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Full-Text Articles in Law
To Hold Or Not To Hold: Magneson, Bolker, And Continuity Of Investment Under I.R.C. Section 1031, J. Martin Burke, Michael K. Friel
To Hold Or Not To Hold: Magneson, Bolker, And Continuity Of Investment Under I.R.C. Section 1031, J. Martin Burke, Michael K. Friel
Michael Friel
This article examines the judicial and administrative development of the two holding requirements under the continuity of investment standards of section 1031 prior to decisions of the Tax Court and the Ninth Circuit in Magneson v. Commissioner and Bolker v. Commissioner, both of which expanded the boundaries of qualified holding and reemphasized the need for guidance from the Treasury or Congress on these issues. Next the article examines the subsequent impact of these decisions. Finally, the article suggests a standard to be followed in the future.
The Matthew Effect And Federal Taxation, Martin J. Mcmahon Jr.
The Matthew Effect And Federal Taxation, Martin J. Mcmahon Jr.
Martin J. McMahon
The “Matthew Effect” is a synonym for the well-known colloquialism, “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” This Article is about the Matthew Effect in the distribution of incomes in the United States and the failure of the federal tax system to address the problem. There has been a strong Matthew Effect in incomes in the United States over the past few decades, with an increasing concentration of income and wealth in the top one percent. Nevertheless, there has been a continuing trend of enacting disproportionately large tax cuts for those at the top of the income pyramid. …
What Would Henry Simons Do?: Using An Ideal To Shape And Explain The Economic Substance Doctrine, Charlene Luke
What Would Henry Simons Do?: Using An Ideal To Shape And Explain The Economic Substance Doctrine, Charlene Luke
Charlene Luke
The law and policy governing tax shelters is incomplete, sometimes contradictory, and occasionally incoherent. Indeed, consensus has yet to emerge even as to which transactions should bear the tax shelter label. Often reform efforts are grounded in theories that are largely external to tax law—for example, economic theory relating to incentives. Fewer approaches rely on intrinsic tax policies, including that most fundamental of income tax principles—the Schanz-Haig-Simons income concept ("H-S"). Under H-S, an income tax base should be expansive, requiring inclusion of an individual's increases in wealth and allowing reductions only for non-personal costs that reduce wealth. This Article seeks …
Risk, Return, And Objective Economic Substance, Charlene Luke
Risk, Return, And Objective Economic Substance, Charlene Luke
Charlene Luke
The economic substance doctrine is a judicial method used to assess transactions suspected of being nothing more than elaborate (and illicit) tax avoidance. Courts vary in their formulation of the doctrine. Generally, the test consists of (1) a subjective inquiry into the taxpayer's motivations for entering the suspect transaction and (2) an objective inquiry into whether the transaction accomplished anything beyond tax effects. Both inquiries frequently revolve around the profit potential of the suspect transaction. In making an objective inquiry into profit, courts focus on the profit potential exclusive of taxes - the pre-tax landscape. This Article suggests that although …
Beating The 'Wrap': The Agency Effort To Control Wraparound Insurance Tax Shelters, Charlene Luke
Beating The 'Wrap': The Agency Effort To Control Wraparound Insurance Tax Shelters, Charlene Luke
Charlene Luke
The first wraparound insurance tax shelter was marketed in the mid-1960s as a means for contract owners to exploit the inconsistency arising from the difference in the tax treatment of investment returns earned inside variable insurance contracts and the economically similar returns available outside such contracts. Federal income tax is deferred (and in some cases eliminated) on the income accruing inside variable insurance products - called inside buildup. In the most recent iteration of the wraparound insurance gambit, insurance companies wrapped private-placement, hedge-fund interests inside variable insurance products in order to allow contract owners to defer tax on the ordinary …
Taxing Risk: An Approach To Variable Insurance Reform, Charlene Luke
Taxing Risk: An Approach To Variable Insurance Reform, Charlene Luke
Charlene Luke
Variable life insurance and annuity contracts are susceptible to being marketed and sold to taxpayers for whom such contracts are unsuitable and to being used in wraparound insurance shelters. As a method of addressing these problems, I propose current taxation for the risky returns on these contracts but continued deferral for a deemed, risk-free return amount. The increased transparency resulting from the forced separate tax accounting of contract components should improve consumers' ability to receive adequate suitability evaluations and may also lead to lower fees. Current taxation of risk-related returns removes an apparently key shelter incentive and should make it …
Managing The Next Deluge: A Tax System Approach To Flood Insurance, Charlene Luke, Aviva Abramovsky
Managing The Next Deluge: A Tax System Approach To Flood Insurance, Charlene Luke, Aviva Abramovsky
Charlene Luke
The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) has fallen short in fulfilling its promise as a social safety net for flood loss victims. In place of the NFIP, this Article proposes a mandatory social insurance plan that would harness the strengths of the federal taxing authority to provide basic relief for flood losses occurring at an individual’s primary residence. Any plan for addressing flood loss must navigate hotly debated, competing views about government intervention, redistribution, private markets, environmental protection, and property rights. This Article argues that government intervention in flood loss relief is inevitable, at least in the foreseeable future, and …
Getting Physical: Excluding Injury Awards Under The New Section 104(A)(2), J. Martin Burke, Michael K. Friel
Getting Physical: Excluding Injury Awards Under The New Section 104(A)(2), J. Martin Burke, Michael K. Friel
Michael Friel
This article analyzes the 1996 amendments to section 104(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code. The authors argue that while section 104(a)(2) was in need of remedy, the remedy chosen is both insupportable from the standpoint of tax policy and problematic in terms of administrability. Part II of the article traces the recent history of the statute’s judicial construction. Part III discusses the provisions of the 1996 amendments. Part IV demonstrates the impact of the 1996 amendments on dignitary torts and highlights policy and interpretational problems associated with the amended provision. The article concludes with a proposal for a better remedy.
