Law Commons^™

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 …

Shifting Of Income Within The Family: Will 1986 I.R.C. Changes Bring Significant Reform, John A. Lynch Jr.

All Faculty Scholarship

In challenging Congress and the citizenry to embrace tax reform, President Reagan stated:

While most Americans labor under excessively high tax rates that discourage work and cut drastically into savings, many are able to exploit the tangled mass of loopholes that has grown up around our tax code to avoid paying their fair share-sometimes to avoid paying any taxes at all.

Fairness and simplicity were clearly overriding objectives of the tax reform movement that culminated in the Tax Reform Act of 1986.

From the perspectives of both fairness and simplicity, one of the most egregious features of prior law was …

Below Market Loans: From Abuse To Misuses – A Sports Illustration, Phillip J. Closius, Douglas K. Chapman

All Faculty Scholarship

Below market loans have been traditionally used as substitutes for gifts, salaries, and dividends for the primary purpose of tax avoidance in the transfer of wealth. The Supreme Court's opinion in Dickman v. Commissioner subjected both demand and term loans in an intrafamilial setting to the federal gift tax. Congress, while subjecting all below market loans to either income or gift tax, applied different valuation formulas to term and demand loans and, in so doing, favored the use of demand loans as a salary substitute. This Article analyzes the current status of below market loans by examining their use in …

Tax Sheltering Of Income: Passive Losses Under The Tax Reform Act Of 1986, Nina J. Crimm, Ryan R. Brenneman

Akron Tax Journal

It is abundantly clear to those in the press and on Capitol Hill that the provisions of the new Tax Reform Act of 19862 will constitute the death knell for tax shelters. The text of the Congressional Record and pages of business, financial journals and newspapers for months prior to the Act's enactment were filled with commentary as to this doomsday effect. However, a prudent reviewer of the actual tax-sheltering provisions of the Act would be far less certain in his estimation of their overall and lasting effect. Even though the so called elimination of tax shelters has been hailed …

A Perspective On Participant Loan Provisions In Qualified Retirement Plans After The 1986 Tax Act, Richard J. Kovach

Akron Tax Journal

The Tax Reform Act of 1986' is the fourth major tax enactment in four years to have a significant impact on qualified deferred compensation plans. Like the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982,2 this most recent tax legislation substantially affects the use of participant loan provisions in qualified plans. The purpose of this article is to analyze the cumulative technical difficulties that retirement plan designers and administrators should now consider in reviewing the feasibility and operation of participant loan provisions.

The New Tax Law: The Future Of Private Enterprise And Entrepreneurship, Alan Greenspan

Akron Tax Journal

This is an excerpt from a speech by Alan Greenspan related to the future of private enterprise and entrepreneurship. Greenspan talks about the 1987 tax law passed by Congress, and this history of tax law in the United States leading up to this point.

The Repeal Of General Utilities For Corporate Liquidations - The Consequences Of Incomplete And Unexpected Tax Reform, Louis F. Lobenhofer

Akron Tax Journal

This article will first discuss the history of the General Utilities doctrine and its gradual demise. Second, it will summarize the provision, noting both relief provisions and provisions designed to prevent tax avoidance under the new rules. Finally, this article will compare the effects of legislation to the justifications that prompted its enactment and discuss its side-effects.

Federal Income Tax Developments: 1986, Merlin G. Briner, James W. Childs

Akron Tax Journal

This article surveys the 1986 federal income tax developments including relevant Supreme Court cases, income, deductions, corporate, partnership and trust taxation, as well as miscellaneous items.

The New York Tax Windfall, Constantine N. Katsoris

Fordham Urban Law Journal

With the enactment of the 1986 Internal Revenue Code and its elimination of many tax deductions, the scope of what is now considered taxable income has been greatly broadened. New York State, the State with the highest average per-person income tax levy in the country, because it generally follows the federal definitions of what is considered taxable income stands to reap an enormous tax windfall in the coming years due to the federal definitional change as to what is considered taxable income. This Article discusses the two major plans being considered as what to do with the expected windfall. It …