Tax Law Commons^™

Tax Complexity And Technology, David I. Walker

Indiana Law Journal

The Federal Income Tax Code has become increasingly complex over time with the implication that many taxpayers no longer understand the connection between their life decisions and their taxes. Some commentators have suggested that increasing computational complexity may be attributable in part to the proliferation of tax preparation software that renders such complexity manageable at filing time, but otherwise does nothing to mitigate the “black box” nature of the tax system. While such complexity and opacity undercut explicit incentives embedded in the Code, make planning more difficult, and undermine political accountability for taxes, they may also reduce the inefficient distortion …

Why A Federal Wealth Tax Is Constitutional, Ari Glogower, David Gamage, Kitty Richards

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The 2020 Democratic presidential primaries brought national attention to a new direction for the tax system: a federal wealth tax for the wealthiest taxpayers. During their campaigns, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) both introduced proposals to tax the wealth of multimillionaires and billionaires, and to use the revenue for public investments, including in health care and education. These reforms generated broad public support—even among many Republicans—and broadened the conversation over the future of progressive tax reform.

A well-designed, high-end wealth tax can level the playing field in an unequal society and promote shared economic prosperity.

Critics have …

Mandatory Tax Penalty Insurance, Michael Abramowicz

Indiana Law Journal

In a mandatory tax penalty insurance regime, taxpayers would be required to find insurers to certify portions of their tax returns. A certifying insurer would be subject to a governmental auditing regime insurers of randomly selected filings would pay an amount equal to the inverse of the selection probability multiplied by the underpayment, or they would receive money from the government in the case of overpayment. The insurers function as private auditors with no incentive to underestimate their customers' tax liability. Such a regime will consume real resources, ultimately paid by taxpayers, and thus should not be imposed universally. But …

Reforming State Corporate Income Taxes Can Yield Billions, Darien Shanske, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, David Gamage

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The federal government should be providing states and localities with hundreds of billions of dollars in aid. The arguments against such aid, including the claim that the states have somehow been profligate, do not stand up to scrutiny. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that the federal government will do enough, and it is already the case that the federal government is acting too slowly. States and local governments, which generally operate under balanced budget constraints, are, accordingly, already making sweeping cuts4 that will deepen the recession and reduce services when they are most needed.

Rather than make these cuts, it would …

A Georgist Perspective Of Petroleum Taxation, Joseph Leeson

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Over a century ago, the town of Arden, Delaware, was founded on a unique single-tax-community system that radically altered the popular concept of land ownership. This system was premised on concepts developed by a man few know today but who was a major figure in economics during the 1800s, Henry George. George's public finance theory has been described as having received "intermittent attention over the years, with many eminent names in economics making at least a passing comment, but it has seen comparably little action in the policy debate arena and has been largely ignored by the modern era of …

Money That Costs Too Much: Regulating Financial Incentives, Kristen Underhill

Indiana Law Journal

Money may not corrupt. But should we worry if it corrodes? Legal scholars in a range of fields have expressed concern about “motivational crowding-out,” a process by which offering financial rewards for good behavior may undermine laudable social motivations, like professionalism or civic duty. Disquiet about the motivational impacts of incentives has now extended to health law, employment law, tax, torts, contracts, criminal law, property, and beyond. In some cases, the fear of crowding-out has inspired concrete opposition to innovative policies that marshal incentives to change individual behavior. But to date, our fears about crowding-out have been unfocused and amorphous; …

Afterlife Of The Death Tax, Samuel D. Brunson

Indiana Law Journal

More than a century ago, Congress enacted the modern estate tax to help pay for World War I. Unlike previous iterations of the estate tax, though, this one outlived the war and accumulated additional goals beyond merely raising revenue. The estate tax helped ensure the progressivity of the tax system as a whole, and it limited the hereditary ability to accumulate wealth.

This modern estate tax almost instantly met with opposition, though. The opposition has never been sufficient to entirely eliminate the estate tax, but it has severely weakened its ability to raise revenue and to prevent the accumulation of …

Reducing Information Gaps To Reduce The Tax Gap: When Is Information Reporting Warranted?, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A core problem for enforcement of tax laws is asymmetric information. The taxpayer knows the facts regarding the relevant transactions it engages in during the year-or at least has ready access to that information. The government is forced to play catch-up, obtaining that information either from the taxpayer or from third parties. Information reporting is routinely used to address this information gap. The government obtains information about the taxpayer's tax situation from a third party and-equally important-the taxpayer knows that the government has received that information. This fosters taxpayer honesty. Information reporting is not a panacea, however. It imposes costs …

The Death Of The Income Tax (Or, The Rise Of America’S Universal Wage Tax), Edward J. Mccaffery

Indiana Law Journal

The killing of the income tax has not been open and notorious: such is not the style of contemporary politics. As with other markers of progressive social policy—the promises of universal health care, Obamacare, come to mind6—the income tax is dying a death by stealth, albeit stealth played out in plain view. The plot lines of the tragedy are apparent. The individual “income” tax has been split in two. One tax, for the masses, is a simple, increasingly formless wage tax. This wage/income tax adds higher brackets onto the payroll tax, the model toward which the wage/income tax aims, to …

The New Rollover Rules And Twenty Percent Withholding Tax On Pension Distributions: Does Good Pension Policy Favor Their Repeal?, Leandra Lederman

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Income Taxation Of Estates And Trusts-Gifts Of Specific Property, William R. Pietz

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Estate Tax Application To The Gifts To Minors Act, William C. Reynolds

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Federal Estate Tax--Inter Vivios--Transfers Under Sections 2035-38-Taxation Of Income Earned Between Transfer And Death

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Estate Tax Marital Deduction-Revenue Procedure 64-19

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Inequities In Corporate Payments To Widows

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Tax Management Of Estates And Trusts, By Practising Law Institute, Merle H. Miller

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Death And Taxes-Code Section 126 And The Developing Taxable Income Concept

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

What You Should Know About Estate And Gift Taxes, By J.K. Lasser, Phillip Z. Leighton

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Tax Problems Of Revocable Trusts, Byron E. Bronston

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Transfers Intended To Take Effect At Or After Death

Indiana Law Journal

Recent Cases: Taxation

Gift Taxability Of Divorce Settlements

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Valuation Of Future Interests For Federal Tax Purposes

Indiana Law Journal

Notes and Comments: Taxation

Taxation-Tax Status Of Will Contestants-Influence Of State Law On The Interpretation Of Federal Tax Statutes

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Taxation-Estate Tax-Gift In Contemplation Of Death

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Taxation-Jurisdiction To Tax Trust Property-The Trust Device As An Instrumentality For Avoiding Taxation

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Final Determination Of Domicil In The United States, Fowler V. Harper

Indiana Law Journal

Reprinted from Pennsylvania Bar Quarterly, April, 1934

The Theory And Practice Of Modern Taxation, By William R. Green, Robert C. Brown

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Taxation-Inheritance Tax, Intangible Property-Due Process Of Law

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Taxation-Due Process-Gifts In Contemplation Of Death

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.