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Full-Text Articles in Law

Solving The Valuation Challenge: The Ultra Method For Taxing Extreme Wealth, David Gamage, Brian Galle, Darien Shanske Mar 2023

Solving The Valuation Challenge: The Ultra Method For Taxing Extreme Wealth, David Gamage, Brian Galle, Darien Shanske

Faculty Publications

Recent reporting based on leaked tax returns of the ultra-rich confirms what experts have long suspected: for the wealthiest Americans, paying taxes is mostly optional. Some of the country's richest have reported annual incomes that would be modest for a school teacher, even as the share of wealth held by the top .1% is at its highest in nearly a century.

Experts have long understood that one problem sits at the root cause of many of the tax system's failures to reach the very rich: valuation. Because it is difficult to appraise complex or unique assets, modern tax systems instead …


Tax Policy Reform: Issues To Be Addressed To The Benefit Of All Missourians, Joel Walters Nov 2017

Tax Policy Reform: Issues To Be Addressed To The Benefit Of All Missourians, Joel Walters

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

Tax policy impacts the everday decisions made by individuals, families, and businesses. Better tax policy can generate economic activity and lower the tax burden on individual taxpayers. Missouri Department of Revenue Director, Joel Walters, believes the current Missouri tax system can be changed in ways that would make it more simple, efficient, and fair. With this article, Director Walters seeks to engage Missourians in a dialogue about the strengths and weaknesses of the current tax policy environment in Missouri. The article comprhensively examines Missouri's tax system by discussing a wide variety of topics including corporate income tax, alternatives such as …


An American Football Team In London: How Tax Consequences For International Athletes Could Affect The Success Of A Potential Nfl Franchise In London, Brett Smith Aug 2017

An American Football Team In London: How Tax Consequences For International Athletes Could Affect The Success Of A Potential Nfl Franchise In London, Brett Smith

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

Although the NFL has not announced any definite plans to place a team in London, it has taken significant steps in that direction. By 2022, it could be a reality. As the laws in the U.S. and U.K. currently stand, NFL athletes playing for a team in London would face more income taxes than if they played for a U.S.-based team. The extra tax liability the players would face in the U.K. could prevent players from signing with the London team. If the London franchise struggles to field talent, it will struggle on the field as well. Without reform in …


Is The Missouri Sales Tax Being Eroded? Examining A Conflict Among The Executive, Legislative, And Judicial Branches In Missouri, Courtney Lock Jun 2017

Is The Missouri Sales Tax Being Eroded? Examining A Conflict Among The Executive, Legislative, And Judicial Branches In Missouri, Courtney Lock

Missouri Law Review

This Note examines the Supreme Court of Missouri’s holding in Miss Dianna’s School of Dance, Inc. v. Director of Revenue, ascertains the holding’s scope in light of recent statutory amendments, and explores whether Missouri sales tax is at a precipice going forward. Part II discusses the facts and holding of Miss Dianna’s School of Dance. Part III explores the Supreme Court of Missouri’s fluctuating interpretations of the statute. Part IV provides an indepth analysis of the Supreme Court of Missouri’s reasoning in Miss Dianna’s School of Dance and its relevance to the interpretation of the statute going forward, including an …


Improving Tax Incentives For Wind Energy Production: The Case For A Refundable Production Tax Credit, Michelle D. Layser Apr 2016

Improving Tax Incentives For Wind Energy Production: The Case For A Refundable Production Tax Credit, Michelle D. Layser

Missouri Law Review

The purpose of this Article is to further our understanding of how the production tax credit works and does not work as a tax incentive to promote investment in renewable energy and to fight climate change. For reasons to be discussed, the tax incentives traditionally available present a number of transaction costs and limitations that make them less effective than alternative incentives. Specifically, this Article looks at the way the production tax credit is employed in the context of wind farm development. Because similar tax incentives and market conditions are relevant to other renewable energy industries, such as the solar …


Farmer And The Tax Man: The Scope Of The Tax Forgiveness Provision In Chapter 12 Bankruptcy, The Comment , David A. Martin Jan 2013

Farmer And The Tax Man: The Scope Of The Tax Forgiveness Provision In Chapter 12 Bankruptcy, The Comment , David A. Martin

