Tax Law Commons^™

Disparate Tax Treatment Of Different Types Of Business Organizations: Where Should We Go From Here?, Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

If several persons wish to join together in a common enterprise in order to pool their capital or labor or some of each, they may choose among a variety of available organizational structures that will serve that purpose. The most common entity forms are partnerships (including joint ventures), corporations, and trusts. While, in its typical structure, each of those entity forms has its own distinct characteristics, the structure of such organizations often is modified by agreement so as to adopt attributes of another type of entity. Because of this, the substantive distinction between entity types is blurred.

Patrons Despite Themselves: Taxpayers And Arts Policy, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Patrons Despite Themselves: Taxpayers and Arts Policy by Alan L. Feld, Michael O'Hare, and J. Mark Davidson Schuster

Comments On 'Tax Neutrality Between Equity Capital And Debt', Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

Professor Andrews' proposals are aimed at eliminating a tax bias that affects a corporation's choice of a method of raising additional capital. Professor Andrews believes that the current tax system favors a corporation which raises capital internally by accumulating its income (or by borrowing) rather than by issuing stock. Professor Andrews seeks a neutral system that permits the choice of the manner in which capital is raised to be made on economic grounds without influence of the tax laws.

The Supreme Court's Misconstruction Of A Procedural Statute--A Critique Of The Court's Decision In Badaracco, Douglas A. Kahn

Michigan Law Review

Before addressing the lessons to be derived from Badaracco, it is necessary to make good on the author's claim that it can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of a reasonably skeptical reader that the Court's decision was patently wrong and resulted from a poor technique of statutory construction. This is a heavy burden, especially since the decision was reached by an overwhelming majority of the Court and since two courts of appeals and at least one student law review note reached the same result. The reader must judge whether the author succeeds in satisfying it. This Article will first …

The Internal Revenue Service's "Hart Wright Method", Mortimer Caplin

Michigan Law Review

A Tribute to L. Hart Wright

L. Hart Wright -- Bibliography, Elizabeth Gaspar Brown

Michigan Law Review

A Bibliography of L. Hart Wright

Dissenting Opinions By Supreme Court Justices In Federal Income Tax Controversies, Walter J. Blum

Michigan Law Review

What is to be learned from this review of the various analyses offered in dissenting tax opinions over the past five terms of the Supreme Court? When the Court has decisively interpreted narrow or technical language in the statute, dissenters all too often indulge in lengthy analyses that can only serve to create further confusion. Only when the Court focuses on a judicially made rule or an issue with constitutional implications is a broader dissent appropriate. If dissenters generally adhered to the guidelines set forth at the outset of this Article the tax world would, I believe, be at least …

An Essay On The Conceptual Foundations Of The Tax Benefit Rule, Patricia D. White

Michigan Law Review

My aim in this essay is to explore the foundations of the tax benefit notion. My strategy is simple, but it is probably best to state it explicitly at the outset. I begin with a straightforward and uncontroversial example of the application of the "inclusionary aspect" of the tax benefit rule. Using it as a paradigm, I try to discern why the law deems it appropriate to increase a taxpayer's taxable income. Next I examine the account of the tax benefit rule given by the Supreme Court in Hillsboro to see if it is consistent with the paradigm. I conclude …

Irs Denials Of Charitable Status: A Social Welfare Organization Problem, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the courts and the Service should recognize social welfare organizations as charitable and, consequently, contributions to such organizations should be tax deductible. Part I describes the Service's position and sets forth the statutory arguments supporting it. Part II raises two objections to the Service's position: (1) the distinction between social welfare organizations and charitable organizations lacks an adequate statutory justification, and (2) this distinction produces unpredictable and arbitrary results. Part III proposes that all social welfare organizations be accorded charitable status under subsection 50l(c)(3). This proposal would eliminate the arbitrary results now reached by the Service, …

Personal, Living Or Family Matters And The Value Added Tax, L. Hart Wright

Michigan Law Review

No tax is ever implemented in a manner which is perfectly responsive to the logical implications of its basic purpose. VAT is no exception.

Those who foster this tax basically intend that ultimate tax incidence be suffered only by individuals and then only in the degree to which they dip into society's pool of consumer-type goods and services. But their implementing legislation is always designed to fall short of reaching all consumer-type goods and services. Ullman's proposed Tax Restructuring Act of 1979 would have been no exception. Under it, a substantial proportion of all such benefits actually would have been …

A New Political Economy?, Susan Rose-Ackerman

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Power to Tax: Analytical Foundations of a Fiscal Constitution by Geoffrey Brennan and James Buchanan

Introduction, Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

While the estate and gift tax area has by no means been ignored in the legal literature, it has not been one of the more popular subjects. For that reason, a symposium on transfer taxation would be welcome at any time, but this is an especially propitious moment for one to appear.

