Law Commons^™

Allocating Business Profits For Tax Purposes: A Proposal To Adopt A Formulary Profit Split, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Kimberly A. Clausing, Michael C. Durst

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

The current system of taxing the income of multinational firms in the United States is flawed across multiple dimensions. The system provides an artificial tax incentive to earn income in low-tax countries, rewards aggressive tax planning, and is not compatible with any common metrics of efficiency. The U.S. system is also notoriously complex; observers are nearly unanimous in lamenting the heavy compliance burdens and the impracticality of coherent enforcement. Further, despite a corporate tax rate one standard deviation above that of other OECD countries, the U.S. corporate tax system raises relatively little revenue, due in part to the shifting of …

John C. H. Wu At The University Of Michigan School Of Law, Xiuqing Li

Articles

The following is an English language translation of a 2008 Chinese language article on John C.H. Wu, Soochow Law School LL.B. 1920 and Michigan Law School, J.D. 1921, by Professor Li Xiuqing of Shanghai's East China University of Political Science and Law. Li is a specialist in Chinese and foreign legal history, with a focus on the transplant of Western and Japanese law into China during the late imperial and modern era. She also serves as the Secretary-General of the China Foreign Legal History Association. In 2006-07, Li was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Michigan Law School, where …

The Evolution Of Property Rights: A Synthetic Overview, James E. Krier

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

In this paper I review, extend, and critique two contrasting approaches to the evolution of property rights. The legal literature on the subject is dominated by a conventional approach, which holds a virtual monopoly despite its many shortcomings, and the literature neglects an alternative approach, despite its many virtues (including, but not limited to, the virtue of responding to many of the conventional approach’s deficiencies). The paper provides an overview of both approaches, including a brief intellectual history of each – and should thus inform readers without specialized knowledge of the subject but nevertheless interested in it – and aims …

Vol. 59, No. 6, November 19, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Two Days with Desmond Tutu •Pulitzer Prof •Lawyer Video Game •Save Yourself •Between the Briefs •This is Water •The Tech Column •When You Were Cooler •The Food Court •Halloween Pics

Enforcing Dividend Withholding On Derivatives, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

The United States imposes a 30 percent withholding tax on dividends paid to nonresident aliens. However, this tax is rarely paid by portfolio investors because they can swap into U.S. securities, receiving payments to match both capital gain and dividends. Treasury has ruled that swap payments have an origin in the taxpayer’s residence so there is no withholding obligation on payments that match dividends. The proposal would impose withholding tax on dividend equivalents on the ground that there is no policy justification for a distinction between dividends, substitute dividends under securities lending transaction (which are treated as dividends and are …

Vol. 59, No. 5, October 29, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Jenny Runkles Banquet •Letter from the Editor •Tech Column •Save Yourself •Between the Briefs •Presidential Debate •This is Water •Best of LawOpen •The Food Court

Michigan Guidelines 10th Anniversary, University Of Michigan Law School

Event Materials

Program for a book launch ceremony for The Michigan Guidelines on the International Protection of Refugees.

The Professional Ethics Of Billing And Collections, Mark A. Hall, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

Medicine is a Profession on which physicians rely for their livelihood and patients for their lives. If physicians do not charge for services, they cannot survive. If patients cannot afford those services, they cannot survive. No wonder many physicians have long agreed that fees are “one of the most difficult problems . . . between patient and physician.” For years comprehensive insurance subdued this problem, but currently widespread underinsurance and consumer-directed health care are reviving it. Even as the ranks of the uninsured continue to increase,the latest hope for controlling medical costs requires insured patients to pay for much more …

Vol. 59, No. 4, October 14, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•The RG Tries Its Hand at Economic Analysis •Letter to the Editor •Nunc Pro Tunc •Kicking it Old School •Pop Linguistics •Softball Champs •Nannes •Save Yourself •Case Notes •The Food Court •Fall Recipe Bonanza

Vol. 59, No. 2, September 16, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•The Michigan Law Class of 2011 •Letter from the (New) Editor •A Few Words from Your LSSS President •The Summer Pop Music We Loved to Hate •Continuing What They Started •Don't Be a Slave to the Curve •The Inevitable Grade Curves •The Dean's Public Service PSA •Deviations from the Curve •The Food Court •Between the Briefs •Kicking it Old School •Crossword

The Resilience Of Law, Joseph Vining

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

The development of "law and economics" over the last half-century has expanded and reinforced a perception among academic lawyers that law itself is a social science. During the same period social science has moved closer to the discipline of natural science and the presuppositions and methods of its thought and work. This essay explores why law is not and cannot be a social science, and why there are grounds for hope in a future for democracy grounded in the rule of law.

