Tax Law Commons^™

Irresponsibly Taxing Irresponsibility: The Individual Tax Penalty Under The Affordable Care Act, Francine J. Lipman, James Owens

Scholarly Works

In recent decades, Congress has used the federal income tax system increasingly to administer and deliver social benefits. This transition is consistent with the evolution of the American welfare system into workfare over the last several decades. As more and more social welfare benefits are conditioned upon work, family composition, and means-tested by income levels, the income tax system where this data is already systematically aggregated, authenticated, and processed has become the go-to administrative agency.

Nevertheless, as the National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson has noted there are “substantial differences between benefits agencies and enforcement agencies in terms of culture, mindset, …

Tax Constitutional Questions In “Obamacare”: National Federation Of Independent Business V. Sebelius In Light Of Citizens United V. Federal Election Commission And Speiser V. Randall: Conditioning A Tax Benefit On The Nonexercise Of A Constitutional Right, John R. Dorocak

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “The phrase “Tax Constitutional Questions” may seem to be an oxymoron or at least an interesting juxtaposition somewhat akin to the phrase “passive activity” derived from Section 469 of the Internal Revenue Code, which is familiar to tax practitioners, professors, and perhaps others. It has been noted elsewhere that it is seemingly normal that tax professors (and tax practitioners) are somewhat isolated from such weighty issues as constitutional questions.

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Despite what may be the tax bar’s seeming reluctance to engage in constitutional questions, those questions are nevertheless thrust upon tax practitioners and professors. Perhaps nowhere has the intersection …

Obamacare And The 'What Is A Tax?' Issue – Part I, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

One of the hardiest perennials in the garden of state and local tax issues is the question whether particular revenue measures should be classified as taxes or some other type of exaction. The issue has been dispositive in numerous state and local tax cases and, befitting that significance, has been the topic of many reports in this journal.

Given the frequency of the decisions and commentary, authorities cited on the issue constantly evolve. State courts, omnivorous in their search for precedents and rationales, often cite federal cases. Recognizing this, a recent article in State Tax Notes examined decisions of the …

The Anti-Injunction Act And The Individual Mandate, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

The Supreme Court will soon consider challenges to constitutionality of the so-called individual mandate portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA). It is important for the nation that the Court render a decision on the merits. This could be derailed, however, were the Court to dispose of the case by holding that the Anti-Injunction Act (AIA) and the Declaratory Judgment Act (DJA) preclude pre-enforcement review. Disposition on those grounds would subject the federal government, states, businesses, and individuals to years of additional uncertainty, inconvenience, and expense.

Fortunately, that threat to resolution on the merits can …