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Full-Text Articles in Law
Covid-19 And Us Tax Policy: What Needs To Change?, Reuven Avi-Yonah
Covid-19 And Us Tax Policy: What Needs To Change?, Reuven Avi-Yonah
Articles
The COVID-19 Pandemic already feels like a historical turning point akin to Word Wars I and II and the Great Depression. It may signal the end of the second period of globalization (1980-2020) and a change in the relative positions of the US and China. It could also lead in the US to significant changes in tax policy designed to bolster the social safety net which was revealed as very porous during the pandemic. In what follows I will first discuss some short-term effects of the pandemic and then some potential longer-term effects on US tax policy.
The Digital Consumption Tax, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Nir Fishbien
The Digital Consumption Tax, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Nir Fishbien
Articles
Amid rising tension between the United States and France over the Digital Services Tax (DST), this article propositions the imposition of a Digital Consumption Tax, rather than the gross-receipts DST. The Digital Consumption Tax is not a new tax. It is a consumption tax (i.e. Value-Added Tax, or VAT, in Europe and sales tax in the United States) that is imposed on digital transactions. Such consumption tax would be applied on the seemingly free interaction between Facebook (and other companies alike) and its Users. This interaction, under which Users gain access to the Facebook platform for ‘free’ – should be …
Holding U.S. Corporations Accountable: The Convergence Of U.S. International Tax Policy And Human Rights, Jacqueline Lainez Flanagan
Holding U.S. Corporations Accountable: The Convergence Of U.S. International Tax Policy And Human Rights, Jacqueline Lainez Flanagan
Journal Articles
International human rights litigation underscores the inverse relationship between corporate power and corporate accountability, with recent Supreme Court decisions demonstrating increased judicial protections of corporate rights and decreased corporate accountability. This article explores these recent decisions through a tax justice framework and argues that the convergence of international human rights law and U.S. international tax policy affords alternate methods to hold corporations accountable for violations of international law norms. The article specifically proposes higher scrutiny of foreign tax credits and an anti-deferral regime targeting the international activity of U.S. corporations that use subsidiaries to shelter income and decrease taxation while …
The Economics Of American Higher Education In The New Gilded Age, Paul Campos
The Economics Of American Higher Education In The New Gilded Age, Paul Campos
Publications
No abstract provided.
Taxation And Incentives In The Business Enterprise, David Gamage, Shruti Rana
Taxation And Incentives In The Business Enterprise, David Gamage, Shruti Rana
Faculty Scholarship
This book chapter discusses the tax perspective on business enterprise law with a comparative focus on the U.S. and Japan.
Can America Govern Itself?: Deficits, Debt, And Delay, Ron Haskins
Can America Govern Itself?: Deficits, Debt, And Delay, Ron Haskins
Brookings Scholar Lecture Series
America has now been in the throes of a deficit and debt crisis for nearly a decade. Over the last three years, the federal government has tied itself in knots trying to reach a long-term solution. Any effective solution will involve tax increases and entitlement cuts. But both parties have been unwilling to openly bargain about either the tax increases or spending cuts they are willing to consider as part of a grand bargain. Why are both parties being so intransigent? What are the prospects for a grand bargain and what might it look like? What are the consequences if …
The U.S. Tax System: Where Do We Go From Here?, Adele C. Morris
The U.S. Tax System: Where Do We Go From Here?, Adele C. Morris
Brookings Scholar Lecture Series
This talk will explore how the U.S. tax system really works, where revenue comes from, where spending goes, what a tax expenditure is, and discuss deficit prognoses and how the recent political debates could affect our economy. The speaker will highlight some advantages and disadvantages of different budget balancing options.
