Law Commons^™

A New Era Of Tax Enforcement: From 'Big Stick' To Responsive Regulation, Sagit Leviner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article explores the economics of crime and compliance as the dominant approach to U.S. tax enforcement of the past three and a half decades. It evaluates the key advantages and disadvantages of the economic model as well as its application to tax. The Article then addresses the multiplicity of taxpayer behavior and the need and prospect of balancing the economically conceived methods of detection and punishment against other, more cooperative, means and developing a broader approach to tax enforcement more generally. The Article explores responsive regulation as a case study for an alternative method to tax enforcement that heavily …

Corporate And Business Law, Laurence V. Parker

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Taxation, Craig D. Bell

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Creating State Incentives For Commercial Green Buildings: Did The Nevada Experience Set An Example Or Alter The Approach Of Other Jurisdictions?, Darren A. Prum

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

No abstract provided.

The Dual Subsidy Theory Of Charitable Deductions, Ilan Benshalom

Indiana Law Journal

Americans contribute billions of dollars to charities on an annual basis. Charitable contributions not only represent American generosity, they also represent a form of giving that provides donors with tax relief The current literature on charitable contributions suggests that this relief plays an important role not only in decentralizing the provision of public goods, but also in helping the nonprofit sector provide public goods more efficiently than government spending. Even if these claims were indisputable, they are insufficient to justify the current scheme's antidemocratic function. This Article argues that, at their core, tax-subsidized contributions are part of a nondemocratic mechanism …

Recasting Carried Interest: An Examination Of Recent Tax Reform Proposals, Marguerite Racher Snyder

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Families For Tax Purposes: What About The Steps?, Wendy C. Gerzog

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

At least 4.4 million families in the United States are blended ones that include stepchildren and stepparents. For tax purposes, these "steps" receive preferential treatment as a result of their status because, on the one hand, they are treated as family members for many income tax benefit sections, but on the other hand, are excluded from the definition of family member for business entity attribution purposes and for gift and estate tax anti-abuse provisions. In the interests of fairness and uniformity, steps should be treated as family members for all tax purposes where they act like their biological or adoptive …

Shooting Blanks: The War On Tax Havens, Timothy V. Addison

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The United States Treasury conservatively estimates that tax havens cost the United States over $100 billion annually in lost tax revenue. In response to this epidemic, the United States and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development entered into Tax Information Exchange Agreements with states considered to be tax havens. These agreements received widespread recognition as a means of remedying this growing problem. These agreements, however, are largely symbolic and provide very few additional weapons to combat tax evasion enabled by tax havens. As evidence of this, the estimated annual loss of tax revenue due to tax havens has increased …

The Impossible Student Exception To Fica Taxation And Its Applicability To Medical Residents, Patrick Timothy Rowe

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Is Sharif's Castle Deductible? Islam And The Tax Treatment Of Mortgage Debt, Roberta Mann

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article examines the tax treatment of Islamic mortgage alternatives and considers the cultural and constitutional implications of the tax treatment of mortgage debt. Islamic law cannot be separated from the religion of Islam, and one of the primary tenets of Islamic law is the prohibition of riba, which is defined by some Islamic jurists as the payment of interest on any loan. Financing institutions, working with Muslim religious leaders, have developed a number of financing instruments that do not violate the prohibition against riba, thus facilitating home ownership for those Muslims who do not feel comfortable with a traditional …

The Dormant Commerce Clause: Adopting A New Standard And A Return To Principle, Timothy J. Slattery

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Putting The Community Back In Community Benefit: Proposed State Tax Exemption Standard For Nonprofit Hospitals, Michele R. Goodman

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Does The Constitutional Norm Of Separation Of Church And State Justify The Denial Of Tax Exemption To Churches That Engage In Partisan Political Speech, Johnny Rex Buckles

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Update: The Amended And Reenacted Delinquent And Nonentered Land Statutes - The Title Examination Ramifications, Robert Louis Shuman

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Losing Our Religion: Reevaluating The Section 501(C)(3) Exemption Of Religious Organizations That Discriminate, Nicholas A. Mirkay

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

The Ideology Of Tax Avoidance, William B. Barker

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Tax Policy, Rational Actors, And Other Myths, Leo P. Martinez

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Conscientious Legislator And Public Opinion On Taxes, Lawrence Zelenak

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Using Salience And Influence To Narrow The Tax Gap, Susan Cleary Morse

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

"Render Unto Caesar…": Religious/Ethics, Expertise, And The Historical Underpinnings Of The Modern American Tax System, Ajay K. Mehrotra

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Opinions On The Ethics Of Tax Evasion: A Comparative Study Of The Usa And Six Latin American Countries, Robert W. Mcgee, Wendy Gelman

