Law Commons^™

A Constitutional Wealth Tax, Ari Glogower

Michigan Law Review

Policymakers and scholars are giving serious consideration to a federal wealth tax. Wealth taxation could address the harms from rising economic inequality, promote equality of social and economic opportunity, and raise the revenue needed to fund critical government programs. These reasons for taxing wealth may not matter, however, if a federal wealth tax is unconstitutional.

Scholars debate whether a tax on a wealth base (a “traditional wealth tax”) would be a “direct tax” subject to apportionment among the states by population. This Article argues, in contrast, that this possible constitutional restriction on a traditional wealth tax may not matter. If …

The Politics Of The Income Tax, Joseph Bankman

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Dimensions of Law in the Service of Order: Origins of the Federal Income Tax by Robert Stanley

The Rhetoric Of The Anti-Progressive Income Tax Movement: A Typical Male Reaction, Marjorie E. Kornhauser

Michigan Law Review

This article examines the arguments against progressivity and the supporting philosophic premises behind the mask of rhetoric. It neither treats exhaustively nor demolishes the legitimacy of the arguments or the underlying philosophy. Part I briefly summarizes the major arguments against progressivity. Part II examines the economic argument, its underlying assumptions, and its limitations. Part III examines the neoconservative philosophy which underlies the justification for a flat tax and contrasts it with an alternative feminist vision of people and society, which provides strong justification for progressive taxation.

Part IV concludes that there is a strong case for progressive taxation based not …

The Haitian Vacation: The Applicability Of Sham Doctrine To Year-End Divorces, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines the propriety of applying the sham doctrine to tax-motivated divorces. Section I outlines the evolution of the sham doctrine from its exposition in Gregory v. Helvering through its expression in two different tests for commercial transactions. Section II then studies the relationship between state divorce law and the marital status provisions of the Internal Revenue Code to demonstrate the clear congressional preference for incorporating state law by reference rather than creating an independent federal law of marriage. It also examines the history of the 1969 Tax Reform Act in a vain effort to discern a congressional desire …

Significant Developments In The Law Of Federal Taxation, 1941-1947: Ii, Paul G. Kauper

Michigan Law Review

The 1941 Revenue Act carried forward the rather complex normal tax structure prescribed by the 1940 Revenue Act and in addition introduced a corporate surtax rate schedule. The normal tax rates were increased to absorb the 10% defense tax previously imposed as a separate tax and also a very slight increase in the rates applicable to corporations with a normal-tax net income of less than $38,461.54. As so altered the normal tax amounted to 24% in the case of corporations having normal-tax net income over $38,461.54, and in the case of corporations having no more than this amount of normal-tax …