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Abstract
In the EchoStar DBS Corp. case, a New York Administrative Law Judge held that a taxpayer engaged in the business of providing direct-to-home satellite broadcasting services was subject to the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District (MCTD) tax surcharge for purposes of the taxpayer's New York corporate franchise tax report. The ALJ pointed out that the preemptive relief afforded by the federal act is not aimed at saving a taxpayer from the complexity of a given methodology necessary to calculate a particular tax, but, rather, is designed to minimize the cost and compliance burdens resulting from having a multiplicity of jurisdictions with a wide variety of impositions placed upon national direct-to-home satellite providers, such as the taxpayer, that do not significantly utilize or rely upon local infrastructure.