China, Business Law, And Finance -- Accession To The World Trade Organization, Joseph Vining

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

China's entry into the world economy will affect not just how we act but how we think. It will affect especially what "business," "business law," and "business corporation" come to mean both in a transnational setting and in American law. The nature of American business law today still stands in the way of a wholly profit-maximizing approach to law or the world in general. But there is strong pressure, consistent with a general tendency in Western thought, to make business and corporate decision-making entirely manipulative and calculating and to eliminate the force of human value from it. This Youde Lecture …

Vol. 59, No. 1, August 25, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•All I Ever Needed to Know About OCI I Learned Doing My Laundry •How to Succeed at OCI Without Really Trying •Baby I'm an L-STAR •Dining for Dollars •Summertime Blues •Expert Advice •Kicking It Old School •Between the Briefs •No Other Warranties, Expressed or Implied •The On-Campus Interview ad Lib •Vintage RG: OCI R(G)ad Lib

Will The Tax Man Cometh To Coach Rodriguez?, Douglas A. Kahn, Jeffrey H. Kahn

Articles

There has been much in the news recently about coaches of major college sports teams moving to a new school and incurring an obligation to make payment to their old school under a buyout provision in their contract. The most recent example is the highly publicized move of Richard Rodriguez from West Virginia University to the University of Michigan. Coach Rodriguez had a contract with his former employer that required him to pay $4 million dollars to West Virginia if he left for another coaching position. After a suit was filed, it was reported that the parties agreed that the …

The Oecd Harmful Tax Competition Report: A 10th Anniversary Retrospective, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

Ten years ago the OECD published its report on Harmful Tax Competition: An Emerging Global Issue. This was followed by a series of concrete measures designed to limit some forms of harmful tax competition, such as preferential regimes in OECD countries and offshore tax havens. The OECD initiative has met considerable resistance and in some ways has fallen short of its goals. Nevertheless, this paper will argue that it has been a worthwhile effort and has achieved some measure of success. The paper will then go on to outline some future directions for the project.

Back To The Future? The Potential Revival Of Territoriality, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

Until 1993, the United States led the rest of the developed world in strengthening residence-based world-wide corporate and individual income taxation. However, since 1994 this trend seems to have been reversed, at least in part, and similar developments are taking place overseas (e.g., in France and the UK). Thus, there seems to be a trend to reduce the scope of residence jurisdiction, while increasing the emphasis on source jurisdiction. If this trend continues, it seems likely that both traditional territorial countries like France and traditional world-wide countries like to UK and the US would move toward territoriality and decrease emphasis …

Jesting Pilate, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

I have two goals this month. First, to examine a case that's in the news. Second, to counsel skepticism in reading news accounts of cases. Recently, I was talking with an admirable scholar. He said that transplant surgeons sometimes kill potential donors to obtain their organs efficiently. He added, "This isn't just an urban legend - there's a real case in California." A little research turned up California v. Roozrokh. A little Googling found stories from several reputable news sources. Their headlines indeed intimated that a transplant surgeon had tried to kill a patient to get transplantable organs. CNN.com: …

The University Of Michigan Law School Report Of Giving, July 1, 2007 - June 30, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Miscellaneous Law School History & Publications

An annual report of giving from the members of the University of Michigan Law School community.

A Coordinated Withholding Tax On Deductibility Payments, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

Prof. Avi-Yonah proposes a 35 percent withholding tax on deductible payments made to a non-U.S. resident, in coordination with other OECD members. The tax is aimed at U.S. residents posing as foreign investors and would be refundable when the beneficial owner shows that the payments have been reported to tax authorities in the owner’s country of residence.

