every state,” said Jones. He expressed alarm at a state’s high court ruling that the unitary principle was “not a constitutional requirement.”

Jones suggested that the US Supreme Court might eventually have a say on the matter. “I don’t think the dust has settled on this,” he said.