Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Income tax (100)
- Internal Revenue Code (72)
- Tax reform (59)
- Taxation (47)
- Corporate tax (44)
-
- Corporations (33)
- International tax (32)
- Law reform (27)
- Tax avoidance (24)
- Tax evasion (24)
- Tax rates (23)
- Double taxation (21)
- Internal Revenue Service (20)
- Tax deductions (20)
- Tax system (19)
- United States Supreme Court (19)
- Tax policy (18)
- Tax liability (17)
- Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (16)
- Tax treaties (16)
- Territoriality (16)
- Congress (15)
- Deduction (14)
- Due process (14)
- Regulation (14)
- Tax systems (14)
- BEPS (13)
- Depreciation (13)
- Shareholders (13)
- Tax competition (13)
- Publication Year
- Publication
-
- Michigan Law Review (474)
- Articles (143)
- Law & Economics Working Papers (72)
- Book Chapters (28)
- University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform (21)
-
- Other Publications (14)
- Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009 (13)
- Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review (11)
- Reviews (9)
- Michigan Journal of International Law (7)
- SJD Dissertations (4)
- University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat (4)
- Books (2)
- Michigan Journal of Race and Law (2)
- Michigan Law Review Online (2)
- Michigan Legal Studies Series (2)
- Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law (1)
- Michigan Law Review First Impressions (1)
- Summer Institute on International and Comparative Law (1)
- Publication Type
Articles 1 - 30 of 811
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Global Corporate Minimum Tax And Mne Home Countries, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Global Corporate Minimum Tax And Mne Home Countries, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Other Publications
This Perspective explores the implications for the home countries of large MNEs of the agreement reached by over 140 countries in 2021 to enact a corporate minimum tax of 15%. It argues that the corporate minimum tax complements the trend to reduce the negative impact of unfettered globalization on labor, and it protects the ability of home countries to finance a robust social safety net. Home countries should adopt the corporate minimum tax, and that includes the US, which last year failed to adapt its Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income approach to the corporate minimum tax.
The Historical Origins And Current Prospects Of The Multilateral Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Eran Lempert
The Historical Origins And Current Prospects Of The Multilateral Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Eran Lempert
Articles
This article has three aims. First, it surveys the pre-BEPS efforts to create a multilateral tax convention (MTC) from the 19th century onward, and explains why these efforts have failed, leading to an international tax regime dominated by unilateralism and bilateralism. Second, it contrasts the success of multilateralism in investment and trade law. Third, it examines the BEPS era efforts to create an MTC and suggests that, while there has been more convergence of the tax laws of countries, a fundamental divergence of interests persists that will likely doom any such efforts to failure. The article concludes that, at this …
The Historical Origins Of The Multilateral Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Eran Lempert
The Historical Origins Of The Multilateral Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Eran Lempert
Law & Economics Working Papers
This paper will survey the efforts to create a multilateral tax convention (MTC) from the beginnings of the international tax regime to the present day. The paper’s main contribution is to provide a historical analysis of the (failed) efforts to create a MTC from the beginnings of the ITR until the League of Nations (as contained in Part 1 to this paper). Part 2 of the paper serves to provide a brief modern context to the historical analysis from Part 1, covering why the multilateral instrument (MLI) that was included in BEPS 1.0 is not a true MTC, and secondly …
A Response To Professor Choi’S Beyond Purposivism In Tax Law, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
A Response To Professor Choi’S Beyond Purposivism In Tax Law, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
This response to Professor Choi’s excellent article questions whether the proposals made by the article can solve the tax shelter problem, and argues that a better response is to bolster purposivism with a statutory general anti-abuse rule (GAAR).
After Pillar One, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
After Pillar One, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
Pillar One is unlikely to succeed for three reasons. First, it requires an MTC to be implemented because Amount A requires overriding Articles 5 (Permanent Establishment, PE), 7 (Business Profits) and 9 (Associated Enterprises) of every tax treaty to abolish the PE and Arm’s Length Principle (ALP) limits enshrined therein. But negotiating an MTC is hard, especially when over 100 countries are involved and there are fundamental disagreements among them.
