Belated congratulations to Gene Bicknell, who recently won a 15-year tax fight at the Kansas Supreme Court. In 2006 Mr. Bicknell sold what was once the world’s biggest megachain of Pizza Huts, with something like 800 stores and 22,000 employees. That year Pizza Hut’s Super Bowl ad featured the singer Jessica Simpson crooning about a crust made of 28 “poppable” cheesy bites.
Mr. Bicknell has been battling the Kansas Revenue Department ever since. He originally lived there but in 2003 sought to switch his residency to Florida, which has no income tax. Kansas disputed the move and dunned him $43 million, including on the Pizza Huts. There were multiple trials and trips to appeals courts. “We hold Gene was domiciled in Florida,” the Kansas Supreme Court ruled last month.
