Law Commons^™

Americans' Unwillingness To Pay Taxes Before The American Revolution: An Uncomfortable Legacy, Richard A. Westin

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

When one reflects on the sorry condition of America’s finances one has to wonder why there is such resistance to fiscal discipline. Is it merely because there is an obstreperous group in the US Congress who cannot abide any tax? Has the public been subtly lobbied into believing that American taxes are high, pointless and intolerable or is there some gene in the America’s body politic that has always been there that expresses itself from time to time in a pernicious cheapness? Perhaps all those things are true, or perhaps none. Nevertheless, a glance backward at Colonial days can stimulate …

The Commerciality Doctrine As Applied To The Charitable Tax Exemption For Homes For The Aged: State And Local Tax Perspectives, David A. Brennen

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This essay examines the question of how state and local government officials should consider federal tax law principles, like the commerciality doctrine, when they challenge state and local property tax exemptions that rely, at least in part, on tax-exempt charitable status for federal income tax purposes. In particular, this essay uses the example of continuing care retirement communities to consider tax-exempt law’s commerciality doctrine in an attempt to discern distinctions between “homes for the aged” that are “charitable,” and thus entitled to exemption, and those that are too commercial, and thus not entitled to exemption. In fact, one might say …

State And Local Taxation Of Interstate And Foreign Commerce: The Second Best Solution, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Our current system of state and local taxation of interstate and foreign commerce, simply put, is a mess. First, the mere number of jurisdictions that may impose taxes is seemingly limitless: each of the fifty states, plus the District of Columbia, may impose its own set of taxes. In addition, each state may authorize local government units within the state, such as counties, municipalities, townships, and special districts, to assess and collect taxes. For example, in 1994, well over 6,000 separate jurisdictions were authorized to impose sales taxes.

Second, the states may impose a wide variety of taxes and may …