Law Commons^™

The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act Of 2017: The Salt Deduction, Tax Competition, And Double Taxation, William B. Barker

San Diego Law Review

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) made many changes to federal income tax law, but none of them may be as important to the functioning of our federal system as the changes the Act made to the deduction for state and local taxes. The Act, by decreasing taxpayer savings for state and local tax expenditures in both obvious and obscure ways, has substantially increased the burden of paying state and local taxes and is a major threat to state and local government ability to tax for public benefits. The threat to state governments is demonstrated by the …

Ownership Not Required: The Expansion Of Section 167(H) In Cgg Americas, Inc. V. Commissioner, Kristofer Thompson

San Diego Law Review

CGG Americas marks a significant departure from past treatment of G&G expenses, establishing a precedent for the expanded application of Section 167(h) to a novel body of taxpayers. This Note analyzes the court’sdecision to expand Section 167(h) to such entities as CGGA, drawing uponcases, revenue rulings, and legislative history to discern the appropriatenessof the decision in light of relevant policy concerns. Following this Introduction, Section II of this Note sketches the historical framework of G&G expenses, using historical cases and revenue rulings to illustrate the evolution of the concept across much of the twentieth century and detailing the legislative history …

Curb Your Enthusiasm For Pigovian Taxes, Victor Fleischer

Faculty Scholarship

Pigovian (or “corrective”) taxes have been proposed or enacted on dozens of harmful products and activities: carbon, gasoline, fat, sugar, guns, cigarettes, alcohol, traffic, zoning, executive pay, and financial transactions, among others. Academics of all political stripes are mystified by the public’s inability to see the merits of using Pigovian taxes more frequently to address serious social harms, some even calling for the creation of a “Pigovian state.”

This academic enthusiasm for Pigovian taxes should be tempered. A Pigovian tax is easy to design—as a uniform excise tax—if one assumes that each individual causes the same amount of harm with …

Libertarianism And The Charitable Tax Subsidies, Miranda Perry Fleischer

Faculty Scholarship

Tax scholarship is largely silent about the interaction between libertarian principles and the structure of our tax system. If all taxation is indeed slavery, as Nozick suggested, why bother analyzing libertarianism for insights into our tax system? This dismissal, however, ignores the diversity of libertarian thought. To that end, this Article mines the nuances of libertarian theory for insights into one feature of our tax system: the charitable tax subsidies. One strand of libertarianism suggests that the charitable tax subsidies are in and of themselves illegitimate. Yet several other understandings of libertarianism see a role for the state to engage …

Unregulated Tax Return Preparers: Not Loving The Penalties, Sarah Oyer

San Diego Law Review

In order to combat the problem of taxpayer noncompliance and to decrease the tax gap, the IRS has decided it is time to regulate tax return preparers. Regulations may be the answer to these problems, but the specific regulations the IRS wants to implement may overpenalize tax return preparers. This Comment argues that tax return preparers should be regulated but Congress needs to enact legislation that would limit the penalties and align them with those already in place for tax return preparer misconduct. Part II outlines the background surrounding the regulations and the reasons the IRS decided to implement the …

Should Organizations Promoting Dangerous Sports Enjoy Maximum Tax Benefits?, William A. Drennan

San Diego Law Review

Perhaps one in every 1000 BASE jumps results in death, and the fatality and injury rates for BASE jumping may be forty-three times higher than for standard skydiving. Some other new sports are extremely dangerous. In addition, some medical researchers are finding that repeated jolts to the head in traditional contact sports correlate to midlife Alzheimer’s disease, suicide, depression, inability to work or function without a caregiver, and early death from the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). “[N]early a quarter of a million new patients turn up each year with long-term deficits resulting from . . . so-called mild …

A Shrouded Remedy: Increasing Transparency In The Irs Advance Pricing And Mutual Agreement Program By Releasing Redacted Advance Pricing Agreements And Increasing Administrative Disclosures, Blake L. Currey

San Diego Law Review

This Comment examines the current state of the IRS’s handling of pricing agreements within the APMA Program, arguing that the IRS should improve the Program by increasing its transparency to coincide with the additional resources being devoted to the Program, the IRS’s elevating transfer pricing enforcement, and the modern valuation challenges in transfer pricing. Part II further introduces transfer pricing and the arm’s length standard, and Part III examines the recent performance of the APMA Program. Part IV explores the Program’s troubling lack of transparency. Part V analyzes the legal and financial interests implicated by improving the Program’s transparency, arguing …

Shareholder To Intermediary: "Thanks...It Is 'Appreciated'!", Terri Gunn

San Diego Law Review

Part II of this Casenote explores the history behind the General Utilities doctrine, and Part III explains the why the doctrine was ultimately repealed. Part IV then analyzes Starnes and how it could lead to the resurrection of the General Utilities doctrine through the use of intermediaries. Finally Part V concludes by drawing attention to the ease with which other shareholders, eager to avoid a corporate-level tax, could replicate the Starnes transaction.

