Karl Frieden is the Vice President and General Counsel of the Council On State Taxation (COST).  COST has a membership of nearly 600 multistate companies and is dedicated to preserving and promoting equitable and nondiscriminatory state taxation of multi-jurisdictional entities.  Prior to joining COST, Karl was a state and local tax partner with Ernst & Young and before that a tax partner with Arthur Andersen.  Earlier in his career, he was the Deputy General Counsel of the Massachusetts Department of Revenue.  Karl has had extensive experience with most types of state and local taxes including income tax, sales tax, property tax, payroll tax and credits and incentives.  He has also significant experience with global indirect taxes including VAT and withholding taxes.   Karl has spoken on state and local and global indirect tax issues at business, academic and tax policy forums in the US, Europe and Asia.   He has testified before state legislatures and the US Congress on state tax policy issues. He is author of numerous articles on state and local taxation; and wrote the book, Cybertaxation: The Taxation of E-Commerce (CCH 2000) – the first comprehensive book written on the taxation of the digital economy.  Karl received his J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law, and his B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. 

About Us: The Council On State Taxation (COST) is the premier state tax organization representing taxpayers.  COST is a nonprofit trade association consisting of nearly 600 multistate corporations engaged in interstate and international business.  COST's objective is to preserve and promote equitable and nondiscriminatory state and local taxation of multijurisdictional business entities.  COST was formed in 1969 by a handful of companies under the aegis of the Council of State Chambers of Commerce, an organization with which COST is still associated.  That auspicious formation of COST was precipitated by the need of corporate taxpayers to be represented by a united voice on state tax issues - to counterbalance a number of organizations of state tax authorities.  More than forty years later, COST is more successful than ever as a result of the hard work of its nationally respected professional staff and the significant contributions of its Board of Directors and member companies.