Taxation-State and Local Commons^™

Taxation Burden And Fairness In Nevada, Bernard Malamud, Marc Hechter

Social Health of Nevada Reports

Nevada has long been a low-tax state. In a 1968 study, The Amount and Source of State Taxes in Nevada, Robert Rieke reported taxes on Nevada residents were considerably below the national average as a fraction of income. These taxes were regressive, falling more heavily on low income Nevadans than on high income Nevadans.

Point & Counterpoint: Should The Home Mortgage Interest Deduction Be Reduced?, Deborah Geier, Stuart G. Lazar

Other Scholarship

Included among President Bush’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform’s recommendations were three proposals related to the current home mortgage interest deduction. Instead of a deduction, the panel recommended a flat 15% credit. Instead of the current $1,100,000 mortgage caps, the panel recommended a mortgage cap based on the median regional price of housing. Finally, the panel recommended limiting the deduction to interest paid on only one home and eliminating the deduction for interest on home equity indebtedness.

The Panel Report praises the Tax Reform Act of 1986, albeit with a caveat: “While the 1986 Act was a historic event, …

The Future Of The Dormant Commerce Clause: Abolishing The Prohibition On Discriminatory Taxation, Edward A. Zelinsky, Brannon P. Denning

Faculty Articles

Professor Edward A. Zelinsky, of the Cardozo School of Law, argues that "[i] t is time to abolish the dormant Commence Clause prohibition on discriminatory taxation." This is so, he writes, because "the prohibition is today doctrinally incoherent and politically unnecessary." The incoherence, Zelinsky maintains, stems from the disparate treatment by the United States Supreme Court of economically identical activities: "discriminatory taxation favoring local industries," which the doctrine prohibits, and "direct expenditures subsidizing those same industries," which it permits. It is unnecessary, Zelinsky argues, because Congress is able, and better suited, to police any state abuses. In short, "[l]ike a …

Federal Constitutional Restraints On Tax Competition Among The American States, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

This article examines the judicially developed rules limiting interstate tax competition in the United States and the constitutional framework out of which they arise.

Cuno And Congress: An Analysis Of Proposed Federal Legislation Authorizing State Economic Development Incentives, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

If anything is clear about Cuno and the controversy the opinion has spawned, it is that Congress has the last word on the matter. Whether Congress will speak to the issues Cuno has raised is currently an open question, although in one narrow respect Congress already has. Broader legislation, however, has been introduced into Congress as the "Economic Development Act of 2005," and debate over the efficacy and wisdom of this proposal is as intense as the debate over the defensibility of Cuno itself. My purpose here is not to join that debate, although I am already on record as …