Missouri Law Review

In Hall v. United States, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari upon the petition of debtors from the Ninth Circuit and resolved the circuit split in favor of the IRS. Faced with the familiar task of statutory interpretation, the opinion of the Supreme Court will inevitably affect economically distressed farmers nationwide. A primary concern of the Court was that an incorrect statutory interpretation would leave the Code in shambles because of the interdependency of its provisions. Because Hall primarily addresses issues of statutory interpretation, Part II of this Comment will outline the statutory background of the two …


Taking Nature Back: Why Tax Strategy Law Is Relevant To Gene Patents, Amy E. Sestric Jun 2012

Taking Nature Back: Why Tax Strategy Law Is Relevant To Gene Patents, Amy E. Sestric

Missouri Law Review

On July 29, 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the validity of several controversial patents in Association for Molecular Pathology v. United States Patent and Trademark Office.' The patents, exclusively assigned to Myriad Genetics, Inc. (Myriad), claim two human genes fundamental to understanding, researching, and diagnosing common strains of familial breast and ovarian cancers. Patients expressed concern that Myriad's exclusivity over the two genes made diagnosis excessively expensive and precluded the availability of independent second opinion testing. Although the Supreme Court of the United States vacated and remanded the Federal Circuit's decision, the Federal …


Pulling The Taxpayer's Sword From The Stone: The Appropriation Requirement Of Missouri's Hancock Amendment, Jonathan G. Bremer Apr 2012

Pulling The Taxpayer's Sword From The Stone: The Appropriation Requirement Of Missouri's Hancock Amendment, Jonathan G. Bremer

Missouri Law Review

On November 4, 1980, Missouri voters approved the Hancock Amendment (Hancock) to Missouri's Constitution. Hancock addressed voter concerns as to whether state and local governments could keep their taxing and spending in check. The amendment contains two principle aspects. First, Hancock limits state and local governments in their ability to increase taxation, revenue, and spending without voter approval. Second, Hancock prohibits the state from imposing "unfunded mandates" upon its political subdivisions - closing a loophole that would otherwise allow the state to circumvent its duty not to raise taxes or spending above a certain level without a vote of the …


Defending The Historic Preservation Tax Credit, Lauren K. Shores Jan 2012

Defending The Historic Preservation Tax Credit, Lauren K. Shores

Missouri Law Review

Part II of this Comment discusses Missouri's historic preservation tax credit, and supplementing the discussion is some background on the federal rehabilitation tax credit. Part III explains how an historic preservation tax credit statute can be structured and outlines the advantages and disadvantages of these structural aspects. In addition, it discusses how historic preservation tax credits can be used as a redevelopment tool and the economic impact that these credits have had in Missouri. Part III of this Comment will review the recommendations made by the Tax Credit Commission appointed by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon. Finally, in Part IV, this …


Cost Of A Tax Agenda: The Passage Of Proposition A And Its Effect On Kansas City And St. Louis City, The, Missy Mccoy Nov 2011

Cost Of A Tax Agenda: The Passage Of Proposition A And Its Effect On Kansas City And St. Louis City, The, Missy Mccoy

Missouri Law Review

This Law Summary begins with a discussion of the history of the earnings tax in Kansas City and St. Louis City starting with both cities' designations as home rule cities.10 Being home rule cities allowed them independence in governing their populace and the eventual implementation of an earnings tax through city charters and state enabling statutes. Next, this Law Summary discusses Proposition A's repeal of the previous enabling statutes, the institution of new statutes, and the prohibition of any other city from passing an earnings tax. This Law Summary takes the position that Proposition A, funded largely by St. Louis-area …


One Prong, Two Prong, Many Prongs: A Look Into The Economic Substance Doctrine, Amanda L. Yoder Nov 2010

One Prong, Two Prong, Many Prongs: A Look Into The Economic Substance Doctrine, Amanda L. Yoder

Missouri Law Review

Almost every federal circuit, as well as Congress, has weighed in on the economic substance doctrine and attempted to clarify its boundaries. The economic substance doctrine deals with transactions that, although technically in accord with the Internal Revenue Code (the Code or I.R.C.), were originally structured solely for tax avoidance purposes. The Internal Revenue Service and courts dislike these transactions because they thwart the general intent of Congress in enacting certain tax-saving Code provisions. Until recent amendments to the I.R.C., the federal circuits were split between two different approaches to tax avoidance transactions, yet the application of the two approaches …


