Since the credit ratings that Standard & Poor’s publishes for the general public are protected by the First Amendment, the firm should be taxed by New York City in the same way as it does other publishers, an administrative law judge for the city’s Tax Appeals Tribunal has determined.
Judge Anne Murphy accepted S&P’s contention that as a publisher, the rating service is entitled to nearly $35 million in rebates from the city through an application of the general corporation taxes for the tax years 2003 through 2007 available to news publishers.
