Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Publication
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Law
Adhering To The Old Line: Uncovering The History And Political Function Of The Unrelated Business Income Tax, Ethan Stone
Adhering To The Old Line: Uncovering The History And Political Function Of The Unrelated Business Income Tax, Ethan Stone
Ethan G. Stone
The paper examines the history of the building pressure during the 1940s the pass the UBIT and finds that the traditional explanations hide an underlying political function. As the charitable exemption became more important with the expansion of the income tax in the 1940s, it attracted new attention from both policymakers and a growing tax-shelter industry. Charities and sympathetic policymakers tried to justify a suddenly important blanket subsidy to charity on the basis of the charities exclusive dedication to good works. Tax-shelter promoters made the effort more difficult by featuring charities in roles, such as buying and leasing commercial real …
Social Security, Generational Justice, And Long-Term Deficits, Neil H. Buchanan
Social Security, Generational Justice, And Long-Term Deficits, Neil H. Buchanan
Neil H. Buchanan
This paper assesses current methods for evaluating the long-term viability and desirability of government activities, especially Social Security and other big-ticket budget items. I reach four conclusions: (1) There are several simple ways to improve the current debate about fiscal policy by adjusting our crude deficit measures, improvements which ought not to be controversial; (2) separately measuring Social Security's long-term balance is inappropriate and misleading; (3) the methods available to measure very long-term government financing (Fiscal Gaps and their cousins, Generational Accounts) are of very limited value in setting public policy today, principally because there is no reliable baseline of …