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U.S. Supreme Court Will Review North Carolina Trust Fund Tax

AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review a North Carolina case revolving around a state tax on out-of-state trust funds.

Current North Carolina law allows the state to tax trust beneficiaries if they live in the state, even if their assets and disbursements are out-of-state.

But a ruling last summer by the North Carolina Supreme Court declared the tax unconstitutional.

The Department of Revenue says North Carolina and other states stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue annually if that ruling is upheld.

According to the News and Observer, state attorneys claim a federal decision could resolve long-standing conflicts over trust law in the U.S., elevating this to a landmark case.

North Carolina revenue agency lawyers say split decisions in a variety of similar lawsuits allow wealthy people with large trust funds to avoid paying taxes altogether.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to review the lower court ruling.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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