Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Tax law (5)
- Discrimination (4)
- Class (3)
- Race (3)
- Wealth (3)
-
- Corporate law (2)
- Income tax (2)
- Limited liability (2)
- Taxation (2)
- Business income (1)
- Campaign finance (1)
- Capital structure (1)
- Commercial law (1)
- Commodity (1)
- Constitutional law (1)
- Corporate reorganization (1)
- Corporate tax (1)
- Corporate taxation (1)
- Double taxation (1)
- Employment (1)
- Environmental law (1)
- Equity (1)
- Equity capital (1)
- Equity ownership interests (1)
- Federal taxation (1)
- Gifts (1)
- Government (1)
- IRS (1)
- Inequality (1)
- Intangible assets (1)
Articles 1 - 19 of 19
Full-Text Articles in Law
Strange Bedfellows, Jeffrey Schoenblum
Strange Bedfellows, Jeffrey Schoenblum
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
With the maximum rate of federal income tax at 39.6 percent, the Medicare surtax on investment income of 3.8 percent, and some state income tax rates exceeding 9 percent, taxpayers in the highest brackets have been seeking to develop strategies to lessen the tax burden. One strategy that has been receiving increased attention is the use of a highly specialized trust known as the NING, a Nevada incomplete gift nongrantor trust, which eliminates state income taxation of investment income altogether without generating additional federal income or transfer taxes. A major obstacle standing in the way of accomplishing this objective, however, …
Islamic Law Meets Erisa: How America's Private Pension System Unintentionally Discriminates Against Muslims And What To Do About It, Beverly I. Moran
Islamic Law Meets Erisa: How America's Private Pension System Unintentionally Discriminates Against Muslims And What To Do About It, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article asks whether Muslims whose religious beliefs prevent investment in their employers’ private pension plans have a right to religious accommodation. This is a real issue for a growing part of the population whose spiritual lives are governed by rules that prohibit the giving or taking of interest. As one might expect, the investments available through most American pension plans involve some aspect of interest making those investments unsuitable retirement vehicles for devote Muslims. Consequently, in order to secure their retirement income, Muslims are faced with either violating their religious beliefs, losing years of investment opportunity as they wait …
Why Every State Should Have An Income Tax (And A Retail Sales Tax, Too), Herwig J. Schlunk
Why Every State Should Have An Income Tax (And A Retail Sales Tax, Too), Herwig J. Schlunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Some states (like Florida and Texas) collect retail sales taxes but no income taxes; one state (Oregon) collects income taxes but no retail sales taxes; most states collect both. This paper examines the decision of a state to collect retail sales taxes, income taxes, or both in light of the state's spending policy and the ability of at least some of the state's residents to strategically migrate to another state (to take advantage of a more favorable mix of taxes and benefits). It concludes that states that rely solely (or even primarily) on either a retail sales tax or an …
Rationalizing The Taxation Of Reorganizations And Other Corporate Acquisitions, Herwig J. Schlunk
Rationalizing The Taxation Of Reorganizations And Other Corporate Acquisitions, Herwig J. Schlunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article examines the taxation of human shareholders in the case of mergers and acquisitions. Currently, the relevant law is extraordinarily complex, utterly inconsistent, and in many instances arguably unfair. There are really only two plausible ways to cure these ills. The first would involve moving to a tax system with more fulsome gain recognition, most likely in the form of mark-to-market taxation. This option is not in my opinion feasible (either technically or what is perhaps more important, politically). Accordingly, the second potential cure, moving to a tax system with less gain recognition, merits attention. In this article, I …
A Lifetime Income Tax, Herwig J. Schlunk
A Lifetime Income Tax, Herwig J. Schlunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Under current tax law, there can be considerable period-by-period divergence between a taxpayer's after-tax income and her desired or actual consumption. This divergence will cause the taxpayer to borrow. One can view such borrowing either as being incurred to fund consumption, or as being incurred to fund the taxpayer's income tax payments. If one takes the latter view, one can ask whether a good income tax law should force a taxpayer to borrow to pay her taxes. I answer the question in the negative, and propose a lifetime income tax that would eliminate the need for typical taxpayers to borrow …
A Minimalist Approach To Corporate Income Taxation, Herwig J. Schlunk
A Minimalist Approach To Corporate Income Taxation, Herwig J. Schlunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
An ever-shrinking hallmark of our federal income tax system is the apparent double taxation of some, but not all, business income. That is, some business income ultimately flows to the human shareholders of C corporations. These corporations pay corporate income tax on the taxable income they generate. Then, as and when such corporations distribute their after-corporate-income-tax income to their human shareholders (or equivalently, as and when their human shareholders sell their shares in such corporations), the human shareholders pay individual income tax on the amounts so distributed (or equivalently, on their capital gains).
