Tax Law Commons^™

Fair Market Value In The Tax Law: Replacement Value Or Liquidation Value, Daniel S. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Foreign Investors Real Property Tax Act: Historical Perspective And Critical Evaluation, William D. Metzger

Faculty Scholarship

This Article first discusses the United States tax treatment of foreigners generally and the pre-Foreign Investors Real Property Tax Act withholding and taxation scheme with respect to foreign investment in United States real estate. Then follows a discussion of the several ways in which foreign investors were, before the Act, able to avoid tax on the disposition of United States real estate and a critical evaluation of the Act's response to those avoidance methods. Finally, a discussion of the Act's enforcement provisions and a general discussion of withholding of tax on nonresidents is provided.

Open Transaction Treatment For Deferred Payment Sales After The Installment Sales Act Of 1980, Daniel S. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Unfinished Business Of Section 1244: Removing The Remaining Traps, J. Clifton Fleming Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Artists, Art Collectors And Income Tax, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

The federal income tax law treats artists and art collectors differently. Similar transactions concerning artworks produce disparate income tax results, depending on whether they involve the artist or the collector. On balance, these results seem to favor the collector over the artist. But notwithstanding the dismay of some artists and their advocates, the differences in result flow, in the main, from the differences in the source of the taxpayer's investment in the work.

The collector buys the work with after-tax income. Any gain is properly treated as an investment return and is eligible for capital gain benefits.' The collector, however, …

Lifetime Gifts - A Quantitative Approach, Roger A. Pies, Daniel S. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Double Jeopardy Of Corporate Profits, The , Constantine N. Katsoris

Faculty Scholarship

The more one reads about our economy, the more one is baffled and alarmed. Permanent solutions to economic problems are elusive. Treating one financial malaise often aggravates another sector of the economy, necessitating a delicate balancing of conflicting interests. Furthermore, the problems are complicated by the constant influence of foreign forces. Nevertheless, most economists agree that any solution will require enormous funding. Unfortunately, the public has little, if any, confidence in our tax system. Indeed, some tax laws and proposals have been referred to as "obscene" and a "disgrace to the human race." Few quarrel with the aptness of such …

The Midstream Incorporation Of A Cash-Basis Taxpayer: An Update, Robert I. Keller

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Implementing A Progressive Consumption Tax, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

Much scholarly debate has been devoted to the theoretical merits of using an individual's consumption expenditures as the basis for measuring ability to pay tax. In this Article, Professor Graetz examines the practical problems of implementing and administering a progressive consumption tax as an alternative to the income tax. He concludes that although a consumption tax is feasible, practical implementation difficulties, together with the political unlikelihood of enacting a tax which is both administratively workable and retains the alleged theoretical advantages of a consumption-based tax, argue against its adoption.

Carryover Basis: An Observation, An Irony, And A Proposal, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

Alan L. Feld is a Boston University Law School professor and visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. In this article Feld describes the changes in the treatment of capital gains transferred at death that were enacted in the Tax Reform Act of 1976. Feld notes that tax reformers would have preferred to tax capital gains at death but accepted the carryover basis provision as a second-best solution.

He reports that in the case of the very largest estates, the combined, effect of carryover basis and the lower estate tax rates results at most in a total estate …

Has The 1976 Tax Reform Act Injected A Gain-Seeking Requirement Into Section 166?, J. Clifton Fleming Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Divorce, Tax-Style, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

In response to the "sham divorce" tactic, the IRS recently issued Revenue Ruling 76-255. The author, professor of law at Boston University School of Law, although sympathetic with the IRS's position in the Ruling, poin4s out situations where the divorce-remarriage may possibly be considered valid because of the existence of nontax effects.

