Tax Law Commons^™

The Progressive Consuption Tax Revisited, Steven A. Bank

Michigan Law Review

Over the last decade, it has become increasingly evident that our current federal income tax is too complex, too easily evaded by the wealthy, and too likely to distribute the burdens of taxation to the people least able to bear it. Several years ago, frustration with these realities led to a groundswell of reform proposals, ranging from replacing the current graduated income tax rates with "flat," or proportionate, rates to abolishing the income tax altogether in favor of a national sales tax. While this tax reform frenzy dissipated almost as quickly as it began, the seeds of discontent remain. Professor …

The Myth Of Pretax Income, Lawrence Zelenak

Michigan Law Review

What constitutes a fair distribution of the burdens of taxation among the members of a society? Even as politicians and academics vigorously debate the answer to that question, there is widespread agreement that all are asking the right question. In The Myth of Ownership, however, Liam Murphy and Thomas Nagel claim that everyone has been asking the wrong question. To ask about the fair distribution of tax burdens is to take the distribution of pretax incomes as "presumptively just," so that justice in taxation "is a question of what justifies departures from that baseline" (p. 15). But Murphy and Nagel …

Tax Incentives: A Means Of Encouraging Research And Development For Homeland Security?, Jennifer L. Venghaus

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Justice Scalia's Tax Jurisprudence, Stephen T. Black, Katherine D. Black

Law Faculty Scholarship

Justice Scalia is an outspoken conservative acclaimed for his remarkable intellect and scholarship, and is noted for his adherence to the principle of judicial restraint. He pursues what he insists is an "originalist" path that relies on the Constitution's actual text in decision-making. He works hard to try to maintain constitutional interpretation that does not change from case to case.

So what happens when an "originalist"--concerned that Congress writes imprecise legislation and then leaves its interpretation and application in the hands of administrative agencies or, worse yet, the courts-is forced to deal with tax issues? This article takes a look …

The Canon That Tax Penalties Should Be Strictly Construed, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

The Economic Ambiguity (And Possible Irrelevance) Of Tax Transition Rules, Eric D. Chason

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

I Come Not To Praise The Corporate Income Tax, But To Save It, Herwig J. Schlunk

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article began with a search for a theoretical underpinning that could explain the structure of the current corporate income tax regime, and found such underpinning lacking. It proposed an alternative underpinning for a "corporate" income tax based on the theory of the firm. The basic idea is that every firm generates incremental economic returns that would not be achieved but for its organizational structure as a firm. Thus, a sovereign could rationally choose to confiscate a portion of such returns, since it has made such returns possible (by enacting legislation that recognizes firms, etc.). (Whether or not a sovereign …

The Canon That Tax Penalties Should Be Strictly Construed, Steve R. Johnson

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Life After Death? The Role Of Postmortem Events In Valuing Deductions For Claims Against Estates, Benjamin Clark Brown

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Preserving Basis After Redemption, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

To shut down a particular kind of offshore tax shelter scheme regarded as abusive, the Treasury has proposed changes in the way shareholders recover investment after engaging in corporate redemptions taxed as dividends. This article argues that the proposed regulations operate poorly in the more typical setting of distributions by corporations to individual shareholders, that existing law produces better results in those situations, and that the Treasury should employ narrower rules to attack tax shelter arrangements.

An Assignment By Any Other Name: Contingent-Fee Agreements As Partial Assignments Of The Claim, Andrew P. Lycans

Michigan Law Review

In 1959, Mrs. Ethel West Cotnam of Alabama won a groundbreaking lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service when the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed her to subtract her legal fees, paid to her lawyer on a contingency basis, from her gross income. Mrs. Cotnam sued the estate of her former employer when the administrator refused to honor the decedent's promise to pay her one-fifth of his estate if she would care for him for the rest of his life. Upon the successful disposition of this suit, the Supreme Court of Alabama awarded Mrs. Cotnam $120,000. Of that amount, $50,365.83 …

Anonymous Speech And Section 527 Of The Internal Revenue Code, Donald B. Tobin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Educational Opportunities For Taxpayers, George Salimbas

Akron Tax Journal

Part II is a definitional section for the phrases and terms that are repeatedly used throughout this article. Unless otherwise stated, each phrase and term is defined as listed in this part.

Part III contains a detailed examination of the law for each opportunity. Examples are employed to determine the tax utility of each opportunity, and also provide suggestions for improvement. These results are listed in Appendices One through Five and Ten.

Part IV first determines which taxpayers qualify for the various opportunities by looking solely to the income limitations set forth in each opportunity. Next, it employs a control …

The Internal Revenue Service Collects From An Innocent Spouse In United States V. Craft: Could Business Associates Be Next?, Wade M. Fisher

Akron Tax Journal

Part II of this Note discusses tenancy by the entirety, the history of the federal tax lien statute, and how federal courts have interpreted the federal tax lien statute. Part III discusses the events leading up to the Craft lawsuit, considers the Craft lawsuit itself, and examines the subsequent court decisions. Finally, Part IV analyzes whether entrepreneurs carrying on as unincorporated businesses and closely held corporations have sufficiently similar rights to tenants by the entirety to allow the Craft holding to be applied in the business setting.

The New Tax Shelter Opinion Letter Regulations: Cutting Back On A Client's Ability To Rely On The Advice Of His Counsel, Beckett G. Cantley

Akron Tax Journal

The main question this article will discuss is whether the inability of a client to rely on a client's counsel on such complicated matters as tax shelters is good public policy.