Administration Of Territories By The United Nations: Is There Room For International Humanitarian Law?, Steven R. Ratner

Articles

The fundamental starting point of this conference is that peace operations represent a challenge to the implementation of international humanitarian law (IHL) for the simple reason that IHL was developed for states conducting hostile military operations against other states or non state actors.

Administration of territories represents one subset of peace operations – continuation of second-generation peacekeeping (PK) where parties, typically prodded by outsiders, formally delegate to the United Nations (UN) authority for the implementation of a peace agreement – though it has also been extended to situations where final status and outcome are not sure, as with East Timor …

Vol. 58, No. 12, April 8, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Michigan Grads Earning Top Salaries •Juan Luis Tienda •SFF Spread! •Davidson Hoops •Butch Carpenter •Origins Photos •Sex Questions

Vol. 58, No. 10b, April 3, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Questions & Answers About Your Future •Preview Weekend Schedule •Spotlight on Snack Bar Staff •Best of Ann Arbor •Student Org. Open House Map •Between the Briefs •Bathroom Survey

Senator Mccain’S Corporate Tax Proposals: A Critical Examination, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Other Publications

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has proposed two major changes to the corporate tax code: cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent and allowing corporations to deduct the full cost of investments in technology and equipment in the first year, an accounting process known as expensing. The first proposal aims to enhance U.S. economic competitiveness, create jobs, and increase wages. The second proposal aims in particular to boost capital expenditures and “reward investment in cutting-edge technologies.”

Both measures, if enacted by Congress, would greatly alter the role of corporate revenues in our tax system. Corporate taxes account …

Vol. 59, No. 3, September 30, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•The Inaugural ELPP Conference •Letter to the Editor •MLawLive •Kennedy •Best of LawOpen •Generation Project •Kicking it Old School •Mamdouh •The Food Court •Between the Briefs •LSSS Statements

Vol. 58, No. 11, March 18, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Law School Building Expansion •PRS, Part Deux •SFF Photos •Lethal Injection Debate •Symposia! •Blast From the Past •New Tax Group

Corporate Governance, Enforcement, And Firm Value: Evidence From India, Dhammika Dharmapala, Vikramaditya Khanna

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

This paper analyzes the effects of corporate governance reforms and enforcement on stock market development and firm value, using a sequence of corporate governance reforms in India. Our results, taken together, present a strong case for a causal effect of the reforms on firm value, and also underscore the importance of enforcement. The reforms (referred to as Clause 49 of the listing agreement) were phased in over the period 2000-2003. A large number of firms were completely exempt from the new rules, and the complex criteria for the application of Clause 49 created considerable overlap in the characteristics of affected …

Accredited Indians: Increasing The Flow Of Private Equity Into Indian Country As A Domestic Emerging Market, Gavin Clarkson

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

Indian Country is America’s domestic emerging market, and as in a number of emerging markets, many successful businesses in Indian Country are starving for expansion capital. The US Treasury estimates that the private equity deficit in Indian Country is $44 billion. While the handful of wealthier tribes might be logical investors in private equity funds deploying capital in Indian Country, the existing securities laws present a significant impediment. In particular, Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933 does not treat tribes as “accredited investors,” thus denying those tribes the ability to participate in the private equity market. Since there …

Hustle And Flow: A Social Network Analysis Of The American Federal Judiciary, Daniel Martin Katz, Derek Stafford

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

Scholars have long asserted that social structure is an important feature of a variety of societal institutions. As part of a larger effort to develop a fully integrated model of judicial decision making, we argue that social structure—operationalized as the professional and social connections between judicial actors—partially directs outcomes in the hierarchical federal judiciary.

Since different social structures impose dissimilar consequences upon outputs, the precursor to evaluating the doctrinal consequences that a given social structure imposes is a descriptive effort to characterize its nature. Given the difficulty associated with obtaining appropriate data for federal judges, it is necessary to rely …

Vol. 58, No. 9, February 19, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•PRS Registration Explained •Secret Crushes •Sex Answers •Restaurant Review •SFF Auction Preview •Date Auction Pics •Grades

Vol. 58, No. 8, January 29, 2008, University Of Michigan Law School

Res Gestae

•Professor Forman, Jr.'s Dream •Transitioning to Working Life •Bar Month Pics •Between the Briefs •Mr. Wolverine Pics •No Other Warranties Expressed or Implied •Crossword