The Forum was founded in 2012 by Stanley R. Arnold and a small group of state tax practitioners for the purpose of promoting, encouraging, assisting, and fostering education particularly in the area of state and local tax (“SALT”) and tax policy by conducting seminars and institutes of learning. The Forum’s purpose is also to promote, encourage, foster, and provide for the dissemination of knowledge and research concerning state and local taxation and tax policy issues.
To supports its charitable purposes, the Forum has traditionally held one SALT conference each fall in Newton, Massachusetts. Recently, the Forum has drawn over 200 attendees from all New England states, including tax practitioners, industry personnel, and state revenue agency representatives. Our speaker panel draws from nationally-recognized professionals in the SALT community, as well as New England state revenue commissioners and personnel. We are pleases to have regular sponsors by area organizations and firms that help support our charitable purposes. In addition, since 2015, the Forum has proudly awarded the Stanley Arnold, Kr. Scholarship to eligible tax students in New England, as set forth on the Forum’s Scholarship page.
Stand Arnold made significant contributions to the SALT field for over 30 years. Stan joined the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration in 1983 as an auditor and ultimately served as the New Hampshire Commissioner for 14 years. During this time, Stan served 4 different Governors, was the President of both the Federation of Tax Administrators (“FTA”) and Northeastern State Tax Officials Association (“NESTOA”), worked on three different national tasks forces to improve state tax systems, and was a frequent speaker on SALT issues. In 2003, Stan joined the Tax Practice Group of Rath, Young & Pignatelli, P.C. in Concord, New Hampshire as Senior Tax Policy Advisor. One of Stan’s primary goals in establishing the Forum was to seek to maintain positive relationships between the private and government sectors in the SALT field. Stan served as the Forum’s first President and retired from practice in 2014.
The Forum is overseen by a Board of Directors and Board of Advisors. Our board members reflect a diverse group of SALT practitioners from law firms, accounting firms, industry, state government and industry trade organizations as set forth on our Board page. The Boards hold an annual meeting each spring to plan its conference agenda and select its speaker panel.
The Forum is a New Hampshire charitable organization that is regulated by the Charitable Trust Unit of the New Hampshire Department of Justice. The Forum is a tax-exempt nonprofit organization under I.R.C. ยง 501(c)(3). For more information about our organization, please reach out to our Forum Administrator, Cassandra Lassonde, at taxforum@nesaltforum.org.
