Tax Law Commons^™

The "Business Interruption" Insurance Coverage Conundrum: Covid-19 Presents A Challenge, Paul E. Traynor

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Misalighned Incentives In Markets: Envisioning Finance That Benefits All Of Society, Dr. Ryan Clements

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Front Matter (Letter From The Editor, Masthead, Etc.)

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Monsanto: Creator Of Cancer Liability

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Corporate Response To Controversial Presidential Statements Or Policies

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Restricting Funeral Expense Deductions, William A. Drennan

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

During the Middle Ages, the wealthy often requested burial in mass graves with their fellow mortals, as a sign of humility. But since the rise of the cult of the individual during the Renaissance, individual burial plots have been an expression of prestige, wealth, and social status for some. For example, Leona Helmsley, real estate baroness and “Queen of Mean,” dedicated $3 million upon her death for the care and maintenance of her 1300 square foot, $1.4 million mausoleum. Respectful disposition of the body is a hallmark of civilization and a common law requirement of estate administration, but an extravagant …

Substance Over Form In Transfer Tax Adjudication, Richard Schmalbeck, Jay A. Soled

Faculty Scholarship

The elevated exemption level under the federal transfer tax system (now in excess of $24 million for a married couple) has opened up new and abusive tax-avoidance opportunities. In many areas of the tax law, the substance over form doctrine historically has been effective in controlling such abuses; however, for a myriad of reasons, transfer tax jurisprudence has been marred by the reluctance of courts to embrace this doctrine. In this analysis, we urge reconsideration of that posture.

Estate Planning For Cannabis Business Owners: An Introduction, Bridget J. Crawford, Jonathan G. Blattmachr

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

As more states legalize cannabis sales, estate planners may increasingly be called upon to advise clients with interests in cannabis-related businesses. This essay seeks to assist estate planners in two ways. First, it aims to raise general awareness of cannabis business owners' unique concerns. Second, the essay provides an overview of some of the fundamental issues about which cannabis business owners are likely to seek estate planning advice: business formation matters, wealth transfers, the ability of trusts to own cannabis-related businesses, and gift, estate, and income tax considerations.

In most states that permit legal cannabis sales, there is limited (or …

Front Matter (Letter From The Editor, Masthead, Etc.)

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Why A Federal Wealth Tax Is Constitutional, Ari Glogower, David Gamage, Kitty Richards

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The 2020 Democratic presidential primaries brought national attention to a new direction for the tax system: a federal wealth tax for the wealthiest taxpayers. During their campaigns, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) both introduced proposals to tax the wealth of multimillionaires and billionaires, and to use the revenue for public investments, including in health care and education. These reforms generated broad public support—even among many Republicans—and broadened the conversation over the future of progressive tax reform.

A well-designed, high-end wealth tax can level the playing field in an unequal society and promote shared economic prosperity.

Critics have …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Enough Is As Good As A Feast, Noah C. Chauvin

Seattle University Law Review

Ipse Dixit, the podcast on legal scholarship, provides a valuable service to the legal community and particularly to the legal academy. The podcast’s hosts skillfully interview guests about their legal and law-related scholarship, helping those guests communicate their ideas clearly and concisely. In this review essay, I argue that Ipse Dixit has made a major contribution to legal scholarship by demonstrating in its interview episodes that law review articles are neither the only nor the best way of communicating scholarly ideas. This contribution should be considered “scholarship,” because one of the primary goals of scholarship is to communicate new ideas.

Mandatory Tax Penalty Insurance, Michael Abramowicz

Indiana Law Journal

In a mandatory tax penalty insurance regime, taxpayers would be required to find insurers to certify portions of their tax returns. A certifying insurer would be subject to a governmental auditing regime insurers of randomly selected filings would pay an amount equal to the inverse of the selection probability multiplied by the underpayment, or they would receive money from the government in the case of overpayment. The insurers function as private auditors with no incentive to underestimate their customers' tax liability. Such a regime will consume real resources, ultimately paid by taxpayers, and thus should not be imposed universally. But …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Front Matter (Letter From The Editor, Masthead, Etc.)

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Basis And Bargain Sales: Income Tax And Other Concerns, Bridget J. Crawford, Jonathan G. Blattmachr

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In this article, the authors explain the income tax consequences of the sale during lifetime and at death of property for less than fair market value. The authors focus in particular on the tax consequences of a bargain sale by a transferor who wishes to confer some financial benefit on a family member, but leave the rest of her estate to charity. Generally speaking, death-time bargain sales may be preferable to similar transactions during lifetime, if the assets have a low basis pre-death, because of the step up in income tax basis under section 1014. The authors also discuss in …

Reforming State Corporate Income Taxes Can Yield Billions, Darien Shanske, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, David Gamage

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The federal government should be providing states and localities with hundreds of billions of dollars in aid. The arguments against such aid, including the claim that the states have somehow been profligate, do not stand up to scrutiny. Nevertheless, it seems unlikely that the federal government will do enough, and it is already the case that the federal government is acting too slowly. States and local governments, which generally operate under balanced budget constraints, are, accordingly, already making sweeping cuts4 that will deepen the recession and reduce services when they are most needed.

