On New York’s fight to get President Trump’s tax returns: “Go home, sober up,” says federal judge. The Manhattan district attorney has subpoenaed  eight years of Trump’s tax records.  Trump’s attorneys say the move is unconstitutional. Yesterday, the federal judge in the case stayed the demand for 24 hours and strongly urged  both sides to work out an agreement on their own by today. He gave the US Justice Department until Monday to decide whether to intervene in the case. 

Trump on China-US Trade Deal: “Sooner than you think.” President Trump again raised hopes of a trade deal between the two nations, as he has done in the past before talks failed. The countries’ trade officials are scheduled  to meet again in early October. 

Impeachment fallout on tax legislation? Congress has a handful of tax issues hanging—tax extenders, technical corrections for the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a retirement bill, and House Democrats’ hope for an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit. Most were long shots last week. The odds may have gotten worse. 

New York State stops distributing some tax refunds. The comptroller halted the distribution of $41 million in state tax refunds. After reviewing more than 7.7 million refunds, it blocked 12,783 it found questionable. The most common issue: taxpayers who claimed personal income tax credits based on incorrect information, including an inaccurate number of dependents or understated income.

Twelve companies got $100 million in New Jersey tax credits by threatening to leave.. The problem: They all identified the same office complex in New York: Blue Hill Plaza. The New York Times reports that none of the companies had any intention of moving. But New Jersey’s Economic Development Authority never did its due diligence so never noticed. New Jersey isn’t the only state with weak oversight of economic development programs: “Most states just have not invested their resources or the statutory authority, or frankly the political will, to be able to do serious front-end analysis of these kinds of opportunities,” said Justin Marlowe, a University of Washington professor who specializes in public finance management.

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