Law Commons^™

Failed Charity: Taking State Tax Benefits Into Account For Purposes Of The Charitable Deduction, Roger Colinvaux

Scholarly Articles

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) substantially limited the ability of individuals to deduct state and local taxes (SALT) on their federal income tax returns. Some states are advancing schemes to allow taxpayers a state tax credit for contributions to a charity controlled by the state. The issue is whether state tax benefits are deductible as a charitable contribution for purposes of the federal income tax. Under a general rule of prior law—the full deduction rule—state tax benefits were ignored for purposes of the charitable deduction. If the full deduction rule is applied to the state workaround schemes, then …

"Cut—And That's A Wrap"—The Film Industry's Fleecing Of State Tax Incentive Programs, Randle B. Pollard

Scholarly Articles

State tax incentives for the film industry will remain part of the economic development program of many states despite recent troubled programs and calls by public advocacy groups to reign in or eliminate such programs. Some states have reduced or eliminated their film industry incentive programs, but accountability remains an issue for the forty-five percent of states with film incentive programs that do not require audit verification or substantiation of the benefits gained from the programs. The U.S. film industry continues to grow and there is opportunity for states with well-developed programs and rigorous compliance standards to be successful—providing net …

"Was The Deal Worth It?": The Dilemma Of States With Ineffective Economic Incentives Programs, Randle B. Pollard

Scholarly Articles

Federal subsidies to state and local governments have been substantially reduced due to public opinion prioritizing the reduction of the federal deficit, the recent "fiscal cliff" legislation, and the federal budget "sequester cuts." In addition, in many states, revenue collection from individual and corporate income tax is below prerecession levels. To address the reduction in federal funding and reduced revenue collections, state and local governments will increasingly rely on economic incentive programs to grow their economies through increased job creation and private capital investment within their jurisdictions. These economic incentive programs are no longer comprised of simple tax reductions for …

Who’S Going To Pick Up The Trash? Using The Build America Bond Program To Help State And Local Governments’ Cash Deficits, Randle B. Pollard

Scholarly Articles

All over the United States, state and local governments are facing increasing revenue deficits due to the current economic recession. Even during good economic times, state and local governments experience temporary cash-flow deficits. State and local governments use short-term municipal bond debt to finance temporary cash-flow deficits caused by the normal erratic collection of tax revenue. The issuance of short-term debt secured by future tax revenue has always been a financing tool that helped local governments with cash-flow problems.

The effects of the subprime mortgage crisis and the current recession threaten state and local governments’ ability to use this financial …