Law Commons^™

Employment Discrimination Remedies And Tax Gross Ups, Gregg D. Polsky, Stephen F. Befort

Scholarly Works

This article considers whether a successful employment discrimination plaintiff may be entitled, under current law, to receive an augmented award (a gross up) to neutralize certain adverse federal income tax consequences. The question of whether such a gross up is allowed, the resolution of which can have drastic effects on litigants, has received almost no attention from practitioners, judges, and academics. Because of the potentially enormous impact of the alternative minimum tax (AMT) on discrimination lawsuit recoveries, however, the gross up issue is now beginning to appear in reported cases.

The three principal federal anti-discrimination statutes - Title VII, the …

Race And Equality Across The Law School Curriculum: The Law Of Tax Exemption, David A. Brennen

Scholarly Works

What is the relevance of race to tax law? The race issues are apparent when one studies a subject like constitutional law. The Constitution concerns itself explicitly with such matters as defining rights of citizenship, allocating powers of government, and determining rights with respect to property. Given the history of our country -- with slavery followed by periods of de jure and de facto racial discrimination -- these constitutional law matters obviously must have racial dimensions.

Tax law, however, does not generally concern itself explicitly with matters of race. Tax law is often thought of as completely race neutral in …

The European Commission’S Report On Company Income Taxation: What The Eu Can Learn From The Experience Of The Us States, Walter Hellerstein

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The European Union Commission has proposed using consolidated base taxation and formulary apportionment to tax the EU-source income of multinational companies. This paper examines US state experience with a similar approach. Despite some positive lessons, especially the need to consolidate income of affiliated companies, lessons are mostly negative, especially regarding the choice of apportionment formula, the use of economic criteria to define the group whose income is to be consolidated, and complexity caused by lack of uniformity. US experience says nothing about using value added to apportion income—an approach that is conceptually attractive, but subject to transfer pricing problems.

Litigation Expenses And The Alternative Minimum Tax, Gregg D. Polsky, Brant J. Hellwig

Scholarly Works

One of the chief features of the alternative minimum tax (the "AMT") is a broadened tax base, accomplished in part through the disallowance of deductions that are not central to measuring an individual's net income. Yet in achieving its objective of limiting deductions, the AMT casts a wide net. Thus, in certain instances, an individual can be robbed of the tax benefit of expenses that were critical to the production of the income being taxed. An extreme example of this problem is the treatment of certain litigation expenses under the AMT. If an individual incurs attorney fees and other associated …

The Contingent Attorney's Fee Tax Trap: Ethical, Fiduciary Duty, And Malpractice Implications, Gregg D. Polsky

Scholarly Works

In employment and civil rights lawsuits, the alternative minimum tax may cause a plaintiff's net recovery to be taxed at rates significantly higher than the current maximum rate of 35 percent. This Essay discusses the ethical, fiduciary duty and malpractice implications for lawyers representing plaintiffs who may be affected by this tax trap.