“Early-Bird Special” Indeed!: Why The Tax Anti-Injunction Act Permits The Present Challenges To The Minimum Coverage Provision, Neil S. Siegel, Michael C. Dorf
“Early-Bird Special” Indeed!: Why The Tax Anti-Injunction Act Permits The Present Challenges To The Minimum Coverage Provision, Neil S. Siegel, Michael C. Dorf
Faculty Scholarship
In view of the billions of dollars and enormous effort that might otherwise be wasted, the public interest will be best served if the Supreme Court of the United States decides the present challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) during its October 2011 Term. Potentially standing in the way, however, is the federal Tax Anti-Injunction Act (TAIA), which bars any “suit for the purpose of restraining the assessment or collection of any tax.” The dispute to date has turned on the fraught and complex question of whether the ACA's exaction for being uninsured qualifies as a …
Not The Power To Destroy: An Effects Theory Of The Tax Power, Neil S. Siegel, Robert D. Cooter
Not The Power To Destroy: An Effects Theory Of The Tax Power, Neil S. Siegel, Robert D. Cooter
Faculty Scholarship
The Supreme Court’s “new federalism” decisions impose modest limits on the regulatory authority of Congress under the Commerce Clause. According to those decisions, the Commerce Clause empowers Congress to use penalties to regulate interstate commerce, but not to regulate noncommercial conduct. What prevents Congress from penalizing non-commercial conduct by calling a penalty a tax and invoking the Taxing Clause? The only obstacle is the distinction between a penalty and a tax for purposes of Article I, Section 8. In National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (NFIB), the Court considered whether the minimum coverage provision in the Patient …
The Unjustified Subsidy: Sovereign Wealth Funds And The Foreign Sovereign Tax Exemption, Jennifer Bird-Pollan
The Unjustified Subsidy: Sovereign Wealth Funds And The Foreign Sovereign Tax Exemption, Jennifer Bird-Pollan
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
The taxation of Sovereign Wealth Funds in the United States is outmoded and due for reconsideration. Offering a tax exemption to the billion dollar investment funds owned by foreign governments is both unfair and ineffective. Founded in the principles of sovereign immunity, the foreign sovereign tax exemption, codified in I.R.C. § 892, fails to satisfy the Congressional goals that motivated its creation. This Article explains the current taxation of foreign sovereigns and, by extension, Sovereign Wealth Funds. It then illustrates that the current exemption is simultaneously too broad, providing a tax exemption for activities that are clearly nongovernmental activities, and …
Rethinking Treaty Shopping: Lessons For The European Union, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, C. H. Panayi
Rethinking Treaty Shopping: Lessons For The European Union, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, C. H. Panayi
Book Chapters
Whilst treaty shopping is not a new phenomenon, it remains as controversial as ever. It would seem that the more countries try to deal with it, the wider the disagreements as to what is improper treaty shopping and what is legitimate tax planning. In this paper, we reassess the traditional quasi-definitions of treaty shopping in an attempt to delineate the contours of such practices. We examine the various theoretical arguments advanced to justify the campaign against treaty shopping. We also consider the current trends in treaty shopping and the anti-treaty shopping policies under the OECD Model and the US Model. …
Decentralizing Family: An Inclusive Proposal For Individual Tax Filing In The United States, Anthony C. Infanti
Decentralizing Family: An Inclusive Proposal For Individual Tax Filing In The United States, Anthony C. Infanti
Articles
The debate in the United States over individual versus joint federal income tax filing is at something of a crossroads. For decades, progressive - and, particularly, feminist - scholars have urged us to abolish the joint return in favor of individual filing. On the rare occasion when scholars have described what such an individual filing system might look like, the focus has been on the ways in which the traditional family must be accommodated in an individual filing system. These descriptions generally do not take into account - let alone remedy - the tax system’s ongoing failure to address the …
Summary And Recommendations (Symposium On Designing A Federal Vat, Part I), Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Summary And Recommendations (Symposium On Designing A Federal Vat, Part I), Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
For the past thirty-five years, the debate on fundamental tax reform in the United States has centered on whether some type of consumption tax would replace all or part of the federal income tax. In my opinion, this debate has now been decided. Given recent budgetary developments and the impending eligibility of the baby boom generation for Social Security and Medicare, we cannot dispense with the revenue from the corporate and individual income tax. Moreover, we will need huge amounts of additional revenue, and most informed observers believe that the only plausible source for such revenues is a federal value-added …
Misguided Relief: The Real Property Tax Addition To The Standard Deduction, Alan L. Feld
Misguided Relief: The Real Property Tax Addition To The Standard Deduction, Alan L. Feld
Faculty Scholarship
The push to use federal money for benevolent purposes occasionally produces more cost than benefit, particularly when the outlay comes in the form of taxes forgiven. The Housing Assistance Tax Act of 2008 added a supplement to the basic standard deduction. A nonitemizing taxpayer may claim a deduction for real property taxes paid, up to $500, $1,000 in the case of a joint return. Initially, the change applied only to 2008, but subsequent legislation extended its life through 2009, and pending legislation would make it a permanent part of the Code. Although well intentioned, the real property tax provision makes …
Comment On Yin, Reforming The Taxation Of Foreign Direct Investment By Us Taxpayers, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Comment On Yin, Reforming The Taxation Of Foreign Direct Investment By Us Taxpayers, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
In this excellent article, George Yin addresses an important proposal by the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. The Advisory Panel proposed that the United States should permanently switch from taxing the parent corporation of U.S. multinationals on worldwide income to a modified territorial regime under which dividends paid out of active business income would be exempt from U.S. tax.' The Joint Committee on Taxation made a similar recommendation.2
The Control Of Avoidance: The United States Alternative, John Tiley, Erik M. Jensen
The Control Of Avoidance: The United States Alternative, John Tiley, Erik M. Jensen
Faculty Publications
This article, jointly written by a British and an American academic, describes the American experience in identifying and attacking tax avoidance. The article was part of a symposium issue of the British Tax Review, published by Sweet and Maxwell, devoted to tax avoidance issues around the globe.
