Law Commons^™

Covid-19 Relief For Opportunity Zone Funds And Investors, Adam Wallwork, Gary Hecimovich

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article describes how temporary changes to the qualified opportunity zone (QOZ) tax incentive, combined with new reliance regulations that clarify the requirements for qualified opportunity zone businesses (QOZBs) to modify their written plans to expend working capital in response to the ongoing coronavirus emergency, will make more individuals and entities eligible for federal tax stimulus by increasing flexibility for the qualified opportunity funds (QOFs) and QOZBs in which they invest to redeploy their capital into qualifying business development projects in a QOZ.

Ending The Economic War Among States, Nathan Altstadt

Cleveland State Law Review

The United States is under siege; however, the cause is not a foreign adversary. Rather, infighting among states to attract and retain big businesses is jeopardizing the Nation’s economic prosperity.

States compete for businesses, using tax incentives, hoping to capitalize on the benefits these businesses represent. Benefits include improved job growth numbers, a future increase in tax revenue, or, simply, elevated political clout. While competition can lead to a more efficient use of resources, unregulated competition between states for businesses does not illustrate this theory. A national auction for a business, where states are blind to rival offers, may, and …

Making Sense Of The European Union's Vat Tax System: Does The European Court Of Justice's Jurisprudence Support Harmonization?, Jarrod Tudor

Global Business Law Review

The Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC was adopted by the European Union (EU) as a means toward harmonization of the value-added tax (VAT) system. The Framers of Directive 77/388/EEC believed that a disjointed VAT tax system that existed previously was harmful to the common market’s guarantee of free movement of goods and services that are subject to the VAT tax. The jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the subject of the Sixth Council Directive 77/388/EEC reflects four dominant patterns, including the limitation of member-states to dictate the parameters of the VAT tax, that additional administrative measures cannot be …

Tribute To Professor Erik Jensen, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

No abstract provided.

Replacing Havoc: Creating Rules For Sovereign Default, Edward J. Kelley

Cleveland State Law Review

Sovereign debt is an ongoing threat to a State’s economic stability and its citizens’ standard of living. A single occurrence of default begins a cycle in which it becomes increasingly more difficult for an indebted State to pay its debts and ensure the survival of its citizens. Because central banking systems and direct spending are often inadequate methods to boost an indebted State’s economy, a more expansive solution to sovereign debt is required. The initial solution to the growing problem of sovereign debt is an international treaty that will allow the world economy to establish monitoring mechanisms to prevent debt …

Deep Dive, Chicago Style: A Roadmap For Understanding International Tax Reform, Michael J. Veneri Jr.

Global Business Law Review

This note discusses the potential alternatives for international tax reform and evaluates them based upon the Chicago school of economic theory principles and the ability to eliminate "tax plays." The United States could modify the existing international taxation system with (1) the 2015 Obama Administration proposals, (2) a modified territorial system as proposed by Rep. Dave Camp, (3) a credit system with source-of-income rules without the deferral privilege, or (4) formulary apportionment system based on either a single-factor or a three-factor system. By eliminating a U.S. multinational corporation's ability to participate in "tax plays," inefficient rent-seeking behavior can be curtailed, …

The New Flat Tax: A Modest Proposal For A Constitutionally Apportioned Wealth Tax, John Plecnik

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This Article is the first to propose a solution that complies with the Apportionment Clause without imposing different rates in different states. This Article discusses the practical and administrative issues with implementing a wealth tax in the United States as well as the substantive fairness of such a tax relative to the income and consumption tax regimes. This article describes the Apportionment Clause, so-called direct taxes, and the constitutional issues with implementing a wealth tax. It also describes prior proposals to circumvent the Apportionment Clause for the sake of a wealth tax. It also outlines a modest proposal to pass …

Officers Under The Appointments Clause, John Plecnik

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Much ink has been spilled, and many keyboards worn, debating the definition of "Officers of the United States" under the Appointments Clause of Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution. The distinction between Officers and employees is constitutionally and practically significant, because the former must be appointed by the President, with or without the advice and consent of the Senate, Courts of Law, or Heads of Departments. In contrast, employees may be hired by anyone in any manner.