Who's Afraid Of Redistribution - An Analysis Of The Earned Income Tax Credit, Jennifer Bird-Pollan Apr 2009

Who's Afraid Of Redistribution - An Analysis Of The Earned Income Tax Credit, Jennifer Bird-Pollan

Missouri Law Review

One central element of the American version of redistribution comes in the form of the Earned Income Tax Credit (the "EITC"). In his campaign platform, Barack Obama vowed to expand the EITC, making it available to more taxpayers than ever before. Given the outcome of the 2008 election, and President Obama's seeming commitment to the tenets of redistribution (despite his disavowal of the word) and his express promise to expand the reach of the EITC, as well as the recent changes to the EITC introduced by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the "ARRA"), it seems a perfect …


Bankruptcy Reform: What's Tax Got To Do With It, Michelle Arnopol Cecil Nov 2006

Bankruptcy Reform: What's Tax Got To Do With It, Michelle Arnopol Cecil

Missouri Law Review

On April 20, 2005, President Bush signed into law the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 ("BAPCPA"), the most sweeping bankruptcy reform legislation passed by Congress in over a quarter of a century. The bill, which spanned over 600 pages, completelyoverhauled the consumer bankruptcy system and made significant changes to business bankruptcies as well. Yet despite Congress's massive effort to improve the current bankruptcy system in BAPCPA, it failed to address a number of important issues in the area of bankruptcy taxation, a critical but often overlooked area of bankruptcy law. One such issue involves the tax …


Bankruptcy Reform: What's Tax Got To Do With It?, Michelle A. Cecil Oct 2006

Bankruptcy Reform: What's Tax Got To Do With It?, Michelle A. Cecil

Faculty Publications

The article takes a two-pronged approach to the issue. First, it argues that all post-petition appreciation should be taxed to the debtor rather than to the debtor's bankruptcy estate because the debtor enjoys the benefits of the asset's appreciation in value and because, from a tax perspective, the results will be identical irrespective of whether the debtor or the bankruptcy estate is taxed on the asset's post-petition appreciation. Second, the article proposes that the gain accruing before the termination of the bankruptcy proceeding be treated as discharge of indebtedness income so that the debtor can defer recognition of the gain …


Abandonments In Bankruptcy: Unifying Competing Tax And Bankruptcy Policies, Michelle A. Cecil Apr 2004

Abandonments In Bankruptcy: Unifying Competing Tax And Bankruptcy Policies, Michelle A. Cecil

Faculty Publications

This Article attempts to resolve one such issue: the tax consequences of property abandonments by the bankruptcy trustee.


Crumbs For Oliver Twist: Resolving The Conflict Between Tax And Support Claims In Bankruptcy, Michelle A. Cecil Apr 2001

Crumbs For Oliver Twist: Resolving The Conflict Between Tax And Support Claims In Bankruptcy, Michelle A. Cecil

Faculty Publications

This article is premised on the assumption that the congressional goal of preferring support claims over federal income tax claims is indeed a laudable one, based on three interrelated policy justifications. First, support claimants are unable to spread their risk of loss like the government is able to do by raising tax rates or increasing tax revenue from other sources. As three prominent bankruptcy scholars noted in their recent study of consumer bankruptcy entitled The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt:


Reinvigorating Chapter 11: The Case For Reinstating The Stock-For-Debt Exception In Bankruptcy, Michelle A. Cecil Jan 2000

Reinvigorating Chapter 11: The Case For Reinstating The Stock-For-Debt Exception In Bankruptcy, Michelle A. Cecil

Faculty Publications

This Article suggests that such a proposal will harmonize the bankruptcy policy of rehabilitating financially distressed corporations with the tax policy of ensuring that true economic income is subject to federal income taxation.27 Parts II and III of this Article will trace the common law evolution of the stock-for-debt exception and its statutory codification in 1980, with particular emphasis on the stated policy justifications for the exception. Part IV will then examine the history of the repeal of the stock-for-debt exception, demonstrating that the repeal was the result of hasty political maneuvering rather than reasoned legislative decision-making. In Part V, …


