Law Commons^™

Bargain Basement Progressivity? Constitutional Flat Taxes, Demogrants, And Progressive Income Taxation, Samuel D. Brunson

Faculty Publications & Other Works

State and local governments raise revenue in three primary ways: property, sales, and income taxes. Property and sales taxes tend to impose a higher burden on low-income households. To ensure the fairness and progressivity of their overall revenue system, states need their in-come tax to be sufficiently progressive.

Four states face an apparently insurmountable barrier to progressive income taxation: their state constitutions mandate that any income tax must have a flat rate, applicable to all taxpayers. Without a constitutional amendment, a difficult process, they cannot adopt marginal rates that increase as income increases.

While the impediment appears insurmountable, however, it …

Coronavirus, Telecommuting, And The ‘Employer Convenience’ Rule, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

In this article, Zelinsky criticizes New York’s income tax penalty for nonresident telecommuters, particularly in the context of the coronavirus emergency.

Distortion Of Income In A Single-Factor Sales Formula World, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

In this article, Hellerstein describes the framework governing constitutional challenges to state income tax apportionment formulas in light of the widespread adoption of single-factor sales formulas and speculates as to whether a recent Michigan court decision invalidating the application of such a formula on constitutional grounds might be a harbinger of things to come.

Taking It With Them The Dynamics Of Changing A State Income Tax Residence, Hamlin C. King

Akron Law Review

Since nonresidence is taking on "hot issue" status in Ohio, it is the purpose of this article to closely focus on two issues regarding the taxation of such nonresident income. The first issue is what constitutes a state income tax residence change. The second is to identify the income items originating from Ohio sources that may pass out to nonresidents free of the Ohio income tax. As we go along, we will take notice of how these two issues impact the taxpayers' federal income tax, as well as their Ohio and federal estate taxes.

Strange Bedfellows: The Federal Constitution, Out-Of-State Nongrantor Accumulation Trusts, And The Complete Avoidance Of State Income Taxation, Jeffrey Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Law Review

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, …

Apportioning State Personal Income Taxes To Eliminate The Double Taxation Of Dual Residents: Thoughts Provoked By The Proposed Minnesota Snowbird Tax, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

As a matter of both tax policy and constitutional law, it is time to apportion state personal income taxes to eliminate the double taxation of dual residents. Individuals who, for income tax purposes, are residents are two or more states should be taxed along the lines recently proposed by Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton for “snowbirds”: As to income with respect to which a state has source jurisdiction, that state should tax such income. As to income which two or more states tax only on the basis of residence, such states should apportion, based on the dual resident’s relative presence in …

The Personal Income Tax As A Component Of State Tax Structure, William F. Fox

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Article evaluates the pros and cons of a state individual income tax from the perspective of an economist. The Article examines the income tax as one component of a tax structure that is best suited for raising a given level of revenues. The important assumption in the analysis is that the level of state public expenditures is determined by residents' demand for public services. This assumption does not preclude the tax structure from allowing greater or lesser expenditures than are demanded during any single year; rather, the assumption is that over time tax levels provide revenues that are in …

Some Reflections On The State Taxation Of A Nonresident's Personal Income, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

With respect to the taxation of personal income, it was plain by 1940 that states were constitutionally free to tax residents on all personal income wherever earned and nonresidents on personal income earned within the state, even though these two principles, taken together, meant that an individual's income might be subject to double-taxation by different states. The Supreme Court, after toying with the idea for a decade, finally rejected the invitation to forge the due process clause into a tool for preventing multiple taxation and reverted to the ruling law of an earlier era that left the solution of such …

The Nature Of Income Tax, Robert C. Brown

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.