A Framework For An Informed Study Of The Realistic Role Of Tax In A Development Agenda, Yariv Brauner
A Framework For An Informed Study Of The Realistic Role Of Tax In A Development Agenda, Yariv Brauner
Yariv Brauner
This article builds on the insights of this development research to develop a new agenda for tax incentives (and equivalent tax measures), the research of their merits when used by developing countries, and their optimal design. The stated goal of these incentives is to attract foreign direct investment, and ultimately enhance economic growth and promote development. Almost all countries use such tax incentives, and business interests strongly support and even demand their use, yet, economic research in general, and the international economic organizations in particular, have been skeptical about their effectiveness." Tax incentives are not only ubiquitous, but also very …
Integration In An Integrating World, Yariv Brauner
Integration In An Integrating World, Yariv Brauner
Yariv Brauner
During the second half of the last century, many countries gradually replaced their so-called classical corporate tax regimes, under which corporate earnings were taxed twice -- once in the hands of the corporation, and again when distributed to corporate shareholders as dividends -- with an integrated regime (imputation), which taxed such earnings only once. The driving force behind this trend was the expectation of significant efficiency gains. This clear and gradual trend has been abruptly reversed with the turn of the century. The phenomenon we call globalization, and in particular the proliferation of cross-border business and investment, has materially contributed …
Value In The Eye Of The Beholder: The Valuation Of Intangibles For Transfer Pricing Purposes, Yariv Brauner
Value In The Eye Of The Beholder: The Valuation Of Intangibles For Transfer Pricing Purposes, Yariv Brauner
Yariv Brauner
This article assesses the desirability of our current, arms' length based, transfer pricing regime by analyzing its theoretical and practical effectiveness in application to transfers of intangibles. A detailed analysis of the practice of valuation of intangibles, which is the key component in the application of this regime, exposes its weaknesses that result in undesirable market incentives. These incentives create a strong bias in favor of large multinational enterprises, yet, even if one favored such bias, it is achieved using an uncontrollable, costly and wasteful legal mechanism. The article particularly criticizes the regime's disregard of the unique characteristics of intangibles …
Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Family Limited Partnerships: Discounts, Options, And Disappearing Value, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Karen Burke
Family partnerships have been become increasingly popular as a means of avoiding estate and gift taxes. As other estate freezing techniques have been closed off by statutory anti-abuse rules, estate planners have increasingly resorted to partnerships as a vehicle for transferring assets within a family at deeply discounted values. Discounts ranging from one-third to over one-half of the value of the underlying assets are routinely claimed, and often allowed, based on lack of marketability and lack of control, even where these disabilities have no lasting or ascertainable economic effect. Nevertheless, the use of family partnerships to suppress value for transfer …
Cobra Strikes Back: Anatomy Of A Tax Shelter, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Cobra Strikes Back: Anatomy Of A Tax Shelter, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Karen Burke
Paul Daugerdas gained notoriety for himself and his erstwhile firm, Jenkens & Gilchrist, as the designer of a tax shelter that uses contingent liabilities to generate artificial tax losses on a grand scale. The basic shelter transaction is surprisingly simple. In essence, it uses offsetting options to inflate the basis of property that is distributed by a partnership and then contributed to and sold by another partnership, resulting in a large tax loss without any corresponding economic loss. In principle, this type of shelter could be replicated indefinitely and generate unlimited tax losses. Mr. Daugerdas is by no means unique. …
International Trade And Tax Agreements May Be Coordinated, But Not Reconciled, Yariv Brauner
International Trade And Tax Agreements May Be Coordinated, But Not Reconciled, Yariv Brauner
Yariv Brauner
