On June 24, 2019, the Supreme Court of the United States denied the Alabama Department of Revenue’s petition to review the Eleventh Circuit’s 2018 decision to finally put a decade old dispute “to the shed.” This saga started back in 2008, when CSX, among other railroads, brought suit to challenge state and local tax authorities from collecting taxes that violated the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act (4-R Act). The railroad asserts that it is taxed differently than competitors, including trucks and water carriers, in violation of the 4-R Act. Thus, CSX sought to enjoin the Alabama Department of Revenue (“the State”) from collecting sales and use tax on the railroad’s purchase of or consumption of diesel fuel in Alabama.
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