Rather than make these cuts, it would …

Racialized Tax Inequity: Wealth, Racism, And The U.S. System Of Taxation, Palma Joy Strand, Nicholas A. Mirkay

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article describes the connection between wealth inequality and the increasing structural racism in the U.S. tax system since the 1980s. A long-term sociological view (the why) reveals the historical racialization of wealth and a shift in the tax system overall beginning around 1980 to protect and exacerbate wealth inequality, which has been fueled by racial animus and anxiety. A critical tax view (the how) highlights a shift over the same time period at both federal and state levels from taxes on wealth, to taxes on income, and then to taxes on consumption—from greater to less progressivity. Both of these …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

In Memory Of Professor James E. Bond, Janet Ainsworth

Seattle University Law Review

Janet Ainsworth, Professor of Law at Seattle University School of Law: In Memory of Professor James E. Bond.

Discounts For Fractional Ownership Of Real Property Are Accepted, So Why Haven’T The Irs And Courts Accepted Discounts For Fractional Ownership Of Artwork?, Maren N. Eisenmesser

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

In 2014, the Fifth Circuit held that Mr. Elkins’s estate was entitled to apply a fractional ownership discount to determine the taxable value of the undivided interest in artwork. The estate received a $14 million refund plus interest. The Internal Revenue Code directs taxpayers to value the items in a gross estate at their fair market value. Fractional ownership adds another problem in the valuation of an estate’s interest property. In general, courts have accepted fractional ownership discounts for real property. In contrast, courts have been reluctant to apply a fractional ownership discount for artwork. This Note will argue that …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Front Matter (Letter From The Editor, Masthead, Etc.)

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

A Georgist Perspective Of Petroleum Taxation, Joseph Leeson

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Over a century ago, the town of Arden, Delaware, was founded on a unique single-tax-community system that radically altered the popular concept of land ownership. This system was premised on concepts developed by a man few know today but who was a major figure in economics during the 1800s, Henry George. George's public finance theory has been described as having received "intermittent attention over the years, with many eminent names in economics making at least a passing comment, but it has seen comparably little action in the policy debate arena and has been largely ignored by the modern era of …

Money That Costs Too Much: Regulating Financial Incentives, Kristen Underhill

Indiana Law Journal

Money may not corrupt. But should we worry if it corrodes? Legal scholars in a range of fields have expressed concern about “motivational crowding-out,” a process by which offering financial rewards for good behavior may undermine laudable social motivations, like professionalism or civic duty. Disquiet about the motivational impacts of incentives has now extended to health law, employment law, tax, torts, contracts, criminal law, property, and beyond. In some cases, the fear of crowding-out has inspired concrete opposition to innovative policies that marshal incentives to change individual behavior. But to date, our fears about crowding-out have been unfocused and amorphous; …

Afterlife Of The Death Tax, Samuel D. Brunson

Indiana Law Journal

More than a century ago, Congress enacted the modern estate tax to help pay for World War I. Unlike previous iterations of the estate tax, though, this one outlived the war and accumulated additional goals beyond merely raising revenue. The estate tax helped ensure the progressivity of the tax system as a whole, and it limited the hereditary ability to accumulate wealth.

This modern estate tax almost instantly met with opposition, though. The opposition has never been sufficient to entirely eliminate the estate tax, but it has severely weakened its ability to raise revenue and to prevent the accumulation of …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Critical Tax Project, Feminist Theory, And Rewriting Judicial Opinions, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Introduction to Symposium on Feminist Judgments: Rewritten Tax Opinions.

Superficial Proxies For Simplicity In Tax Law, Emily Cauble

University of Richmond Law Review

Simplification of tax law is complicated. Yet, political rhetoric surrounding tax simplification often focuses on simplistic, superficial indicators of complexity in tax law such as word counts, page counts, number of regulations, and similar quantitative metrics. This preoccupation with the volume of enacted law often results in law that is more complex in a real sense. Achieving real simplification—a reduction in costs faced by taxpayers at various stages in the tax planning, tax compliance, and tax enforcement process—often requires enacting more law, not less. In addition, conceptualizing simplicity in simplistic terms can leave the public vulnerable to policies advanced under …

Elaine Gagliardi On The Family Limited Partnership In 2018: Powell, Cahill, And Income Tax Basis At Death, Elaine H. Gagliardi

Faculty Journal Articles & Other Writings

The Tax Court’s 2017 holding in Estate of Powell v. Commissioner1 followed by its 2018 decision in Estate of Cahill v. Commissioner,2 signals a need to rethink how best to structure the family limited partnership and the terms of the partnership agreement. In a shift away from its historical approach to analyzing gross estate inclusion of family limited partnership assets, the Powell court endorses application of Section 2036(a)(2)3 to include the value of partnership assets in decedent’s gross estate, and in an unprecedented step employs Section 2043 to determine the value of family limited partnership assets includible in the gross …