The Decline And Fall Of Taxable Income, Glenn E. Coven

Michigan Law Review

After first exploring the intellectual climate that has facilitated the congressional disregard of taxable income, this Article will examine three areas in which taxable income is no longer the exclusive mechanism for allocating the burden of taxation. That examination will outline the undesirable consequences of the decline of taxable income, and demonstrate that Congress need not have disregarded taxable income to secure the desired pattern of taxation. Because the use of multiple rate schedules constitutes the most significant deviation from the concept of taxable income in terms of the number of taxpayers that it affects and the popular resentment against …

Home Office Deductions: May A Taxpayer Have More Than One Principal Place Of Business?, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note argues that the Tax Court's more liberal interpretation is correct because it more nearly reflects Congress's intent. Part I seeks a basis for preferring one of the competing interpretations in the text of section 280A and in the section's legislative history, but finds none. Looking, of necessity, to the purposes that Congress sought to advance with section 280A, Part II argues that those purposes do not demand a restrictive reading of "principal place of business." Such a reading, moreover, would undermine fundamental and longstanding congressional tax policies. In the absence of a more explicit statement of congressional intent, …

Stock Redemptions: The Standards For Qualifying As A Purchase Under Section 302(B)., Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

This Article discusses the requirements of section 302(b) for characterizing a stock redemption as a purchase rather than as a dividend equivalent. The focus is primarily on two issues: (1) whether the election authorized by section 302(c)(2) to waive family attribution rules should be available to an entity such as a trust or estate; and (2) the determination of the standards to be applied in resolving whether a redemption is "not essentially equivalent to a dividend" so that section 302(b)(1) is applicable.

Tax-Based Incomes Policy (Tip) As A Alternative To Wage And Price Controls, Steven R. Hunsicker

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Part I of this article will evaluate the major arguments opposing such policies against the background of the recent American experience with wage and price controls. Part II, in light of the applicability of these arguments to TIPs, will consider whether some variant of TIP could realize the claimed benefits while minimizing the economic and administrative costs usually associated with wage and price controls.

Accelerated Depreciation Revisited—A Reply To Professor Blum, Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

Professor Blum's comment addresses the proper or neutral tax treatment to be accorded three of the items discussed in my recent article on accelerated depreciation - namely, annuities, prepaid expenses, and exhaustible assets. Blum disputes my analysis in all three cases. While Blum's article is eminently readable, I do not believe that it refutes my earlier work to any extent. In this reply to Professor Blum, I will deal separately with each of the three items he examines. First, however, it is useful to consider the meaning of the term "tax neutrality" and to set forth my views as to …

The Haitian Vacation: The Applicability Of Sham Doctrine To Year-End Divorces, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note examines the propriety of applying the sham doctrine to tax-motivated divorces. Section I outlines the evolution of the sham doctrine from its exposition in Gregory v. Helvering through its expression in two different tests for commercial transactions. Section II then studies the relationship between state divorce law and the marital status provisions of the Internal Revenue Code to demonstrate the clear congressional preference for incorporating state law by reference rather than creating an independent federal law of marriage. It also examines the history of the 1969 Tax Reform Act in a vain effort to discern a congressional desire …

Accelerated Depreciation—Tax Expenditure Or Proper Allowance For Measuring Net Income?, Douglas A. Kahn

Articles

Since the 1950s, it has become fashionable to attack various provisions of the Internal Revenue Code by calling them "subsidies" rather than "proper" means of measuring taxable income. These "subsidies" through Code provisions have come to be referred to as "tax expenditures," a term coined by Professor Stanley Surrey in a speech he made as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy on November 15, 1967. In that speech, Professor Surrey stated that our tax system often deliberately departs "from accepted concepts of net income," so that by granting exemptions, deductions, and credits that are not appropriate to an …

Tax Avoidance, Alan Gunn

Michigan Law Review

This Article attempts an almost purely negative criticism. I contend that efforts to explain the results of tax cases not involving penalties by reference to "tax avoidance" are never satisfactory, whether the reference is meant to describe a taxpayer's state of mind or to justify a tax rule by invoking some "need to prevent tax avoidance." Because many tax problems are commonly discussed in terms of "tax avoidance" in one of these senses, and in order to avoid the impression that my arguments would leave the tax law in shambles, I shall suggest some alternative ways of dealing with these …

Penalizing Bribery Of Foreign Officials Through The Tax Laws: A Case For Repealing Section 162 (C)(1), Christopher Alan Lewis

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Most commentary on these congressional attempts to use tax laws to control the ethics of overseas enterprises has centered either on the effectiveness of these provisions or on the burdens and difficulties involved with their implementation. This article, while discussing these issues, is concerned primarily with the conceptual justifications and the direct economic effects of these tax provisions. The article contends that section 162(c)(1) and the pertinent provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 1976 are disguised penalties which often operate arbitrarily and unfairly and concludes that they should be repealed in favor of more equitable and effective deterrents.