Second, because Pillar One (despite its October 2021 expansion) is still aimed primarily at taxing the US digital giants (Big Tech), it is hard to envisage it being implemented without …
What Would Surrey Say? The Long Reach Of Stanley S. Surrey, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Nir Fishbien
What Would Surrey Say? The Long Reach Of Stanley S. Surrey, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Nir Fishbien
Law & Economics Working Papers
This essay examines the extent of Surrey’s influence on developments in tax law after his death. It argues that his ideas clearly impacted the tax reform of 1986, but can even be seen in later enactments like the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and contemporary developments in international taxation. This in turn enables us to get a clearer perspective on what Surrey aimed to achieve and what the goals of these later developments are.
The First Us Tax Treaty And Its Influence, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The First Us Tax Treaty And Its Influence, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Other Publications
In 1945, the US negotiated a tax treaty with the UK.1 This treaty was based on the London model, which was the last contribution of the League of Nations to international tax. Since it was a treaty between the two most important economies in the world, it precipitated the post-war rise in tax treaty negotiations. It also was similar to the first OECD model of 1963. In general, with a few exceptions (citizenship-based taxation, residence of corporations, limitation on benefits) the US models of 1981, 1996, 2006 and 2016 closely resemble the OECD model. This is not surprising given the …
Constitutional Review Of Federal Tax Legislation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Yoseph M. Edrey
Constitutional Review Of Federal Tax Legislation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Yoseph M. Edrey
Articles
What does the Constitution mean when it says that “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States” (U.S. Const. Article I, Section 8, Clause 1)?
The definition of “tax” for constitutional purposes has become important considering the Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (“NFIB”), in which Chief Justice Roberts for the Court upheld the constitutionality of the individual mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) under the taxing …
What Would Surrey Say? The Long Reach Of Stanley S. Surrey, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Nir Fishbien
What Would Surrey Say? The Long Reach Of Stanley S. Surrey, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Nir Fishbien
Articles
Stanley S. Surrey died in 1984, two years before the enactment of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which gave us the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended. Historians have recently discovered Surrey’s work through his memoirs, published in 2022, and several articles based on the memoir and on the unpublished Surrey papers at Harvard Law School. There is no doubt that Surrey was a towering historical figure during his “Half-Century with the Internal Revenue Code.” As his protégé Donald Lubick, who served as Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy in both the Carter and the Clinton Administrations, stated, Surrey …
A New Framework For Taxing Cryptocurrencies, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Mohanad Salaimi
A New Framework For Taxing Cryptocurrencies, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Mohanad Salaimi
Articles
This Article explores the tax law challenges associated with the taxation of cryptocurrencies and offers proposals to address such challenges. The Article addresses the proper tax treatment of different cryptocurrency transactions and activities. It examines various aspects associated with the taxation of cryptocurrency through its life cycle, starting from earning cryptocurrency, through its disposal or exchange. The Article also examines the tax treatment of two special crypto events, hard forks and airdrops. Specifically, this Article describes a proposal to tax cryptocurrencies based on their unique features. It argues that various ways of earning or receiving crypto tokens (for example, mining …
Weathering State And Local Budget Storms: Fiscal Federalism With An Uncooperative Congress, David Gamage, Darien Shanske, Gladriel Shobe, Adam Thimmesch
Weathering State And Local Budget Storms: Fiscal Federalism With An Uncooperative Congress, David Gamage, Darien Shanske, Gladriel Shobe, Adam Thimmesch
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Throughout most of 2020, state and local governments faced severe budget crises as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased demand for state welfare services and rising state expenses related to controlling the spread of COVID-19 stretched state and local budgets to their breaking points. At the same time, layoffs, business closures, and social distancing measures reduced states’ primary sources of tax revenues. The traditional practice of American fiscal federalism is for the federal government to step in to provide aid during a national emergency of this magnitude, because state and local governments lack the federal government’s monetary and fiscal …
Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim
Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim
Michigan Journal of International Law
The rise of globalization has become a double-edged sword for countries seeking to implement a beneficial tax policy. On one hand, there are increased opportunities for attracting foreign capital and the benefits that increased jobs and tax revenue brings to a society. However, there is also much more tax competition among countries to attract foreign capital and investment. As tax competition has grown, effective corporate tax rates have continued to be cut, creating a “race-to-the-bottom” issue.
