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Full-Text Articles in Law
The Deep Structure Of Capital Gains, William D. Popkin
The Deep Structure Of Capital Gains, William D. Popkin
Articles by Maurer Faculty
The capital gains preference has been viewed as a means by which taxpayers are spared being taxed fully in a single year for income earned over a number of previous years. This Article argues that the tax preference for capital gains was intended to provide economic incentives by encouraging transferability, risk, and investment, not to achieve equity by a crude form of income averaging. This Article critically evaluates judicial doctrine in light of these economic policies and concludes that courts have not effectively bridged the gap between policy and the statutory language and structure. The author explains how the tax …
Fairness In Rate Cuts In The Individual Income Tax, Alan L. Feld
Fairness In Rate Cuts In The Individual Income Tax, Alan L. Feld
Faculty Scholarship
The Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 (the 1981 Act) made significant changes in federal income, estate, and gift taxation, touching virtually every taxpayer.1 The centerpiece of the 1981 Act consisted of rate reductions in the individual income tax.2 These reductions, said to average 23%, served a number of different but related objectives. First, those in favor of the tax cuts posited that all taxpayers would benefit from equitable, across-the-board reductions in an excessive and growing tax burden.3 Related to this objective was an anticipated reduction in the size of the federal government, because less tax money …