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Full-Text Articles in Law

Heteronormativity And The Federal Tax Code, Nancy J. Knauer Dec 1997

Heteronormativity And The Federal Tax Code, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

Proponents of same-sex marriage demand equal marriage rights as a matter of fundamental human dignity and as a means to gain certain legal benefits and protections. The ability to file joint federal income tax returns is invariably listed as one of the benefits associated with marriage. This outsider perspective contradicts the popular notion that the income tax is anti-marriage and offers a useful vantage point from which to analyze the marital provisions of the federal tax code, the treatment of the provisions in tax scholarship, and legislative proposals for "pro-family" tax reform. The joint filing provisions are just one example …


Taxing Personhood: Estate Taxes And The Compelled Commodification Of Identity, Ray D. Madoff Dec 1997

Taxing Personhood: Estate Taxes And The Compelled Commodification Of Identity, Ray D. Madoff

Ray D. Madoff

In this Article, Professor Madoff explores the ways in which the blunt tools of the wealth tax, and in particular the estate tax, uses a one-size-fits-all system to impose a tax on all property interests owned at the time of one’s death. Professor Madoff illustrates the ways in which these blunt tools can produce problematic results by examining their application to the right of publicity, a newly recognized property interest. Professor Madoff suggests that the imposition of the estate tax can force the commodification of an individual’s identity, regardless of one’s desire to refrain from marketing their identity, and explores …