Appointments Clause controversies are triggered when a government official who was hired as an employee is accused of unconstitutionally wielding …

A Market For Tax Compliance, W. Edward Afield

Cleveland State Law Review

This piece seeks to lay the framework for how such a voluntary compliance certification program would work and to discuss the benefits of such a system that are currently not being realized through the IRS’s current regulation of paid preparers. Part II summarizes in brief the current regulatory landscape for paid preparers and illustrates that the current environment falls short in providing a mechanism to allow the government to better direct its enforcement resources and to incentivize a culture of compliance among tax preparers and their clients. Part III describes in general terms how a voluntary compliance certification system should …

The Future Of Corporate Tax Reform: A Debate, Deborah A. Geier, Omni Y. Marian, David S. Miller, Adam H. Rosenzweig

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Professor Geier participated in a Lincoln-Douglas style debate, where the debaters were assigned different roles, so the opinions expressed were not necessarily their own. On the first point debated, Professor Geier was assigned to argue: The Affirmative: We Need to Tax Corporationsat the Entity Level. Others argued the negative: The United States Should Repeal the Corporate Income Tax. On the second point debated, Professor Geier argued the negative, that Dividend Exemption Is NOT the Best Method of Corporate/Shareholder Integration, and is in fact the worst method. On the third point, Professor Geier argued in the affirmative, that the corporate tax …

Section 7433'S Statute Of Limitations: How Courts Have Wrongly Turned A Taxpayer's Exclusive Sword Into The Irs's Shield Against Damages , Diana Leyden

Cleveland State Law Review

Congress expressly authorized taxpayers to bring a private cause of action against the United States for economic damages caused by “unauthorized collection.” Codified as section 7433 of the Internal Revenue Code, this statute provides taxpayers with the exclusive remedy for abuses by IRS employees in connection with the collection of taxes. ... Despite the importance of section 7433 to check government unauthorized tortious collection activity, federal courts have turned section 7433 into a shield against excessive or unsupported IRS collection action, rather than maintain it as the small, but important, sword that Congress intended to give taxpayer. This Article contributes …

Tax Policy And The Obesity Epidemic, Merav W. Efrat, Rafael Efrat

Journal of Law and Health

This Article begins with a brief summary of the growing obesity epidemic in the U.S. It then explores some of the central contributing factors to the mounting obesity problem among U.S. children and adults. It also examines the adverse impact and costs associated with the obesity problem. Next, this Article discusses the justification for government intervention, as well as the benefits and disadvantages of using the tax system as a way of shaping consumption and physical activity patterns. It then summarizes recent efforts by various levels of government in the U.S. to use the tax system to affect eating and …

Abolish The Inflation Tax On The Poor And Middle Class, John Plecnik

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Inflation erodes the purchasing power of money and distorts some income tax liabilities upward, which in turn discourages savings and investment. When inflation is caused by the central bank “printing” money to fund deficit spending, it results in a transfer of real wealth from the holders of dollars or assets denominated in dollars to the government and, in normative terms, may be conceptualized as a tax. The effect of the so-called inflation tax is regressive, because low-income taxpayers often lack the sophistication or liquidity to invest in hedges against inflation. Following the double-digit inflation of the late 1970s and early …

Avoiding Misuse Of Donor Advised Funds, Michael J. Hussey

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article presents a proposal for further modifying donor advised funds to retain most of their hallmark flexibility and ease of use while drawing them into line with other charitable giving vehicles that put contributed funds to use for active charitable purposes. This Article argues that using individual retirement accounts as an underlying legal model for donor advised funds will address Congress's concerns regarding the appropriateness of the income tax deductions for contributions to donor advised funds while allowing donor advised funds to retain much of their hallmark flexibility and ease of operation.

Question Of Purpose: Early Retirement Payments To Tenured Professors Constitute Wages Subject To Fica Taxation, Stephen Scott Wick

Cleveland State Law Review

Currently, there is a circuit split on the issue of whether early retirement payments (ERPs) made to tenured faculty constitute wages subject to Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA) taxation. In North Dakota State University v. United States, the Eighth Circuit held that ERPs made to tenured faculty do not constitute FICA wages because such payments are made to purchase the constitutionally protected property interest that tenured faculty hold in their tenure rights. However, the Sixth and Third Circuits, in Appoloni v. United States and University of Pittsburgh v. United States respectively, held that such payments do constitute FICA wages because …

Is The United States Tax Court Exempt From Administrative Law Jurisprudence When Acting As A Reviewing Court , Diane L. Fahey

Cleveland State Law Review

Commentators have argued that the Tax Court should fill in the gaps in its statutory authority for collection due process appeals by turning to traditional administrative law jurisprudence, including the APA, which suggestion the Tax Court has resisted despite the fact that the federal district court did so. The majority of the Tax Court insists that it has never been subject to administrative law jurisprudence or the APA, nor could it be. Most of the courts of appeals that have considered the issue have held that the Tax Court is bound by the APA and traditional administrative law jurisprudence when …

Op Ed: Throwing Cold Water On Expensing Of Assets, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Deborah A. Geier rebuts a proposal for full expensing (except for 10-year depreciation of buildings) for all assets and all taxpayers to accomplish simplification, arguing that such a proposal would need to be combined with a repeal of the interest deduction.

Op Ed: Loose Application Of Depreciation Doctrine, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Deborah A. Geier responds to the interpretation of the capitalization doctrine by Andy A. Torosyan and Joseph M. Johnson.

