Law Commons^™

Tax Attorneys As Defenders Of Taxpayer Rights, Michelle Lyon Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

What is the modern role of a tax practitioner, in particular a tax attorney, in the United States? In an era in which the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is underfunded, understaffed, and struggles to address its mission, tax attorneys play an important role as advocates for taxpayer rights.

Tax attorneys act as advocates who represent ordinary individual taxpayers in controversies with the IRS. These controversies include post-filing disputes, such as audits, as well as issues arising with the collection of assessed taxes. Many of these cases are resolved at the administrative level; those that cannot be resolved are litigated, most …

Charitable Tax Reform For The 21st Century, Roger Colinvaux, Ray Madoff

Scholarly Articles

The article identifies two goals of the charitable giving tax incentives: promoting actual charitable work and fostering a strong culture of charitable giving with broad participation. The recent increase to the standard deduction and the rise of donor-advised funds compromise both goals. The article outlines reform proposals to bolster the charitable sector, including expanding the giving incentive to all taxpayers in the form of a credit (subject to a giving floor), allowing some tax benefits to DAF donors upon contribution but delaying the income tax deduction until DAF funds are released from advisory privileges, closing loopholes that enable foundations and …

Social Welfare And Political Organizations: Ending The Plague Of Inconsistency, Roger Colinvaux

Scholarly Articles

This article considers the use of social welfare organizations for political purposes, assesses the damage, and offers solutions. Part I of the article provides an overview of present law and compares social welfare and political organizations in the context of political campaign intervention. Part II considers the many serious ongoing harms that have resulted from the current legal framework. Part III assesses different solutions. The article concludes that in general, the disclosure and financing rules concerning the political activity of social welfare and political organizations should be consistent. Consistent rules would reduce incentives to deceive regulators and the public and …

Fixing Philanthropy: A Vision For Charitable Giving And Reform, Roger Colinvaux

Scholarly Articles

The article explains how Congress can advance the goals and values of philanthropy and address the crisis of the charitable sector with a number of legislative initiatives. These include expansion of the charitable giving incentive, reform of in-kind contributions, getting more money to working charities with a payout rule for donor advised funds (DAFs), and changing standards for private foundation transfers to DAFs. Congress can also improve the worthiness of the charitable sector by maintaining the separation of politics and charity, supporting oversight (including by mandatory e-filing of returns), and by revisiting some of the rushed through ideas of recent …