The Three Goals Of Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Three Goals Of Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
The current debate in the United States about whether the income tax should be replaced with a consumption tax has been waged on the traditional grounds for evaluating tax policy: efficiency, equity, and administrability. For example, Joseph Bankman and David Weisbach recently argued for the superiority of an ideal consumption tax over an ideal income tax on three grounds: First, that the consumption tax is more efficient because it does not discriminate between current and future consumption,' while both income and consumption taxes have identical effect on work effort. Second, that the consumption tax is at least as good at …
The Report Of The President's Advisory Panel On Federal Tax Reform: A Critical Assessment And A Proposal, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Report Of The President's Advisory Panel On Federal Tax Reform: A Critical Assessment And A Proposal, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
ON November 1, 2005, The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform ("Panel") submitted its report ("Report") to the Secretary of the Treasury.1 At 272 pages, this is the most important and wide-ranging plan to reform the United States federal tax system since Blueprints for Basic Tax Reform (1977).2 While prospects for immediate action appear dim, the Report will no doubt be the basis of discussion of federal tax reform for a long time to come.
All Of A Piece Throughout: The Four Ages Of U.S. International Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
All Of A Piece Throughout: The Four Ages Of U.S. International Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
This paper divides up the history of U.S. international taxation into four periods, on the basis of what was the basic theoretical principle underlying the major legislative enactments made in each period. The first period lasted from the adoption of the Foreign Tax Credit in 1918 to the end of the Eisenhower Administration, and was dominated by the concept of the right to tax as flowing from benefits conferred by the taxing state. The second period lasted from 1960 until the end of the Carter Administration, and was dominated by the concept of capital export neutrality and an emphasis on …
2002 Eleventh Circuit Survey: Federal Taxation, David A. Brennen
2002 Eleventh Circuit Survey: Federal Taxation, David A. Brennen
Law Faculty Scholarly Articles
During 2002 federal courts in the United States decided nineteen cases that directly impact federal tax law in the Eleventh Circuit. These cases involve a variety of tax law matters including Federal Insurance Contributions Act ("FICA") payroll tax, estate and gift tax, IRS authority to levy and assess tax, and discharges in bankruptcy. Other tax-related matters addressed by courts in 2002 that impact tax law in the Eleventh Circuit include inventory recapture in an S-corporation conversion, attorney fees for the prevailing party in a tax dispute, and injunctions against tax preparers. By far the most important tax case decided in …
Negotiated Sovereignty: Intergovernmental Agreements With American Indian Tribes As Models For Expanding First Nations’ Self-Government, David H. Getches
Negotiated Sovereignty: Intergovernmental Agreements With American Indian Tribes As Models For Expanding First Nations’ Self-Government, David H. Getches
Publications
Constitutional issues related to First Nations sovereignty have dominated Aboriginal affairs in Canada for a considerable period. The constitutional entrenchment of Aboriginal self-government has, however, received a setback with the recent failure of the Charlottetown Accord in October of 1992. Nonetheless, day-to-day issues must be accommodated, even while this more fundamental constitutional question remains unresolved. This paper illustrates the American experience with negotiated intergovernmental agreements between tribes and individual states. These agreements have, for example, resolved jurisdictional disputes over taxation, solid waste disposal, and law enforcement between state governments and tribal authorities. The author suggests that these intergovernmental agreements in …
United States Tax Treaty Policy: An Overview, H. David Rosenbloom, Stanley Langbein
United States Tax Treaty Policy: An Overview, H. David Rosenbloom, Stanley Langbein
Articles
No abstract provided.