How Long Must One Stay In The Usvi To Be Considered A "Resident" To Qualify For The 90% Residency Tax Credit?, Beckett G. Cantley

Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Child Tax Credit: How To Phase-Out Family Values, Jonnie M. Jennings

St. Thomas Law Review

In recent years, the integrity of our nation's tax system has been challenged with every new section added to the current Internal Revenue Code ("I.R.C." or the "Code") because Congress has created an unrealistic task of tax calculation for the average taxpayer. It is goal of the Code to express progress in how we tax ourselves, which is done by striving for a certain level of fairness in horizontal and vertical equity. One of the ways that Congress attempts to meet this goal is through developing certain personal credits and deductions but then providing for the phasing-out of benefits in …

Forward, 37 J. Marshall L. Rev. Xiii (2003), David Wray

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Options To Acquire Partnership Interests: Can The Tax Law Keep Pace?, Walter D. Schwidetzky

All Faculty Scholarship

It has become increasingly common for partnerships to issue options that give the holder the right to acquire an interest in the partnership for a set price. The holder of the option will exercise it if he feels that the partnership interest to be acquired is worth more than the exercise price. There is a dearth of authority on the federal tax treatment of option transactions, and the Service has recently asked for guidance from the tax bar as to what approach it should take. This article focuses on one piece of the partnership option puzzle, options to acquire partnership …

Joseph Hodges Choate (1832-1917), Janet Butler Munch

Publications and Research

Joseph Hodges Choate (1832-1917) was a trial lawyer and diplomat.

The Easy Case Against Tax Simplification, Samuel A. Donaldson

Faculty Publications By Year

There is growing political momentum to simplify the Internal Revenue Code. While the federal tax laws should be no more complex than necessary, this Article demonstrates that tax complexity is not as bad as political rhetoric leads us to believe. The Article makes four arguments in support of this thesis. First, the forces comprising tax complexity are either inevitable or net beneficial, so calls for simplification are ultimately pointless. Second, the alleged harms of tax complexity are either unproven or overstated, so the need for simplification is questionable. Third, significant proposals for simplification are flawed because they either overcorrect for …

The Constitution Matters In Taxation, Erik M. Jensen

Faculty Publications

These articles, from a colloquy on the taxing power, are part of an ongoing-some might say endless-debate between the author and Professor Calvin Johnson about the meaning of the Direct-Tax Clauses of the Constitution and the Sixteenth Amendment. The author argues that the Direct-Tax Clauses were intended to be a significant limitation on the national taxing power, and that the Amendment ought to be interpreted accordingly-to have exempted only one category of taxes, taxes on incomes, from the apportionment rule that otherwise applies to direct taxes.

Jensen’S Response To Johnson’S Response To Jensen’S Response To Johnson’S Response To Jensen (Or Is It The Other Way Around?), Erik M. Jensen

Faculty Publications

These articles, from a colloquy on the taxing power, are part of an ongoing-some might say endless-debate between the author and Professor Calvin Johnson about the meaning of the Direct-Tax Clauses of the Constitution and the Sixteenth Amendment. The author argues that the Direct-Tax Clauses were intended to be a significant limitation on the national taxing power, and that the Amendment ought to be interpreted accordingly-to have exempted only one category of taxes, taxes on incomes, from the apportionment rule that otherwise applies to direct taxes.

The Export Clause, Erik M. Jensen

Faculty Publications

This article examines the origins and meaning of the Export Clause in Article I, section 9 of the United States Constitution, which provides that "[n]o Tax or duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State."

Part I of the article considers the original understanding of the Export Clause, concluding that, without the Clause, the Constitution would not have been adopted. In light of the Export Clause's significance in the constitutional structure, Part II examines the Supreme Court's decisions in United States v. International Business Machines Corp., 517 U.S. 843 (1996) (IBM), and United States v. United States Shoe …

Doing Business In Indian Country: Introduction To American Indian Law Concepts Affecting Taxation, Erik M. Jensen

Faculty Publications

This article describes some of the issues that will affect whether national, state, and tribal governments can tax investors who do business, or who invest in doing business, within Indian country (a term generally meaning American Indian reservations, although it can be broader than that).

Absent treaty language or express statutory language to the contrary, tribal members are subject to federal taxes of general application, such as the income tax. The Internal Revenue Code does contain some specific provisions exempting certain sorts of income, such as that from fishing-rights related activities, from taxation. In general, nonmembers of a tribe who …

How Many Trades Must A Trader Make To Be In The Trading Business, 22 Va. Tax Rev. 395 (2003), Glenn P. Schwartz

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Enabling Work For People With Disabilities: A Post-Integrationist Revision Of Underutilized Tax Incentives, Francine J. Lipman

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Working Poor Are Paying For Government Benefits: Fixing The Hole In The Anti-Poverty Purse, Francine J. Lipman

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

No More Parking Lots: How The Tax Code Keeps Trees Out Of A Tree Museum And Paradise Unpaved, Francine J. Lipman

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Clicks And Mortar: Taxing Multinational Business Profits In The Digital Age, Aldo Forgione

Seattle University Law Review

This Article argues that governments should abandon the treaty concept of permanent establishment and adopt international tax reforms that restore the primacy of "market country taxation of multi-national business profits promoted by domestic tax laws. Part I explores several emerging e-commerce issues that demonstrate the tension of introducing traditional tax norms to a digital environment. Part II reviews historical and recent developments in the international taxation of business profits and looks at the underlying trends and sentiments for reform of the existing system of global taxation of business income. Part III canvasses several prominent international tax reform alternatives proposed by …