In 2021, 137 countries forming the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS passed a major milestone in reforming international tax by successfully introducing the framework …
Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim
Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim
Law & Economics Working Papers
The rise of globalization has become a double-edged sword for countries seeking to implement a beneficial tax policy. On one hand, there are increased opportunities for attracting foreign capital and the benefits that increased jobs and tax revenue brings to a society. However, there is also much more tax competition among countries to attract foreign capital and investment. As tax competition has grown, effective corporate tax rates have continued to be cut, creating a “race-to-the-bottom” issue.
In 2021, 137 countries forming the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS passed a major milestone in reforming international tax by successfully introducing the framework …
New Developments In Us Treaty Overrides, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
New Developments In Us Treaty Overrides, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
This note discusses the reservations added in the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to the US-Chile tax treaty and their implications for the treaty override debate.
Making Tax Law Work: Improvisation And Forgotten Taxpayers In Partnership Tax, Andrea Monroe
Making Tax Law Work: Improvisation And Forgotten Taxpayers In Partnership Tax, Andrea Monroe
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
There is a growing awareness that federal tax law caters to a small number of wealthy and well-advised taxpayers without regard for the rest of the taxpaying public, and partnership tax is a prime example. This Article explains how complexity and indeterminacy have transformed partnership tax, harming millions of forgotten taxpayers who struggle to comply with their annual filing obligations. A root cause of this phenomenon is the professional culture among elite practitioners, policymakers, and scholars at the heart of the partnership tax system.
The most troublesome provisions of partnership tax are also its most fundamental—namely the allocation rules that …
Shining A Bright Light On The Color Of Wealth, A. Mechele Dickerson
Shining A Bright Light On The Color Of Wealth, A. Mechele Dickerson
Michigan Law Review
A Review of The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans—and How We Can Fix It . By Dorothy A. Brown.
A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Karen Sam
A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Karen Sam
Law & Economics Working Papers
The international tax regime has wide implications for business, trade, and the international political economy. Under current law, multinational enterprises do not pay their fair share of taxes to market countries where profits are generated because market countries are only allowed to tax companies with a physical presence there. Digital companies, like Google and Amazon, can operate entirely online, thereby avoiding market country taxes. Multinationals can also exploit existing tax rules by shifting their profits to low-tax jurisdictions, thereby avoiding taxes in the residence country where their headquarters are located.
Recently, a global tax deal was reached to tackle these …
No New Tax Cuts? Examining The Rescue Plan's New State Tax Limits, Conor Clarke, Edward G. Fox
No New Tax Cuts? Examining The Rescue Plan's New State Tax Limits, Conor Clarke, Edward G. Fox
Law & Economics Working Papers
In this article, Clarke and Fox examine the American Rescue Plan Act’s restrictions on state tax cuts, arguing that the restrictions are a variation on more familiar maintenance-of-effort provisions. These provisions are common, and are designed to help ensure that federal grants supplement rather than supplant state spending by requiring the state to maintain its level of spending on a program. Clarke and Fox conclude that the Rescue Plan’s requirements create similar incentives, and argue that the similarity makes it more likely that the act’s tax provisions are consonant with the Constitution’s spending clause.
