Law Commons^™

Tax Expenditure Analysis And Constitutional Decisions , Linda Sugin

Faculty Scholarship

This article looks at the significance of the similarities and differences between tax benefits and direct spending for purposes of the equal protection and establishment clauses, with a particular focus on the charitable contribution deduction. Because economic equivalence is not critical under these constitutional provisions, tax expenditure analysis is not relevant to the legal analysis. While this article deals only briefly with numerous provisions of the Code and analyzes only two constitutional provisions, it provides a model for considering the constitutionality of any tax provision.