Taxation-State and Local Commons^™

The Technology Requirements Of The First Electronic Monitoring Agreement In Us For Zappers, Phantomware, And Other Sales Suppression Devices, Richard Thompson Ainsworth, Robert Chicoine

Faculty Scholarship

On August 30, 2017, a plea was entered in the case of case of State of Washington v. Wong, Wash. Super. Ct., No. 16-1-00179-0, and as a result the first electronic monitoring agreement of sales transactions in the US (the “Monitoring Agreement”) was legislatively imposed on a retail business.

The Monitoring Agreement was negotiated between the State of Washington Department of Revenue (the “WA DOR”) and the taxpayer over a period of several months and is comprised of two parts: the basic agreement, which covered the obligations and rights of the parties, and an appendix, which defines the scope of …

A Progressive Federal Tax Credit For State Tax Payments, Eric Kades

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

The Gordian Knot: How The United States, The European Union, And Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development Took Action Against Corporate Tax Avoidance, Katlyn Twomey

Honors Projects in History and Social Sciences

In 2016, the United States had the highest corporate tax rate in the world. Perhaps, the high tax rate could be why American corporations are holding an estimated $2.5 trillion abroad (Cox 2016). According to a study by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. firms pay a measly 3% in tax to foreign governments on those profits, rather than the 35% U.S. corporate tax rate. How are these corporations able to legally avoid paying taxes on a large percentage of their profits? Many use various loopholes in the laws to shift profits into other countries or U.S. states referred to …

Taking Tax Due Process Seriously: The Give And Take Of State Taxation, Hayes R. Holderness

Law Faculty Publications

As the Internet has increased the ease and amount of interstate transactions, the states have struggled to require “remote vendors” — vendors without a physical presence in the taxing state — to collect or pay taxes. The states are attempting to overcome these struggles by lowering Commerce Clause limitations on their jurisdiction to tax, but meaningful limitations on such jurisdiction imposed by the Due Process Clause await the states. The Due Process Clause requires that state actions be fundamentally fair, and, to meet this standard, a state must provide a person with a benefit and the person must indicate acceptance …

The Unexpected Role Of Tax Salience In State Competition For Businesses, Hayes R. Holderness

Law Faculty Publications

Competition among the states for mobile firms and the jobs and infrastructure they can bring is a well-known phenomenon. However, in recent years, a handful of states have added a mysterious new tool to their kit of incentives used in this competition. Unlike more traditional incentives, these new incentives — which this Article brands “customer-based incentives” — offer tax relief to a firm’s customers rather than directly to the firm. The puzzle underling customer-based incentives is that tax relief provided to the firm’s customers would seem more difficult for the firm to capture than relief provided directly to the firm …

The Case For Consumer-Based Use Tax Enforcement, David Gamage, Adam Thimmesch, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This essay argues that state governments’ current focus on getting vendors to collect their sales and use taxes is insufficient, especially in regard to e-commerce transactions. If state governments want their use taxes to serve as effective and lawful backstops to their sales taxes—as state governments claim is their goal—then states must also focus on the consumer side of the use-tax equation. This essay explains that both economic and rule of law considerations make it imperative for state governments to better enforce their sales and use taxes with respect to consumer taxpayers.

Tax Cannibalization And Fiscal Federalism In The United States, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

We began this project pondering a riddle. Most state governments have adopted what we-and many others-view as clearly suboptimal tax policies, especially in regard to the taxation of corporate income and capital gains. Yet, with the notable exception of those who oppose progressivity and the taxation of capital, state-level tax policymakers have had remarkably little appetite for reform.

This Article provides one major explanation for this riddle by identifying and demonstrating a phenomenon that we label as "tax cannibalization." We argue that flawed state-level tax policies derive in part from perverse incentives inadvertently created by the federal government.

Why A State-Level Carbon Tax Can Include Border Adjustments, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This is our third in a series of articles considering taxation and greenhouse gas mitigation. To date, all state-level attempts to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by placing a price on carbon have involved cap-and-trade regimes. In our previous two articles, we considered how importing tax features into a cap and- trade regime could ease distributive concerns and also make cap-and-trade regimes more efficient.

A New Theory Of Equitable Apportionment, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This essay analyzes the purpose of the equitable apportionment doctrine in state and local tax jurisprudence, arguing that the doctrine remains coherent in the context of single-sales-factor apportionment regimes.

Introduction To Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Tax Opinions, Anthony C. Infanti, Bridget J. Crawford

Book Chapters

Could a feminist perspective change the shape of the tax law? Most people understand that feminist reasoning has tremendous potential to affect, for example, the law of employment discrimination, sexual harassment, and reproductive rights. Few people may be aware, however, that feminist analysis can likewise transform tax law (as well as other statutory or code-based areas of the law). By highlighting the importance of perspective, background, and preconceptions on the reading and interpretation of statutes, Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Tax Opinions shows what a difference feminist analysis can make to statutory interpretation. This volume, part of the Feminist Judgments Series, brings …

Taxing Social Impact Bonds, Orly Mazur

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

An exciting new way to fund social services has recently emerged. This new financing mechanism, called a social impact bond (SIB), has the potential to help us tackle some of our nation’s most challenging social problems. Broadly speaking, a SIB is a type of “pay for success” contract where private investors provide the upfront capital to finance a social program, but only recoup their investment and realize returns if the program is successful. Like any new financing instrument, SIBs create numerous regulatory challenges that have not yet been addressed. One unresolved issue is the tax implications of a SIB investment. …