Akron Tax Journal

This study does not take either of these approaches. It does not analyze tax evasion from the perspective of economics or public finance, and it does not apply ethical theory to determine under what circumstances tax evasion might be considered ethical, although ethics is discussed. It focuses on the attitude toward tax evasion of a wide range of individuals in six Latin American countries as well as the United States. The main goals of this study are to determine general attitudes on the ethics of tax evasion and to determine whether certain demographic variables, including gender, age, level of education, …

Whistleblowers And Tax Enforcement: Using Inside Information To Close The "Tax Gap", Edward A. Morse

Akron Tax Journal

This article provides a critical look at the current scheme for rewarding tax informants, and in particular on the relatively new program for so-called "whistleblower awards." Despite enhanced incentives for informants to come forward, tax award programs continue to operate in an environment based on discretion and uncertainty. Additional legislation is needed to clarify uncertainties and to limit eligibility for rewards, including protection of private tax return information from disclosure and preventing the government from incentivizing the breach of confidential obligations through offering rewards.

Part II provides an overview of the IRS examination function and examines data involving the utility …

Surviving A Heart Attack: Expatriation And The Tax Policy Implications Of The New Exit Tax, Steven J. Arsenault

Akron Tax Journal

Part II of this article provides an overview of the U.S. tax system applicable to citizens, permanent residents, and nonresidents. Part III discusses the prior law applicable to expatriates and the history behind that law. Part IV discusses the provisions of the HEART Act and the changes the new system makes to the exit tax regime. Finally, Part V considers the policy implications of the new exit tax system.

Honorary Board Membership, Real Tax Liability: Limits To Tax-Exempt Organization Honorary Board Member Immunity Under Internal Revenue Code 6672, Kenneth H. Ryesky

Akron Tax Journal

This article will discuss the implications of the various governmental trends and initiatives upon the potential trust fund liability of tax-exempt organizations' honorary board members.

The Tax Debts Of Small Business Owners In Bankruptcy, Rafael Efrat

Akron Tax Journal

Tax burden on small business owners in the United States is significant and regressive in nature. Some studies have linked the tax burden on small business owners to lower profitability, lower rate of entrepreneurial growth, and business closures. The tax burden also appears to cause some small business owners to resort to bankruptcy protection. The objective of this study is to investigate the burden tax obligations impose on small business owners at the time of their bankruptcy filing. Specifically, using a national sample, this study ascertains the pervasiveness of tax debts among small business owner bankruptcy petitioners.

The findings from …

Built-In Gain Discounts For Transfer Tax Valuation: A Resolution For The Big Debate, Scott Andrew Bowman

Akron Tax Journal

This article considers whether and to what extent courts should permit a built-in gain discount. It begins by presenting the challenges of valuing assets for transfer tax purposes, discussing the general principles of transfer tax valuation, and highlighting the particular methodologies used to value closely-held entities. The article then examines how, during the era of the General Utilities doctrine, a prospective liquidation test, which considered the prospect and affect of liquidation, led courts to repeatedly disallow the built-in gain discount. However, since the repeal of the General Utilities doctrine, the prospective liquidation test has been discarded, at least in part, …

Adding Insult To Injury: The Federal Income Tax Consequences Of The Clawback Of Executive Compensation, Matthew A. Melone

Akron Tax Journal

Part I of this article discusses and analyzes clawbacks in general, including clawbacks that are part of common-law remedial schemes, federally legislated clawbacks, and those triggered by contractual clawback provisions. Part II of this article analyzes the tax consequences to the executives that result from the repayment or forfeiture of compensation. This part provides an analysis of the annual accounting concept and the claim-of-right doctrine which will generally result in the payment and return of compensation to be accounted for in separate tax years and, concomitantly, will generally result in incongruent tax consequences. The exceptions to the annual accounting concept …

Taxation Of Carried Interests: The Reform That Did Not Happen, Howard E. Abrams

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

International Private Equity Valuation And Disclosure, Douglas Cumming, Andrej Gill, Uwe Walz

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Private equity (PE) firms are financial intermediaries standing between the portfolio firms and their investors. They are typically organized as closed-end funds aiming to overcome informational asymmetries and to exploit specialization gains in selecting and overseeing portfolio firms.' However, their existence as financial intermediaries creates new informational asymmetries (with respect to the investors in the PE funds). Fund managers raise follow-on funds before exiting their investments, and may have incentives to overvalue their as-yet-unsold investments when making disclosures to institutional investors. Despite strong incentives to overvalue, PE funds do not face mandatory disclosure rules in any country with a significant …

The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act And A New Role For Government In Clean Technology Project Financing, James Hunter

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.