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Full-Text Articles in Law
Only Congress Can Create Deductions, Deborah A. Geier
Only Congress Can Create Deductions, Deborah A. Geier
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
A series of recent and controversial cases has raised the issue of how plaintiffs must treat attorneys' fees and costs that are paid out of otherwise includable settlement or litigation awards. Everyone seems to agree that under tax policy and theory plaintiffs should not be saddled with this burden. Many have expressed the desire that Congress amend the Code to correct the problem. The more difficult question, which the author addresses, is whether courts can act to protect these plaintiffs in the absence of Congressional action.
Some Meandering Thoughts On Plaintiffs And Their Attorneys' Fees And Costs, Deborah A. Geier
Some Meandering Thoughts On Plaintiffs And Their Attorneys' Fees And Costs, Deborah A. Geier
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
This article examines statutory interpretation in general and the common-law doctrines at issue in particular (the assignment-of-income doctrine as well as the doctrine first identified in the seminal case of Old Colony Trust). While the author believes that these plaintiffs ought--as a matter of policy and income tax theory--to escape taxation on the amounts paid to their attorneys, she belives that the issue is truly a " deduction" issue, not a "gross income" issue. The article concludes, however, that the ill-fitting application of "gross income" doctrine in this context leads to indefensible distinctions that sound superficially plausible under the rubric …
Some Thoughts On The Incidence Of Foreign Taxes, Deborah A. Geier
Some Thoughts On The Incidence Of Foreign Taxes, Deborah A. Geier
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
This 2000 article was prompted by the fact pattern and Tax Court decision in Compaq Computer v. Commissioner, 113 T.C. 363 (1999). While other commentary has focused on the application of the "economic substance" doctrine in this case, this article focuses instead on the ability to take foreign tax credits based not on economic incidence but on legal incidence and how this allows for crediting of foreign taxes economically borne by other actors in the marketplace.
The Unconstitutionality Of Eliminating Estate And Gift Taxes, James G. Wilson
The Unconstitutionality Of Eliminating Estate And Gift Taxes, James G. Wilson
Law Faculty Articles and Essays
The recent proposal to eliminate estate and gift taxes is not only immoral and a poor allocation of resources, but also is unconstitutional. Irrespective of their ideology, virtually all American lawyers will initially dismiss this accusation as frivolous because it conflicts with their tradition of equating conceptions of "constitutionality" with United States Supreme Court opinions. The Court has long been highly deferential to Congress in federal tax law cases. It is inconceivable that the current Court would find anything "irrational" in a facially neutral law eliminating all estate and gift taxes. Indeed, if I sat on that bench, I would …