The Case For Highly Graduated Rates In State Income Taxes, Robert I. Keller

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Tax Policy Implications Of Contributions Of Appreciated And Depreciated Property To Partnerships, Subchapter C Corporations And Subchapter S Corporations In Exchange For Ownership Interests, Samuel C. Thompson Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Assessing The Distributional Effects Of Income Tax Revision: Some Lessons From Incidence Analysis, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years public attention to issues of tax equity has increased dramatically. The testimony in January 1969 of outgoing Secretary of the Treasury Joseph Barr that 154 individuals who had adjusted gross incomes of more than $200,000 in 1966 paid no federal income tax intensified public awareness and concern about the equity of the tax system. Tax reform has remained a central issue of public policy.

At the same time, scholars working in the tax field have refined their methods of analyzing the impact on individuals and classes of individuals of tax laws and tax changes. Theoretical advances in …

The Federal Income Tax Impact Of The Operating Function On The Choice Of Business Form: Partnership, Subchapter C Corporation, Or Subchapter S Corporation, Samuel C. Thompson Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Implications Of Minority Interest And Stock Restrictions In Valuing Closely-Held Shares, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

The federal estate and gift taxes levy on the gratuitous transfer of wealth by both testamentary and lifetime disposition. The amount of the tax depends on the value placed on the property transferred by the decedent or donor. When the property transferred consists of shares of stock in a closely held corporation, there often exists no ready market to help in valuation. As a result, the value of the shares used to compute the federal estate or gift tax must be determined first by appraising the value of the enterprise, and then by allocating some portion of that value to …

Another Word On Child Care, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

Professors Schaffer and Berman have written a stimulating brief in support of a deduction for child care expenses in computing federal taxable income. But, in addition, by the range of considerations which their article takes into account, it illustrates the difficulty in opting for deductibility or nondeductibility on the basis of a rational consideration of income tax policies. The difficulty derives primarily from the fact that child care expenditures partake of both a personal (consumption) element and a business (income earning) element.¹ To the extent it represents the latter, it does not represent personal income appropriately subject to tax; …

Taxation Of Unrealized Gains At Death – An Evaluation Of The Current Proposals, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

The failure to tax the appreciation of capital assets transferred at death has been described as the major shortcoming of existing federal income tax laws. From time to time since 1942, the Department of the Treasury and others have urged alteration of the rule which underlies this failure. Recently the House Ways and Means Committee held panel discussions and public hearings on the subject of tax reform during which consideration was given to the possibility of changing the laws dealing with taxation of appreciated property at death. In its recommendations to the Committee, the Treasury Department did not push for …

Deductibility Of Expenses For Child Care And Household Services: New Section 214, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

It is increasingly common to find families composed of husband, wife and young children, where both husband and wife are gainfully employed. For some, this pattern is regarded as preferable to the older "ideal" family, where the husband was the sole breadwinner and the wife cared for the children, performed household chores and perhaps engaged in social or charitable activities. Where both spouses are gainfully employed, it is often necessary for the family to employ household help to care for the children and do the housework. These expenditures are "necessary" to the gainful employment of both spouses in the sense …

Reflections On The Tax Legislative Process: Prelude To Reform, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

Tax reform is one of those motherhood issues-everybody's for it. Election year 1972 generated many far-reaching tax reform proposals which, if enacted, would have a profound impact on virtually every segment of American society. Senator McGovern recommended taxing capital gains at the same rates as ordinary income, eliminating almost $7 billion granted to businesses by reducing the investment tax credit and depreciation allowances, and offering state and local governments a 50 percent interest subsidy to encourage them to issue taxable, rather than tax-exempt, bonds. In addition, he proposed eliminating the percentage depletion allowance and the deduction for intangible drilling expenses …

A Suggested Alternative Approach To The Senate Finance Committee Staff's 1985 Proposals For Revising The Merger And Acquisition Provisions, Samuel C. Thompson Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Widow's Success In Common-Law Property State To Husband's Rights In Her Half Of Community Property Is Taxable And Valued At One-Half Of Entire Community--In Re Kessler's Estate, Bailey H. Kuklin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.