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Full-Text Articles in Tax Law
A Market For Tax Compliance, Walter E. Afield Iii
A Market For Tax Compliance, Walter E. Afield Iii
Walter E Afield III
It is becoming increasingly clear that, due to political realities and budgetary constraints, the IRS is going to have to attempt to enforce the tax laws by doing more with less. Current enforcement efforts have yielded a tax gap (i.e., the difference between the amount of taxes that should be paid and the amount that are collected) of roughly $450 billion annually. Faced with this task, one of the steps that the IRS has recently taken is to try to improve the quality in services performed by paid tax preparers, a group that historically has been subject to little IRS …
Legal Mirrors Of Entrepreneurship, Mirit Eyal-Cohen
Legal Mirrors Of Entrepreneurship, Mirit Eyal-Cohen
Mirit Eyal-Cohen
Small businesses are regarded the engine of the economy. But just what is a “small” business? Depending on where one looks in the law, the definitions vary and they differ from one section to another. Unfortunately, what these various size classifications fail to assess, are the policy considerations and the legislative intent for granting regulatory preferences to small concerns to begin with.
In the last century, the U.S. government has been cultivating one such policy of fiscal and economic growth. Consequently, Congress and private institutions have been acting to incentivize, support and reward entrepreneurship through the law in order to …
Protecting Those Who Need It Most: A Call For Change To The Tax Application Of Qualified Domestic Relations Orders When Placed Into Special Needs Trusts, Conor Francis Linehan
Protecting Those Who Need It Most: A Call For Change To The Tax Application Of Qualified Domestic Relations Orders When Placed Into Special Needs Trusts, Conor Francis Linehan
Conor Francis Linehan
This note calls for a change to the way the Internal Revenue Code is applied towards qualified domestic relations orders when used to fund or partially fund special needs trusts, specifically irrevocable (d)(4)(B) trusts created under § 1396p.
The current status of the law is that an individual can roll over a qualified domestic relations order into a new retirement account in a tax-free transfer. If an individual elects to not roll over into a new retirement fund, some additional exemptions to various early termination penalties and lump sum payments have already been carved out of the Code.
This note …
Critical Tax Policy: A Pathway To Reform?, Nancy J. Knauer
Critical Tax Policy: A Pathway To Reform?, Nancy J. Knauer
Nancy J. Knauer
The Global Recession of 2008 and ensuing austerity measures have renewed the urgency surrounding the call for fundamental tax reform. Before embarking on fundamental tax reform, this Article proposes adding a critical lens to existing US tax policy to ensure that any proposals for change are informed, transparent, and responsive to the needs (and abilities) of individual taxpayers. This Article makes the case for a specific method of inquiry – Critical Tax Policy – that is built on the articulation of difference rather than false assumptions of sameness. Critical Tax Policy incorporates the insights of a growing international tax equity …
Pfics Gone Wild!, Monica Gianni
Partisan Politics And Income Tax Rates, William E. Foster
Partisan Politics And Income Tax Rates, William E. Foster
William E Foster
With income tax reform dominating so much of the current political discourse, now is an optimal time for tax scholars to reflect on the lessons and trends from a century of legislative tinkering with the primary revenue-generating device in the United States. Tax rate changes do not occur in a vacuum, and this article explores one increasingly prominent and often overlooked ingredient in the mixture of variables that can produce or inhibit tax reform―partisan politics. It does so by comparing individual income tax rates with partisan control of federal political bodies. This article reviews majority party status in the House …