Taxing Nomads: Reviving Citizenship-Based Taxation For The 21st Century, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Taxing Nomads: Reviving Citizenship-Based Taxation For The 21st Century, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
The COVID pandemic and the rise of zooming has increased the ability of many people (primarily the rich) to work remotely. This in turn has led to more people moving to other countries to benefit from the ability to work remotely while enjoying other benefits such as lower housing prices, a more leisurely lifestyle, and in some cases greater political stability. Many Americans have used their newfound freedom to move overseas, e.g., to Italy. They and others like them are the new nomads.
Such a move is not tax motivated because Italy has higher personal tax rates than the US. …
A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Karen Sam
A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Karen Sam
Articles
The international tax regime has wide implications for business, trade, and the international political economy. Under current law, multinational enterprises do not pay their fair share of taxes to market countries where profits are generated because market countries are only allowed to tax companies with a physical presence there. Digital companies, like Google and Amazon, can operate entirely online, thereby avoiding market country taxes. Multinationals can also exploit existing tax rules by shifting their profits to low-tax jurisdictions, thereby avoiding taxes in the residence country where their headquarters are located.
Recently, a global tax deal was reached to tackle these …
The Parallel March Of The Ginis: How Does Taxation Relate To Inequality, And What Can Be Done About It?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Parallel March Of The Ginis: How Does Taxation Relate To Inequality, And What Can Be Done About It?, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
The United States currently has one of the highest levels of inequality among industrialized economies. In addition, numerous scholars have shown that social mobility in the United States is significantly lower than it was in the period between 1945 and 1970, when inequality was declining. The combination of these trends is dangerous because it risks transforming the United States into a society where small elites capture most of the gains, a pattern in which growth cannot be sustained over time. The level of inequality in the United States after taxes and transfers are taken into account is much lower, but …
The New International Tax Regime, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The New International Tax Regime, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
On October 8, 2021, over 130 countries committed themselves to the most far-reaching changes in the international tax regime since its inception in 1923. Slated to begin on the anniversary year of 2023, this new regime (ITR 2.0) adopts significant changes from the old one (ITR 1.0). Specifically, ITR 2.0 eliminates the physical presence requirement and the arm’s length standard for a significant portion of the profits of large multinationals that have been essential elements of ITR 1.0 since the 1930s, in a way that is more consistent with ITR 1.0’s Benefits Principle (BP). ITR 2.0 also explicitly implements the …
Individuals As "Employees" Or "Contractors": Why It Matters What You Are Called When It Comes To Federal Taxes, Robert Eisentrout
Individuals As "Employees" Or "Contractors": Why It Matters What You Are Called When It Comes To Federal Taxes, Robert Eisentrout
Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review
When we file federal taxes, our individual tax burdens are affected by whether our employers and the IRS classify us as “employees” or “contractors.” Today, that distinction is not a neat one. Classifying workers as “employees” or “contractors” belies increasing similarities—like the ability to work remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic—between those classifications. With those increasing similarities in mind, this Note makes two arguments about the employee / contractor distinction in federal tax law. First, federal tax law draws an increasingly arbitrary and unfair line between employees and contractors given the modern substantive convergence of work done as an “employee” or …
Taxation And Business: The Human Rights Dimension Of Corporate Tax Practices, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Taxation And Business: The Human Rights Dimension Of Corporate Tax Practices, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Book Chapters
The response of both developed and developing countries to global developments has been first, to shift the tax burden from (mobile) capital to (less mobile) labour, and second, when further increased taxation of labour becomes politically and economically difficult, to cut government services. Thus, globalization and tax competition lead to a fiscal crisis for countries that wish to continue to provide those government services to their citizens, at the same time that demographic factors and increased income inequality, job insecurity and income volatility that result from globalization render such services more necessary. This chapter argues that if government service programs …
International Tax Law- Status Quo, Trends And Perspectives, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
International Tax Law- Status Quo, Trends And Perspectives, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
This chapter will argue that developments in the past decade have significantly bolstered the International Tax Regime, so that it does a much better job in protecting PIT and CIT from erosion due to cross-border tax evasion and avoidance than it did before 2010. Specifically, the adoption of FATCA and the consequent development of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEI) and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) have significantly protected PIT, while the OECD BEPS project has significantly improved CIT, especially if the current BEPS 2.0 effort is successfully concluded.