The Irs' Classification Settlement Program: Is It An Adequate Tool To Relieve Taxpayer Burden For Small Businesses That Have Misclassified Workers As Independent Contractors, Judson D. Stelter

Cleveland State Law Review

This Note argues that the timely filing of informational tax forms should not be a condition of an IRS Classification Settlement Program (CSP) settlement offer; the CSP should incorporate more settlement options; and the CSP should make settlement offers mandatory. Part II of this Note will discuss the legal history behind worker classification. Part III will demonstrate the unique situation of the small business owner in classifying workers. Part IV will explain § 530, a safe harbor provision for small business owners who have incorrectly classified workers. Part V will introduce the CSP in detail and explain its applications. Part …

Advance Trade Discounts: A Reprise, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Prof. Deborah A. Geier, in a response to a recent article by Robert Willens on advance trade discounts, discusses the differences between the courts' analyses and some academics' approaches to measuring the income tax base properly.

Another Take On The Mortgage Debt Relief Situation, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Prof. Deborah A. Geier responds to Prof. Stephen Cohen's viewpoint on the mortgage debt relief debate.

Expensing And The Interest Deduction, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The difficulty of envisioning an effective provision that would deny interest deductions in this context may be reason enough to advocate for the alternative proposal described at the beginning of this viewpoint. The mixing of consumption tax provisions with the income tax treatment of debt in the U.S. tax system already provides too many opportunities for tax arbitrage. The expensing proposal would exacerbate these problems. The alternative proposal of broadening the base and lowering the rates (especially if coupled with eliminating the capital gains preference and integrating the corporate and individual taxes) would go far toward reducing the unfortunate mixing …

No Credit For Gross Withholding Taxes On Portfolio Investments?, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Prof. Deborah Geier discusses the creditability of foreign gross withholding taxes on portfolio investments.

Murphy And The Evolution Of "Basis", Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Marrita Murphy received compensatory damages of $45,000 for emotional distress or mental anguish and $25,000 for injury to professional reputation after bringing a complaint with the Department of Labor under various whistle-blower statutes. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously held, in an opinion written by Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg, that Murphy's damages were not due to physical injury and thus could not be excluded under the authority of section 104(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code but that the government nevertheless could not, under the Constitution, tax those damages as income. The government …

"Expense" Deductions On "Personal" Gross Income, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Prof. Deborah A. Geier responds to Tom Daley's letter on the taxation of contingent attorney fees.

The Taxation Of Income Available For Discretionary Use, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The signature tax policy tension of the last two decades (at least) has been whether the federal tax base ought to reach income or only consumption. At the individual level, the current Internal Revenue Code (payroll taxes aside) incorporates an income tax base with numerous consumption tax components - provisions that allow either immediate deduction of a non-consumption capital expenditure (as under a cash-flow consumption tax), such as qualified pension plan and IRA savings, or exclusion of the returns to capital (as under a wage tax), such as the exclusion for home sale gain and Section 103 interest. (A more …

On Capital Gains And Marginal Tax Rates, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The current tax treatment of qualified residence interest is far from perfect. The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform's proposal related to the current home mortgage interest deduction does little to advance Congress' clearly-stated policy of encouraging homeowership while, at the same time, it will have an almost-certain negative effect on home prices. The author asserts that those whose home is their most valuable asset have much to fear should the Panel's recommendations come to fruition.

The Payroll Tax Liabilities Of Low And Middle Income Taxpayers, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This 2005 article explores how using the "average" increase in wages rather than the "median" increase in wages to determine the yearly increase in the payroll tax wage bases - at a time of increasing inequality - has contributed markedly to the increased tax burden on labor income of the poor and middle classes.

Incremental Versus Fundamental Tax Reform And The Top One Percent, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This article describes the historical shift from consumption taxation at the federal level to income taxation with the enactment of the 16th amendment (the intent of which was chiefly to tax the capital income of the wealthy) and the incremental shifts since then back toward consumption taxation (which frees capital from tax) through expansion of both the payroll taxes as well as the consumption tax features of our current hybrid income/consumption tax that target the middle class.

It then addresses the issue of whether we ought to expand consumption tax treatment to the very wealthy by reviewing two recently published …

United States V. Kpmg: Does Section 6103 Allow The Irs To Put Taxpayer Names On The Front Page Of The Wall Street Journal, Beckett G. Cantley

Cleveland State Law Review

Section 7431 provides redress for taxpayers in which such confidential taxpayer information is improperly disclosed. Although the IRS disclosure of confidential taxpayer names appears to meet the general rule giving rise to a cause of action, it is unlikely that the named taxpayers would recover damages because the United States is likely to meet the exception where the disclosing party has a good faith, but erroneous, interpretation of section 6103. The United States would meet this exception by showing that a reasonable IRS agent would have believed that the agent could disclose the information. For purposes of this Article, it …