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Full-Text Articles in Law
Our Generation's Sputnik Moment: Regulating Energy Innovation, Joseph P. Tomain
Our Generation's Sputnik Moment: Regulating Energy Innovation, Joseph P. Tomain
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
In his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama stressed the necessity of innovation as the key to unlocking our economic future. More pointedly, he stated that now is "our generation's Sputnik moment." Just as the United States responded to national security threats posed by a cold war Russia, today we must respond to threats to our economy and our environment, as well as to our national security, posed by an oil addiction that we have not been able to break for over half a century. The intertwined needs to provide sufficient energy, environmental protection, and a vibrant economy …
Political Hot Potato: How Closing Loopholes Can Get Policymakers Cooked, Stephanie Mcmahon
Political Hot Potato: How Closing Loopholes Can Get Policymakers Cooked, Stephanie Mcmahon
Faculty Articles and Other Publications
Loopholes in the law are weaknesses that allow the law to be circumvented. Once created, they prove hard to eliminate. Acase study of the evolving tax unit used in the federal income tax explores policymakers' response to loopholes. The1913 income tax created an opportunity for wealthy married couples to shift ownership of family income between spouses, then to file separately, and, as a result, to reduce their collective taxes. In 1948, Congress closed this loophole by extending the income-splitting benefit to all married taxpayers filing jointly. Congress acted only after the federal judiciary and Treasury Department pleaded for congressional …