A recent WTO case held the U.S.' export tax subsidies illegal. Despite strong political resistance, which fed a long and costly legislative process, the U.S. recently repealed these subsidies. This case and the U.S. reaction revealed that although the U.S. is the single super economic power, it is not as dominant a player as some portray it. The case also shed light on the tension between the present international trade and tax regimes and the difficulty of applying WTO law to income tax measures. This tension did not escalate earlier mainly because countries tended not to use their income tax …
Cobra Strikes Back: Anatomy Of A Tax Shelter, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Cobra Strikes Back: Anatomy Of A Tax Shelter, Karen C. Burke, Grayson M.P. Mccouch
Grayson McCouch
Paul Daugerdas gained notoriety for himself and his erstwhile firm, Jenkens & Gilchrist, as the designer of a tax shelter that uses contingent liabilities to generate artificial tax losses on a grand scale. The basic shelter transaction is surprisingly simple. In essence, it uses offsetting options to inflate the basis of property that is distributed by a partnership and then contributed to and sold by another partnership, resulting in a large tax loss without any corresponding economic loss. In principle, this type of shelter could be replicated indefinitely and generate unlimited tax losses. Mr. Daugerdas is by no means unique. …
Are Cryptocurrencies 'Super' Tax Havens?, Omri Y. Marian
Are Cryptocurrencies 'Super' Tax Havens?, Omri Y. Marian
Omri Y Marian
I describe the mechanisms by which cryptocurrencies — a subcategory of virtual currencies — could replace tax havens as the weapon-of-choice for tax-evaders. I argue such outcome is reasonably expected in the foreseeable future due to the contemporary convergence of two processes. The first process is the increasing popularity of cryptocurrencies, of which Bitcoin is the most widely recognized example. The second process is the transformation of financial intermediaries to agents in the service of tax authorities, as part of the fight against offshore tax evasion. Financial institutions are faced with increased governmental pressure to deliver information about account holders, …
Meaningless Comparisons: Corporate Tax Reform Discourse In The United States, Omri Y. Marian
Meaningless Comparisons: Corporate Tax Reform Discourse In The United States, Omri Y. Marian
Omri Y Marian
This article examines the role that international comparisons play in current corporate tax reform discourse in the United States. Citing the need to make the U.S. corporate tax system more competitive, comparisons are frequently used to assess other jurisdictions' tax-competitiveness, and many legislative proposals are supported by such comparative arguments. Examining such discourse against the background of several theoretical approaches to comparative law, this article argues that, to the extent that comparisons are aimed at providing guidance for prospective reform, this purpose is not well served. Participants in the corporate tax reform discourse, from both sides of the aisle, lack …
Issues In Tax Avoidance: Comptroller Of Income Tax V Aqq [2014] Sgca 15, Jonathan Chen Yeen Muk
Issues In Tax Avoidance: Comptroller Of Income Tax V Aqq [2014] Sgca 15, Jonathan Chen Yeen Muk
Jonathan Muk
This article explores issues resolved and arising from the Singapore Court of Appeal decision in Comptroller of Income Tax v AQQ [2014] SGCA 15
Too Confident: Section 33 Of The Income Tax Act And Its (Mis)Trust In Judicial Precedent, Jonathan Muk
Too Confident: Section 33 Of The Income Tax Act And Its (Mis)Trust In Judicial Precedent, Jonathan Muk
Jonathan Muk
An analysis is presented of Comptroller of Income Tax v. AQQ, in which the Court of Appeal held that a transaction which has a main purpose of tax avoidance will be regarded as tax avoidance, preferred the Australian approach in interpreting Singapore’s anti-avoidance provision and appeared to have lowered the standard of review over the Comptroller. As the Australian approach is itself inconsistently applied, the author asserts that the Court might have been overly confident in its reliance on Australian case law.
A Tributação Estratégica. Introdução À Teoria Dos Jogos No Direito Tributário., Cristiano Carvalho
A Tributação Estratégica. Introdução À Teoria Dos Jogos No Direito Tributário., Cristiano Carvalho
Cristiano Rosa de Carvalho
O objetivo deste artigo é introduzir o campo de análise estratégica conhecido como Teoria dos Jogos aos operadores do direito tributário brasileiro.