Proposed 2009 Regulations Dealing With § 356 Nonrecognition Rules Should Be Given The Boot, Terri Guinn

San Diego Law Review

"Fire, Aim, Ready!" Could this be the approach taken by the Internal Revenue Service (the Service) in its attempt to finalize regulations, proposed more than two years ago, that would specify a new method for determining a shareholder's taxable gains and losses in certain reorganization transactions? Has the Service decided to elevate theory over practicality without thinking through all of the ramifications of these regulations? Finalizing these proposed regulations in their current form may have serious unintended consequences. As drafted, they miss their intended mark by inadvertently creating a loophole whereby some shareholders could take immediate losses on some of …

The Untaxed King Of South Beach: Lebron James And The Nba Salary Cap, Mitchell L. Engler

San Diego Law Review

In contrast to Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has a salary cap designed to provide every team an equal and fair chance of competing for the championship. The Miami Heat's recent, incredible success in signing the game's three most hotly desired free agents, including mega-superstars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, therefore flies in the face of the NBA's attempted level playing field. How could one team so outmaneuver all the others in a sport that tried to eliminate such uncompetitive results via a salary cap?

As discussed in this Article, the answer lies in the law of …

Private And Public Construction In Modern China, Gregory M. Stein

San Diego International Law Journal

During the past three decades, real estate development in China has proceeded at an astonishing pace, with much development occurring before China's 2007 adoption of its first modern law of property. Investors thus spent hundreds of billions of dollars in the real estate market of a nation that, during most of this period, had not formal property law. How can a huge nation modernize so rapidly and dramatically when its legal system furnishes such uncertainty? And how can this happen in a nation that still purports to subscribe to socialist ideology? I set out to answer these questions by interviewing …

Vat? A Look Inside Canada's Experience With The Goods And Services Tax, Brandon A. Ketterman

San Diego International Law Journal

Consumption taxes have been and continue to be utilized as a staple revenue producer within systems of taxation. The value-added tax (VAT) is one form of consumption tax that has grown in popularity among nations over the last several decades. In fact, after the passage of a goods and services tax (one type of VAT) in Australia in 2000, the United States now stands alone as the only remaining OECD nation, among its 30 members, without some form of a value-added tax on consumption. As the massive topic of tax reform continually appears at the forefront of the political landscape, …

Criteria Of International Tax Policy, Herbert I. Lazerow

University of San Diego Law and Economics Research Paper Series

Professor Joseph Sneed a generation ago developed seven macro-criteria for evaluating income tax changes. This paper asks whether those criteria are useful in the general field of international income tax. I conclude that Adequacy, Practicality, Equity, and Free Market Compatibility are important internationally, as is a new criterion, Balance-of-payments Enhancement, while the criteria of Reduced Economic Inequality, Stability and Political Order do not figure prominently in international tax.

Estate Tax Repeal And The Budget Process, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch

University of San Diego Law and Economics Research Paper Series

This article examines the Bush Administration’s proposal, as part of its proposed fiscal year 2005 budget, to extend permanently the repeal of the federal estate tax. The article considers the budgetary impact of permanent estate tax repeal and discusses procedural impediments to use of the reconciliation process for permanent tax cuts. The article also notes the possibility of a durable compromise solution involving retention of the estate tax with lower rates and a higher exemption.

Does The Tax Law Discriminate Against The Majority Of American Children: The Downside Of Our Progressive Rate Structure And Unbalanced Incentives For Higher Education?, Lester B. Snyder

University of San Diego Law and Economics Research Paper Series

Our graduate income tax structure provides an incentive to shift income to lower-bracket family members. However, some parents have much more latitude to shift income to their children than do others. Income derived from services and private business-by far the majority of American income-is less favored than income derived from publicly traded securities. The rationale given for this discrimination is that parents in services or private business, as opposed to those in securities, do not actually part with control of their property. This article explores these tax broader (yet subtle) tax benefits and their impact on the majority of children …

Does The Tax Law Discriminate Against The Majority Of American Children? The Downside Of Our Progressive Rate Structure And Unbalanced Incentives For Higher Education, Lester B. Snyder

San Diego Law Review

Our graduate income tax structure provides an incentive to shift income to lower-bracket family members. However, some parents have much more latitude to shift income to their children than do others. Income derived from services and private business - by far the majority of American income - is less favored than income derived from publicly traded securities. The rationale given for this discrimination is that parents in services or private business, as opposed to those in securities, do not actually part with control of their property. This Article explores these tax broader (yet subtle) tax benefits and their impact on …

Criteria Of International Tax Policy, Herbert I. Lazerow

San Diego Law Review

Professor Joseph Sneed a generation ago developed seven macro-criteria for evaluating income tax changes. This Article asks whether those criteria are useful in the general field of international income tax. I conclude that Adequacy, Practicality, Equity, and Free Market Compatibility are important internationally, as is a new criterion, Balance-of-payments Enhancement, while the criteria of Reduced Economic Inequality, Stability and Political Order do not figure prominently in international tax.

