Law Commons^™

The Proper Role Of The Estate And Gift Taxation Of Closely Held Businesses, Eric D. Chason, Robert T. Danforth

Eric D. Chason

The authors argue that the goals of estate and gift taxation are not served by taxing closely held businesses when the recipient of the business actively participates in its operation. Further, the authors suggest that taxing closely held businesses tends to harm capital production. The authors propose an approach to estate and gift taxation that encourages productive behavior by the recipients of wealth.

The Uneasy Case For Deferring Banker Pay, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

No abstract provided.

Why Pension Funding Matters, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

No abstract provided.

Toward A Practical Estate-Tax Exclusion For Family-Run Businesses: Analysis Of Section 2033a And Proposal For Reform, Eric D. Chason, Robert T. Danforth

Eric D. Chason

In a previous work appearing in this Journal, the authors proposed an approach to estate and gift taxation that encourages productive behavior by the recipients of wealth. In this Article, the authors analyze, in the context of their earlier work, the new estate-tax exclusion for closely held businesses (section 2033A) created by the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. The authors describe the features of a practical family-run business exclusion and conclude that section 2033A, in its present form, fails as a practical exclusion. The authors catalogue those elements of section 2033A that should be retained and propose reforms of those …

The Economic Ambiguity (And Possible Irrelevance) Of Tax Transition Rules, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

No abstract provided.

Settlements And Waivers Affecting Pension Benefits Under Erisa, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

Waivers affecting pension benefits may be entered into as part of a controversy (for example, a settlement agreement) or in isolation (for example, a disclaimer). Under current law, however, it is unclear how these waivers fit within the protections of ERISA, particularly the antialienation rule. Courts have generally honored settlement agreements so long as they are procedurally fair to participants. However, the antialienation rule looms in the background. The IRS and Treasury, in contrast, have focused on waivers outside the settlement context, prohibiting participants from making them but allowing beneficiaries to do so if the waiver satisfies gift-tax rules for …

Taxing Systemic Risk, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

A tax on the harmful elements of finance—a tax on systemic risk—would raise revenue and also lower the likelihood of future crisis. Financial institutions, which pay the tax, would try to minimize its cost by lowering their systemic risk. In theory, a tax on systemic risk is perfect policy. In practice, however, this perfect policy is unattainable. Tax laws need clear definitions to be administrable. Our current understanding of systemic risk is too abstract and too metaphorical to serve as a target for taxation.

Despite the absence of a clear definition of systemic risk, academics and policy makers continue to …

Taxing Losers, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

The U.S. tax system, like most in the world, benefits capital gains in two ways. Investors can defer paying tax until they "realize" any gain (typically by sale) rather than when the gain simply occurs via rising prices. Additionally, individual investors pay a lower, preferred rate on their long-term capital gains as compared to their other ordinary income (such as compensation or business profits).

However, investors face a burden with respect to their capital losses. Rather than allowing for unlimited capital loss deductions, the Code largely forces investors to match their capital losses against their capital gains. Limits on capital …

The Post-Tarp Movement To Regulate Banker Pay, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

No abstract provided.

Outlawing Pension-Funding Shortfalls, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

Before ERISA, employees faced a large risk that their employers would default or renege on pension obligations. By creating a federal guarantor of pensions (the PBGC), ERISA has greatly reduced this risk. All else being equal, low-risk pensions are worth more to employees but cost more to provide. Congress has never had a coherent policy on who should pay for these extra costs. Moreover, legal scholars have failed to create a theoretical framework for dealing with these costs, focusing instead on the supposed "moral hazard" that the PBGC guaranty creates. This Article inserts itself into the scholarly vacuum, asserting that …

Quantifying The Tax Advantage Of Deferred Compensation, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

No abstract provided.

Redressing All Erisa Fiduciary Breaches Under Section 409 (A), Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

No abstract provided.

Executive Compensation And Tax Neutrality: Taxing The Investment Component Of Deferred Compensation, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

No abstract provided.

Deferred Compensation Reform: Taxing The Fruit Of The Tree In Its Proper Season, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

Executive pensions (or deferred compensation) grabbed headlines after Enron's collapse and fresh concerns over ever-increasing executive pay. They also grabbed the attention of Congress, which reformed executive pensions legislatively in 2004 with § 409A of the Internal Revenue Code. Section 409A merely tightens and clarifies the doctrines that had already governed executive pensions, leaving the basic economics of executive pensions unchanged. Executives can still defer taxation on current compensation until actual payment is made in the future. Deferral still comes at the same price to the employer, namely the deferral of its deduction for the compensation expense. Thus, the timing …

Office Hours: What's The Deal With Bitcoin?, Jeffrey Bellin, Michaela Lieberman, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

February 6, 2018: Today’s guest is William & Mary Law School Professor Eric Chason who discusses the legal implications of Bitcoin, while also telling us about his childhood, musical talents, and more.

Extending The Taxation-Of-Risk Model To Timing Options And Marked-To-Market Taxes, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

No abstract provided.

How Bitcoin Functions As Property Law, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

Bitcoin replicates many of the formal aspects of real estate transactions. Bitcoin transactions have features that closely resemble grantor names, grantee names, legal descriptions, and signatures found in real property deeds. While these “Bitcoin deeds” may be interesting, they are not profound. Bitcoin goes beyond creating simple digital deeds, however, and replicates important institutional aspects of real estate transactions, in particular recordation and title assurance. Deeds to real property are recorded in a central repository (e.g., the public records office), which the parties (and the public) can search to determine title. When one grantor executes more than one deed covering …

Naked And Covered In Monte Carlo: A Reappraisal Of Option Taxation, Eric D. Chason

Eric D. Chason

The market for equity options and related derivatives is staggering, covering trillions of dollars worth of assets. As a result, the taxation of these instruments is inherently important. Moreover, the importance is made even more acute by the use of options in creating more complex transactions and in avoiding taxes. Consider an equity call option, which entitles, but does not obligate, its holder to buy stock at a set price at a set time in the future. Option theory gives us a way to break the option down into more fundamental units. For example, an equity call option over 10,000 …