Myth Of Ownership / Myth Of Government, Jeffrey Schoenblum
Myth Of Ownership / Myth Of Government, Jeffrey Schoenblum
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Indisputably, the lives of all individuals, now and throughout history, have not been commensurate in every respect. No individual has the most of everything at all times - net worth, love, happiness, security, companionship, fame, food, land, grandchildren, or whatever else he or she values.1 Nevertheless, a utopian strain in intellectual thought, emanating as the Enlightenment afterglow,2 continues to place its faith in the public construction of an ersatz equality that has never existed naturally.3 The Myth of Ownership, a recent book by two New York University law/philosophy professors, Liam Murphy and Thomas Nagel, is a striking exemplar of this …
I Come Not To Praise The Corporate Income Tax, But To Save It, Herwig J. Schlunk
I Come Not To Praise The Corporate Income Tax, But To Save It, Herwig J. Schlunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This Article began with a search for a theoretical underpinning that could explain the structure of the current corporate income tax regime, and found such underpinning lacking. It proposed an alternative underpinning for a "corporate" income tax based on the theory of the firm. The basic idea is that every firm generates incremental economic returns that would not be achieved but for its organizational structure as a firm. Thus, a sovereign could rationally choose to confiscate a portion of such returns, since it has made such returns possible (by enacting legislation that recognizes firms, etc.). (Whether or not a sovereign …
How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Double Taxation, Herwig J. Schlunk
How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Double Taxation, Herwig J. Schlunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This Article is divided into three Parts. The first Part is devotedto an example demonstrating that, while double taxation may be gratuitous in a purely domestic context, it invariably becomes necessary in a multinational context. The second Part formalizes and generalizes the example, and concludes that double taxation is not only necessary in a multinational context, but also in any multi-period domestic context. The third Part contains a few policy prescriptions that, I fervently hope, will guide future administrations.
Little Boxes: Can Optimal Commodity Tax Methodology Save The Debt-Equity Distinction?, Herwig J. Schlunk
Little Boxes: Can Optimal Commodity Tax Methodology Save The Debt-Equity Distinction?, Herwig J. Schlunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Optimal commodity tax methodology has been proposed as a way of making difficult line drawing decisions in the income tax. This paper explores some practical difficulties with the approach, and concludes that in one area - the debt-equity divide - the approach is unlikely to prove useful over any significant time horizon.
The Cashless Corporate Tax, Herwig J. Schlunk
The Cashless Corporate Tax, Herwig J. Schlunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Proposals for reforming the federal corporate income tax are neverending and ever-multiplying. They range from those that merely tinker around the edges, such as most recent proposals attacking the various perceived abuses that masquerade under the moniker "corporate tax shelter," to various integration approaches that arguably would gut the enterprise of a corporate income tax altogether. Since everything and the kitchen sink is at least theoretically in play, it seems appropriate to add this modest proposal, which I call the "cashless corporate tax" (CCT). As described below, the CCT is a "tax" that would replace the current corporate income tax-defined …
Bibliography Of Tax Articles In High Prestige Non-Specialized Law Journals: A Comparison Of Australia, Britain, Canada And The United States 1954-2001, Beverly I. Moran
Bibliography Of Tax Articles In High Prestige Non-Specialized Law Journals: A Comparison Of Australia, Britain, Canada And The United States 1954-2001, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The bibliography surveys all tax articles (but not Notes) from 1954 to 2001 in high prestige law journals in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. The bibliography compares number of articles produced in each country and also shows what areas of interest dominate in each market. For example, Canadian journal produce more scholarship on Comparative Taxation while Australian journals are more likely to publish in the area of Evasion and Avoidance.