Tax Exemptions And The Establishment Clause, Erika Lietzan Jan 1999

Tax Exemptions And The Establishment Clause, Erika Lietzan

Faculty Publications

Churches are exempted from a variety of taxes collected by the various levels and jurisdictions of government in the United States. For instance, they are almost always exempt from payment of property tax at the local level and from payment of income tax to both state and federal government. They are often exempt from payment of state sales tax on the products they sell. A person making a contribution to a religious organization is usually entitled to deduct the contribution from his income when calculating both his state and his federal income taxes at the end of the taxable year. …


Alternative Dispute Resolution In The Federal Tax Arena: The Internal Revenue Service Opens Its Doors To Mediation, Tonya M. Scherer Jul 1997

Alternative Dispute Resolution In The Federal Tax Arena: The Internal Revenue Service Opens Its Doors To Mediation, Tonya M. Scherer

Journal of Dispute Resolution

This Comment examines the development of the new tax mediation program, its procedures and application, and its current status. Part II reviews the Appeals process leading up to and including the choice of an avenue to resolution of taxpayer disputes other than litigation. Part III explores the new mediation program including the scope of the cases allowed, the requirements for initiating the process and the procedures for implementing the program. Part IV discusses the policy reasons behind the IRS' implementation of the specific procedures and criteria into the new tax mediation program. Finally, Part V is an update of the …


Comments On A Revised Filing System, R. Wilson Freyermuth Jan 1995

Comments On A Revised Filing System, R. Wilson Freyermuth

Faculty Publications

Professor Edward Adams's article, both in terms of its basic structure and the myriad of options it offers, neatly highlights the basic dilemma facing the Drafting Committee as it addresses the future Article 9 filing system. As he correctly notes, the filing system's shortcomings are largely due to its continued dependence on paper records, despite the increasing sophistication and availability of computerized information technology for both filing and searching. Should the Drafting Committee maintain the basics of the current system (a public, paper-based filing system) and merely attempt to identify and correct the existing shortcomings in that system, with some …


A Policy Analysis Of Fee-Shifting Rules Under The Internal Revenue Code, Gary Myers, Richard L. Schmalbeck Jan 1986

A Policy Analysis Of Fee-Shifting Rules Under The Internal Revenue Code, Gary Myers, Richard L. Schmalbeck

Faculty Publications

Until recently, the costs of litigating federal tax cases were borne exclusively by the parties who incurred them, regardless of whether the government or the taxpayer prevailed in the litigation. This practice reflects the application to tax disputes of the ‘American rule’ against fee shifting. Although the American rule continues to be predominant in the tax area, it has been modified in important respects. An explicit fee-reimbursement rule, benefiting prevailing taxpayers in cases in which the government is found to have acted unreasonably, was added to the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) by the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of …


Use Of Government Funding And Taxing Power To Regulate Schools, Carl H. Esbeck, Kline Capps Jan 1985

Use Of Government Funding And Taxing Power To Regulate Schools, Carl H. Esbeck, Kline Capps

Faculty Publications

The past two decades in America have witnessed a resurgence of interest in religious-based schooling. Manifestations of this trend are evident in the increased number of primary and secondary students enrolled in religious schools and the rapidity with which new church-affiliated schools are being opened.


Partnership Taxation: A Deceased Partner's Final Year, Michelle A. Cecil Jan 1981

Partnership Taxation: A Deceased Partner's Final Year, Michelle A. Cecil

Faculty Publications

One significant and unresolved partnership taxation problem is the taxation of a deceased partner's final year. In a recent case of first impression, Estate of Hesse v. Commissioner, the Tax Court held that the widow of a deceased partner could not include his share of partnership losses incurred during the year of his death on their final joint income tax return. Consequently, the widow lost thousands of dollars in tax refunds because the loss deductions could not offset prior taxable income. The Tax Court believed the result was illogical and unfair, but nevertheless found that the Code required the decedent's …


Realization Of Income In Deferred Payment Sales, Richard N. Nixon Jun 1969

Realization Of Income In Deferred Payment Sales, Richard N. Nixon

Missouri Law Review

This comment will consider the extent to which a taxpayer must, because he received written evidence of the buyer's obligation to pay money in the future, recognize income at the time of the sale. The obligation received could be a simple promissory note, negotiable paper, a note secured by a mortgage, or as in Heller an installment contract. Although the availability of installment sales reporting under section 453 is an important consideration in the area, the comment will not deal with that aspect of the problem. A brief history of the pertinent statutory language and a consideration of what this …