The International Tax Regime At 100: Reflections On The Oecd's Beps Project, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The International Tax Regime At 100: Reflections On The Oecd's Beps Project, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
This essay will consider the outcome of Pillars One and Two in light of the history of international taxation since the foundation of the international tax regime in 1923. Specifically, it will consider how Pillar One fits with efforts to redefine the source of active income in light of the digital revolution, and the ways in which Pillar Two implements the single tax principle, which can be traced back to the first model treaty from 1927. Both of those ideas were already articulated and developed in my own early writing on international taxation from the 1990s, when the Internet was …
Has Tax Competition Been Curbed? Reaction To L.Ahrens, L. Hakelberg & T. Rixen, Reuven Avi-Yonah
Has Tax Competition Been Curbed? Reaction To L.Ahrens, L. Hakelberg & T. Rixen, Reuven Avi-Yonah
Articles
This excellent article shows that contrary to the dire predictions of many observers, tax cooperation is still possible among OECD member countries and that such cooperation can overcome the trilemma of maintaining democracy, sustaining globalization and accepting some tax competition. Specifically, the authors show that in the realm of individual tax evasion, the advent of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEol) after the financial crisis of 2008-9 has enabled OECD countries to maintain a higher level of tax on capital than was possible before the crisis. This, in turn, enabled such countries to reduce inequality and maintain the social safety net …
Lecture In Human Rights: Tax Policy, Global Economics, Labor And Justice In Light Of Covid-19, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Lecture In Human Rights: Tax Policy, Global Economics, Labor And Justice In Light Of Covid-19, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
International Tax Law has extensive ramifications on the wealth gap between wealthy developed nations and poor developing nations. This divide in prosperity has been made clear again in the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Developing nations are currently ill-equipped to adapt to, and regulate, an equitable system of taxation on a domestic level. A further challenge is the difficulty of ensuring that foreign investors, especially multinational corporations, are able to comply with tax regulations. Developed nations such as the United States and members of the European Union must continue to work with developing nations to reduce tax evasion and …
Stanley Surrey, The 1981 Us Model, And The Single Tax Principle, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Gianluca Mazzoni
Stanley Surrey, The 1981 Us Model, And The Single Tax Principle, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Gianluca Mazzoni
Law & Economics Working Papers
2021 marks the 40th anniversary of the 1981 U.S. Model Tax Treaty as well as the 5th anniversary of the 2016 US Model Tax Treaty. The first author has repeatedly argued that the 1981 Model gave life to the single tax principle (“STP”). The 2016 Model updates effectively implemented the principle that cross-border income should be taxed once – that is not more and but also not less than once. For example, the 2016 Model does not reduce withholding taxes on payments of highly mobile income that are made to related persons that enjoy low or no taxation with respect …
Rebellion, Rascals, And Revenue: Pleasingly Gaudy And Preposterous, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Rebellion, Rascals, And Revenue: Pleasingly Gaudy And Preposterous, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod’s REBELLION, RASCALS AND REVENUE: TAX FOLLIES AND WISDOM THROUGH THE AGES (Princeton University Press, 2021) is a wonderful book, which should be read by any student of taxation. To most tax policy makers and academics, tax history may seem a bit arcane, because they believe that the study of taxation and especially public finance economics is a story of progress and that we know better how to design good tax systems than our ancestors. To this attitude, Keen and Slemrod offer a decisive rejoinder: We do not necessarily understand taxation better than our predecessors, and …