Fishing For Rainbows, The Fsc Repeal And Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act, Stuart Smith

San Diego International Law Journal

On August 30, 2002, the final decision was released in the case of United States-Tax Treatment for "Foreign Sales Corporations". The World Trade Organization arbitration panel report authorizes the European Communities to levy $4.043 billion in annual trade sanctions against imports from the United States because of a provision in the U.S. tax code. "The FSC Repeal and Extraterritorial Income Exclusion Act of 2000", the most recent of 40 years worth of half-hearted attempts by the United States to comply with world trading body regulations, is the current offender. According to the arbitration panel, the act subsidizes foreign sales by …

Why Repeal Of The Death Tax Means The Second Demise Of Substantive Due Process, Paul E. Mcgreal

San Diego Law Review

Death and taxes. For the first two centuries of American democracy, the former has been the province of Providence, the latter the concern of Congress. Congress has focused on the Internal Revenue Code, leaving death to the aging process, human folly, religion, and Darwinian forces. In a stunning power grab, Congress recently upset this order, asserting control over both domains. No longer satisfied to allow life to run its

course, Congress has sought to hasten accrual of the Death Tax. simply, Congress has sanctioned the killing of rich Baby Boomers.

Bureau Of State Audits, Joshua L. Brothers

California Regulatory Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Taxing Income From Mailing List And Affinity Card Arrangements: A Proposal, Kevin M. Yamamoto

San Diego Law Review

The courts' and the Internal Revenue Code ("Code")2 presently treat

income received by a tax-exempt organization for affinity card programs' and mailing list rentals4 similarly; neither type of income is subject to taxation.5 This Article asserts that equal treatment should not be the case. Because donors have not consented to sell their personal information, the exception for royalty income from the unrelated business income tax ("UBIT") should not permit the tax-free rental of a nonprofit organization's mailing list. Affinity card income, on the other hand, should continue to be nontaxable since any income received from these programs comes from the …

Policy Issues Relating To The U.S. Taxation Of Foreign Persons Engaged In Business In The United States Through Agents: Some Proposals For Reform, Richard Crawford Pugh

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article will begin by discussing the circumstances under which a foreign person will be deemed to be engaged in a trade or business in the United States and by examining a proposal that would introduce a great level of certainty for tax planners and the IRS. The principal focus of the Article, however, will be on the circumstances under which the United States should impose U.S. income tax on the income of a foreign person from a business conducted, not directly in the United States, but through an agent acting on behalf of the foreign person. The treatment of …

Addressing Inequities In The Collection Of Social Security Taxes For U.S. Citizens Working Abroad

San Diego Law Review

Social Security and Medicare taxes are imposed on employee wages and self-employment earnings prior to retirement. One half of the tax is. paid by the employer and one half by the employee, with the employer's portion being paid out of the general funds of the business and the

employee's portion being subtracted from her wages. With a self- employed individual, the outcome changes. The totality of the tax

remains the same; however, the self-employed individual assumes responsibility for both halves of the Social Security and Medicare taxes!

The same amount of tax is paid, but it is paid completely by …

Bureau Of State Audits, Elisa D 'Angelo Weichel

California Regulatory Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Bureau Of State Audits, Allen R. Greenway

California Regulatory Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Strict Liability For Abnormally Dangerous Activity: The Negligence Barrier, Gerald W. Boston

San Diego Law Review

My main thesis is that the doctrine of strict liability for abnormally dangerous activity (which I sometimes refer to by the acronym SLADA), memorialized in sections 519 and 520 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts,' has evolved to the point of near extinction because courts have concluded that the negligence system functions effectively to deter the serious risks posed by the activities involved. The Restatement (Second) provides that strict liability is inapplicable when the high degree of risk can be eliminated by the exercise of reasonable care.2 The evidence demonstrates that courts are increasingly making precisely that finding, usually without …

Bureau Of State Audits, J. D. Fellmeth

California Regulatory Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Bureau Of State Audits, E. D'Angelo

California Regulatory Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Bureau Of State Audits, E. D'Angelo

California Regulatory Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Bureau Of State Audits, E. D'Angelo

California Regulatory Law Reporter

No abstract provided.