Portsmouth's survival hopes have been helped by Britain's tax authority dropping a legal challenge against the club entering a form of bankruptcy protection.

London's High Court on Tuesday suspended a winding-up order against the debt-ridden Premier League club that was being pursued by the revenue and customs service.

Gregory Mitchell, the lawyer representing the service, told the court that Portsmouth entering financial administration "offers the best chance of the club surviving".

Portsmouth is likely to be relegated to the League Championship. The south-coast club is bottom of the Premier League -- eight points from safety -- and is set to be docked nine points for entering administration.

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from an energy company over a court ruling that could allow counties in Oklahoma to collect taxes on natural gas that is shipped by pipelines that run through the counties.

The justices did not comment Monday on their order in an appeal filed by Missouri Gas Energy. In 2008, the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled that the natural gas is subject to taxation.

The ruling could mean millions for several counties in the state and could affect similar disputes in Kansas and Texas.

Harriet Miers, President George W. Bush's White House counsel and briefly his nominee to the Supreme Court, handled the company's appeal in its lawsuit against Woods County, Okla.

A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit in which Louisville and Lexington officials tried to collect taxes from hundreds of online hotel brokers such as Hotels.com.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that Kentucky's law governing hotel taxes doesn't cover online travel companies. U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell dismissed the suit in 2008.

The city of Louisville three years ago sued hundreds of Web sites, including Orbitz and Travelocity, that rent discount hotel rooms, accusing the online travel companies of not paying taxes on the rooms rented.

Lexington joined the lawsuit, asking Russell to award an unspecified amount from the online travel companies to the two municipalities and to the 24 cities and 25 Kentucky counties that have hotel taxes.

For more than 15.4 million people, the Making Work Pay tax credit enacted as part of the $787-billion economic stimulus package could turn out to be a Making You Pay Back tax credit.

That's the finding of a government watchdog report out today about the credit, which provides as much as $400 for individuals and as much as $800 for joint filers. It is the signature tax cut that President Obama promised in his campaign and was delivered with much fanfare in February.

The problem: In order to maximize the credit's stimulative effect on the economy, withholding changes for taxpayers kicked in within days of Obama signing the legislation and taxpayers started seeing the changes in their paychecks in April. In essence, the credit was "advanced to taxpayers through their wages by a decrease in federal income tax withholding" for the 2009 and 2010 tax years, according to the report by the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2009/11/millions-may-have-to-repay-part-of-obama-tax-credit.html

Michigan's bipartisan State Board of Education urged Gov. Jennifer Granholm and lawmakers to find money to reduce cuts in public education and buy time for a long-term funding solution.

The 8-0 vote on Monday came after a series of blows delivered to public schools last week.

Democratic governor signed an education budget that contains a cut of $165 per student. But she also vetoed $51 million in extra funds for 39 wealthier districts and ordered another $127 per-pupil cut for all districts because of falling tax revenue.

The reductions will take effect unless more money is raised within a month.

The board heard from superintendents, former legislators and others in the public. Yet it was the testimony of three economic experts that prompted optimism that money for schools could be found if the political will existed.

The experts, who have different political backgrounds, agreed Michigan should lower its 6 percent sales tax but tax services that are exempt now — such as entertainment and landscaping, for example. Business-to-business services such as accounting and engineering would not be taxed.

The Supreme Court won't stop Massachusetts from taxing out-of-state corporations that work in that state but don't have in-state buildings or employees.

The court refused on Monday to hear an appeal from Capital One Bank and Geoffrey, Inc., a subsidiary of Toys R Us that licenses the company's giraffe logo and other trademarks.

Massachusetts tax officials say both companies make money in-state, and therefore should pay state taxes. The companies say that the Commerce Clause of the Constitution prohibits state officials from taxing out-of-state companies that do not have a physical presence in that state.

States normally are not allowed to tax out-of-state corporations who do not have a physical presence in those states. Massachusetts's top court ruled, however, that it could tax out-of-state corporations if they have a "substantial nexus" in a state.

CapitalOne banks are based out of Virginia, but offers credit cards that are used by people in Massachusetts and uses collection agencies in that state to go after delinquent accounts. Geoffrey, Inc., licenses the use of Toys R Us trademarks for its stores in Massachusetts.

The cases are Geoffrey, Inc., v. Commissioner of Revenue, 08-1207 and CapitalOne Bank v. Commissioner of Revenue, 08-1169.

The Georgia Supreme Court concluded Monday that the online travel company Expedia Inc. has shortchanged a west Georgia city on hotel and occupancy taxes.

The court's 4-3 ruling — the first such decision by Georgia's top appellate court — found that Expedia must collect hotel occupancy taxes from its customers and pay them to the city of Columbus.

An attorney representing Columbus said the ruling doesn't say whether Expedia owes back taxes, and said that issue may be decided by a lower court.

While the Georgia court's ruling doesn't apply to cases in other states, city attorneys say it could bring fresh momentum to dozens of other lawsuits around the country brought by frustrated officials who say the online travel scheme is depriving them of tax dollars.

"Decisions like this are persuasive if nothing else," said Wade Tomlinson, who represented the city of Columbus in the lawsuit. "Other courts will look at it, consider it and apply it."

Many similar complaints have been dismissed by federal or state judges, but attorneys say several are still pending, including lawsuits filed by officials or customers in Atlanta, Baltimore, San Antonio and a federal class action lawsuit filed on behalf of Georgia cities. Similar complaints have also been filed in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Anaheim, Calif.

The lawsuits hinge on the complicated pricing schemes used by Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and other online travel sites.

When consumers make reservations at the sites, they pay more for a room than the online outfits pay the hotels for the room, allowing the online companies to pocket the difference.