Carter's Projected "Zero-Based" Review Of The Internal Revenue Code: Is Our Tax Code To Be "Born Again"?, L. Hart Wright

Michigan Law Review

The evolution of today's Internal Revenue Code, which began with the mere embryo that Congress created in 1913, has absorbed over the ensuing sixty-four years more creative energy on the part of more co-authors than any other law in history. Despite this unstinted expenditure of "blood, sweat, and tears," the resulting document--were it possessed of human senses--would recognize that, for a foreseeable period, its life will be anything but serene. The plight in which it would find itself could even be compared to that early morning scene observed one hundred years ago by General Custer, when hostile forces were massed …

Taxpayer Rights In Noncustodial Irs Investigations After Beckwith V. United States, Curtis L. Christensen

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The recent Supreme Court decision in Beckwith v. United States, holding that Miranda does not extend to noncustodial tax investigations, has important implications with respect to the News Release doctrine and the involuntary consent grounds considered in motions to suppress evidence. This article will examine Beckwith and its potential significance with respect to these other doctrines, discussing the factors which the IRS and the courts should consider in order to assure fair treatment of taxpayers during investigations.

The Application Of Depletion To Geothermal Resources, Stephen A. Million

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The energy crisis and the increasing costs of conventional sources of energy have created increased interest in geothermal resources as an alternative energy source. One impediment to the development of geothermal resources is the uncertainty of their status under federal tax law. This note analyzes the application of the depletion provisions of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 to geothermal resources. Consideration is given to whether geothermal resources are exhaustible, whether they can or should be viewed as heat, and whether heat is a natural deposit or a mineral. Since geothermal resources exist in several forms, and since the depletion …

The Judicial Public Policy Doctrine In Tax Litigation, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note evaluates the merits of Revenue Ruling 74-323. First, it asserts that, while not arbitrary, the Service's resolution of the preemption issue was not mandated by the language of amended section 162 or by the relevant legislative history. Second, it maintains that it is both appropriate and procedurally feasible to apply the judicial public policy doctrine to violations of federal civil rights laws that impose no fine, imprisonment, loss of license, or other criminal penalty. The denial of a deduction in this situation would extend the public policy doctrine beyond both section 162(c)(2) and the judicial doctrine as it …

Collateral Estoppel: Loosening The Mutuality Rule In Tax Litigation, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

Collateral estoppel is an aspect of the doctrine of res judicata that precludes relitigation of issues previously adjudicated. A judgment in a prior action may be held conclusive as to issues in a subsequent case. even though the later case technically involves a different cause of action. The rule of collateral estoppel seeks to conserve judicial energy, promote confidence in the judicial system, avoid litigant expense, promote community peace and reliance on judgments, and minimize inconsistent results. Countervailing policy concerns are the right of each person to have his day in court, the fear of increased litigation, the danger of …

Scope Of Disclosure Of Internal Revenue Communications And Information Files Under The Freedom Of Information Act, Peter R. Spanos

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article will discuss the proper scope of disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act of the files and administrative and policy materials of the IRS, with particular attention to the following currently contested issues: (1) the extent to which IRS guideline documents and private letter rulings are subject to disclosure; (2) the proper scope of the FOIA exemption for "interagency or intra-agency memorandums or letters which would not be available by law to a party other than an agency in litigation with the agency" as applied to the IRS; and (3) the scope of the exemption for "investigatory records …

Gimme Shelter: Reform Of Real Estate Tax Shelters, Farrell C. Glasser

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Of the many different kinds of tax shelter investments that are available to high bracket taxpayers, the most commonly encountered device is the real estate tax shelter. This article describes the way a tax shelter operates, from both a business-economic and a tax viewpoint, and examines the real estate tax shelter from the standpoint of possible tax reform to correct the abuses that stem from real estate syndications.

Comparison Of Major Tax And Legal Advantages Of Operating In An Unincorporated Form, Douglas A. Kahn

Book Chapters

As an introduction to the subject of this conference, several topics will be discussed. First, the tax and non-tax consequences of conducting business in a partnership form will be examined and compared with the consequences of doing business in a corporate form. The principle concern of this paper, however, is to examine the tax consequences of transferring property to a corporation, whether such transfer is made at the time the corporation is organized or at some subsequent date.

Wright: Comparative Conflict Resolution Procedures In Taxation, Thomas A. Troyer, Arthur B. White, Donald W. Bacon

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Comparative Conflict Resolution Procedures in Taxation edited by L. Hart Wright