The Zen Of Corporate Capital Structure Neutrality, Herwig J. Schlunk
The Zen Of Corporate Capital Structure Neutrality, Herwig J. Schlunk
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Given the current tax rate structure - where the marginal tax rate of some persons exceeds the corporate tax rate and the marginal tax rate of others is exceeded by it - corporations are generally well advised to employ both debt and equity in their capital structures. The former will be held by low tax rate taxpayers and will serve to lower the effective aggregate tax rate6 on the corporation's taxable income. The latter will be held by high tax rate taxpayers and will serve to keep low the effective aggregate tax rate on the corporation's unrecognized economic income (such …
Setting An Agenda For A Study Of Tax And Black Culture, Beverly I. Moran
Setting An Agenda For A Study Of Tax And Black Culture, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
At present the Internal Revenue Code unthinkingly reflects many aspects of white culture including historical opportunities that whites have received for wealth building and marriage. In order for the federal tax laws to tax fairly all cultures within the purview of taxation must also find their values reflected. The article sets out how the tax laws might begin to incorporate black culture.
Malpractice And Environmental Law: Should Environmental Law "Specialists" Be Worried?, J.B. Ruhl
Malpractice And Environmental Law: Should Environmental Law "Specialists" Be Worried?, J.B. Ruhl
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article examines the field of environmental law as a potential minefield for malpractice claims given its complex and dynamic nature. The article outlines principles for malpractice law applied to environmental law, based on malpractice principles applied in the tax and patent fields.
Income Tax Rhetoric (Or Why Do We Want Tax Reform?), Beverly I. Moran
Income Tax Rhetoric (Or Why Do We Want Tax Reform?), Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The 1992 presidential election is over but the United States economy still faces hard times. Each man who hoped to lead us promised to revive our sick economy, and each cure promised included a strong dose of tax reform. At no time during the campaign or the transition did anyone seem to ask: Can tax reform actually increase employment, lower the deficit, nwerse our trade imbalance, or provide any other boost out of the recession? Why do Americans accept the notion that economic recovery requires tax reform? We did not always think this way. Why does it seem so natural …
Stargazing: The Alternative Minimum Tax For Individuals And Future Tax Reform, Beverly I. Moran
Stargazing: The Alternative Minimum Tax For Individuals And Future Tax Reform, Beverly I. Moran
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The article uses the provisions of the Alternative Minimum Tax in an attempt to predict the course of future tax reform.
From De Facto To Statutory Exemption: An Analysis Of The Evolution Of Legislative Policy Regarding The Federal Taxation Of Campaign Finance, Jeffrey Schoenblum
From De Facto To Statutory Exemption: An Analysis Of The Evolution Of Legislative Policy Regarding The Federal Taxation Of Campaign Finance, Jeffrey Schoenblum
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This article first explores the development of the de facto system of tax exemption and identifies the tensions that led to its demise. The analysis then details the substitution of a statutory structure in place of the traditional informal arrangement and examines the potential present in that structure for substantial IRS interference in the political process.
The Changing Meaning Of "Gift": An Analysis Of The Tax Court's Decision In "Carson V. Commissioner", Jeffrey Schoenblum
The Changing Meaning Of "Gift": An Analysis Of The Tax Court's Decision In "Carson V. Commissioner", Jeffrey Schoenblum
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
The complexity of detail that characterizes the Internal Revenue Code (Code) has been the subject of intense criticism and only faint praise. Yet, one of the more striking anomalies of the Code is that its often suffocating detail coexists with the sparest definitions of many key terms. The term "gift" is a prime example. Although its meaning plays an instrumental role in income and gift taxation, the Code nowhere defines the term. As a result, the task of fleshing out its meaning has largely fallen on the Treasury, through the issuance of regulations and rulings, and on the courts, which …