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Full-Text Articles in Law
Donor-Advised Funds In The Wake Of The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act, David I. Walker
Donor-Advised Funds In The Wake Of The Tax Cuts And Jobs Act, David I. Walker
Faculty Scholarship
Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are conduits for charitable giving that support immediate tax deductions while creating a reservoir of assets for subsequent disposition to end-use charities. The number of new DAF accounts has skyrocketed in the wake of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). This Article presents evidence suggesting that bunching charitable contributions to game the TCJA-enhanced standard deduction likely motivates much of the onslaught of new DAF accounts established since 2016 and argues that the typical buncher is likely to differ from other DAF account holders in ways that matter from a policy perspective. Thus, while DAF critics …
Green, Or Greed? A Fresh Perspective On The Valuation Of Conservation Easements, Alan L. Feld, Theodore S. Sims, Jacob Nielson
Green, Or Greed? A Fresh Perspective On The Valuation Of Conservation Easements, Alan L. Feld, Theodore S. Sims, Jacob Nielson
Faculty Scholarship
Charitable contributions of "conservation easements" have since 1980 allowed high-income taxpayers to shelter income from taxation through overvalued deductions. Overvaluation has increased dramatically in the past 20 years: a 2016 study of all easement decisions since 1980 reported that while overvaluation had averaged by a factor of two before 1994, it averaged by a factor of ten for decisions between 1994 and 2016. SOI data disclose that aggregate easement contributions deducted on Schedule A grew from $2.26 billion in 2015 to $6.5 billion in 2018 (the most recent year available). A recent report by supporters of conservation easements acknowledges that …
The Charitable Continuum, Eric Kades
The Charitable Continuum, Eric Kades
Faculty Publications
There are powerful fairness and efficiency arguments for making charitable donations to soup kitchens 100% deductible. These arguments have no purchase for donations to fund opulent church organs, yet these too are 100% deductible under the current tax code. This stark dichotomy is only the tip of the iceberg. Looking at a wider sampling of charitable gifts reveals a charitable continuum. Based on sliding scales for efficiency, multiple theories of fairness, pluralism, institutional competence and social welfare dictate that charitable deductions should in most cases be fractions between zero and one. Moreover, the Central Limit Theorem strongly suggests that combining …
Libertarianism And The Charitable Tax Subsidies, Miranda Perry Fleischer
Libertarianism And The Charitable Tax Subsidies, Miranda Perry Fleischer
Faculty Scholarship
Tax scholarship is largely silent about the interaction between libertarian principles and the structure of our tax system. If all taxation is indeed slavery, as Nozick suggested, why bother analyzing libertarianism for insights into our tax system? This dismissal, however, ignores the diversity of libertarian thought. To that end, this Article mines the nuances of libertarian theory for insights into one feature of our tax system: the charitable tax subsidies. One strand of libertarianism suggests that the charitable tax subsidies are in and of themselves illegitimate. Yet several other understandings of libertarianism see a role for the state to engage …
The Secret Economy Of Charitable Giving, Allison Anna Tait
The Secret Economy Of Charitable Giving, Allison Anna Tait
Law Faculty Publications
Charitable giving is big business. In 2009, the Internal Revenue Service reported close to 100,000 private foundations, almost double the number from fifteen years earlier. Some of these charitable trusts, like the Gates Foundation, are multi-billion dollar enterprises. Trust instruments and other governing documents set forth the terms that control these gifts. Because charitable trusts can exist in perpetuity, however, changing circumstances sometimes render the terms difficult to fulfill. Courts can apply cy pres, a doctrine that allows for the modification of gift restrictions, but in the past courts have tended to apply cy pres narrowly and privilege donor intent …
Subsidizing Charitable Contributions: Incentives, Information, And The Private Pursuit Of Public Goals, David M. Schizer
Subsidizing Charitable Contributions: Incentives, Information, And The Private Pursuit Of Public Goals, David M. Schizer
Faculty Scholarship
The charitable deduction has enjoyed relatively little support in the legal academy. Many commentators have asked what it adds to the tax system and, as critics such as Stanley Surrey and Paul McDaniel have observed, the deduction obviously does not itself collect tax revenue. Defenders respond that the deduction helps to measure income and to keep taxpayers from inefficiently substituting leisure for work, but these points are, of course, contested. Instead of revisiting debates about what the deduction adds to the tax system, this Article focuses on the broader question of what it adds to the pursuit of public goals. …
Corporate Philanthropy And Campaign Finance: Exempt Organizations As Corporate-Candidate Conduits, Frances R. Hill
Corporate Philanthropy And Campaign Finance: Exempt Organizations As Corporate-Candidate Conduits, Frances R. Hill
Articles
No abstract provided.
Legislatures, Courts And The Sec: Reflections On Silence And Power In Corporate And Securities Law, Faith Stevelman
Legislatures, Courts And The Sec: Reflections On Silence And Power In Corporate And Securities Law, Faith Stevelman
Articles & Chapters
No abstract provided.
14th Annual Seminar On Estate Planning, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, Edward A. Rothschild, John R. Cummins, Homer Parrent Iii, William F. Rigby, K. Sidney Neuman, Gary B. Houston, James Bremer, Daniel B. Santos, John T. Bondurant
14th Annual Seminar On Estate Planning, Office Of Continuing Legal Education At The University Of Kentucky College Of Law, Edward A. Rothschild, John R. Cummins, Homer Parrent Iii, William F. Rigby, K. Sidney Neuman, Gary B. Houston, James Bremer, Daniel B. Santos, John T. Bondurant
Continuing Legal Education Materials
Outlines of speaker presentations from the 14th Annual Seminar on Estate Planning held by UK/CLE on July 17-18, 1987.