Tax Law Commons^™

Replacing The Federal Income Tax With A Postpaid Consumption Tax: Preliminary Thoughts Regarding A Government Matching Program For Wealthy Investors And A New Tax Policy Lens, J. Clifton Fleming Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, proposals have been made to replace the federal income tax with a postpaid consumption tax - that is, a federal value added tax ("VAT"), a federal retail sales tax ("RST"), or a federal cash-flow (consumed income) tax. Because these taxes can be constructed so that they are indistinguishable at the level of the ultimate consumer in terms of their principal effects, and because a prominent recent proposal is the RST approach, I have written this article in terms of an RST/income tax comparison. The analysis, however, would be mostly the same if the income tax was compared …

Optimal Tax Compliance And Penalties When The Law Is Uncertain, Kyle D. Logue

Law & Economics Working Papers Archive: 2003-2009

This Article examines the optimal level of tax compliance and the optimal penalty for noncompliance in circumstances in which the tax law is substantively uncertain – that is, when the precise application of the Internal Revenue Code to a particular situation is not clear. In such situations, two interesting questions arise: First, as a normative matter, how certain should a taxpayer be before she relies on a particular interpretation of a substantively uncertain tax rule? That is, if a particular position is not clearly prohibited, but neither is it clearly allowed, under the tax law, what is the appropriate threshold …

Implementing A Progressive Consumption Tax: Advantages Of Adopting The Vat Credit-Method System, Itai Grinberg

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A credit–method value–added tax, a payroll tax, and a business–level wage subsidy can approximate the economic and distributional consequences of a subtraction–method X–tax. Such a credit–method progressive consumption tax has administrative advantages as compared to a subtraction–method progressive consumption tax, once certain political factors are taken into account. Further, unlike a subtraction–method system, a credit– method progressive consumption tax could easily interact with other tax systems around the world and comply with World Trade Organization rules without sacrifi cing best practice VAT design features that allow for effective enforcement.

Biometrics, Certified Software Solutions, And The Japanese Consumption Tax: A Proposal For The Tax Commission, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

Significant change is anticipated in the Japanese Consumption Tax. The Japanese Tax Commission is recommending that the rate should double, multiple rates should be employed, and the "bookkeeping method" of accounting should be abandoned in favor of the European "invoice method."

The Tax Commission faces a tax policy dilemma. The aging population drives the need for a tax increase (making the Consumption Tax an obvious target for revenue enhancement) at exactly the same time the population is shrinking in overall size, thereby reducing the number of working-consumers who can pay the higher tax.

These are dramatic changes for the Japanese …

The De-Gentrification Of New Markets Tax Credits, Roger M. Groves

ExpressO

This article provides the most comprehensive analysis to date of the New Markets Tax Credits program established by Congress. The purpose of the NMTCs is to use tax credits as incentives for investors to provide equity funds into low income areas. The article reveals that over $2 billion of federal tax subsidies that have been allocated to gentrified projects for the wealthy, rather than the intended beneficiaries – low income residents in the urban core – as Congress intended. The article proposes amendments to the statute and regulations to close unintended loopholes.

Business Combinations: Mergers And Sales And Purchases Of Ownership Interests And Entity Assets, Thomas P. Rohman, Stephen L. Owen

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

S Corporations Redemptions And Divisions, Farhad Aghdami

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Business Combinations: Mergers And Sales And Purchases Of Ownership Interests And Entity Assets (Related Articles), Stephen L. Owen

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of S Corporations And Llcs, Stefan F. Tucker

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Tax Considerations Of Transfers To And Distributions From The C Or S Corporation, C. Wells Hall Iii

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Executive Compensation Techniques For Closely-Held Businesses, Jeffrey R. Capwell

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Partnership Tax Allocation Provisions, Brian J. O'Connor

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Property And Liability Transfers To Partnerships: Built-In Gain Or Loss, Boot, And Disguised Sales, Andrea M. Whiteway

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Liquidating According To Capital Accounts: Gone With The Wind?, Brian J. O'Connor, Steven R. Schneider

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Murphy And The Evolution Of "Basis", Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Marrita Murphy received compensatory damages of $45,000 for emotional distress or mental anguish and $25,000 for injury to professional reputation after bringing a complaint with the Department of Labor under various whistle-blower statutes. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously held, in an opinion written by Chief Judge Douglas Ginsburg, that Murphy's damages were not due to physical injury and thus could not be excluded under the authority of section 104(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code but that the government nevertheless could not, under the Constitution, tax those damages as income. The government …

Impersonating A Nonprofit, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

The Senate Finance Committee minority staff report concerning Jack Abramoff's use of tax-exempt organizations details the misuse of charities and social welfare organizations for lobbying and other purposes. It shows how Abramoff moved money from clients through exempt organizations to influence legislative and administrative decisions favorable to those clients, but without disclosing the true source of the funds. In one case, money from the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, anxious to bar competition from a new casino, transferred funds through Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) to antigambling organizations associated with Ralph Reed. In other examples, money passed from clients to …

Taxing Emotional Injury Recoveries: A Critical Analysis Of Murphy V. Internal Revenue Service, Gregory L. Germain

ExpressO

Does Congress have the power under the United States Constitution to tax compensatory personal injury awards? Several months ago, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals said "no" in Murphy v. Internal Revenue Service. The court theorized that Ms. Murphy’s compensatory damages award did not constitute “income,” as understood by the enactors of the 16th Amendment, because the award merely made Ms. Murphy whole rather than increasing her wealth.

This paper disputes virtually every aspect of the Murphy decision. The court made errors from the beginning in analyzing the statutory issues. While the court ultimately reached the correct preliminary conclusion – …

Power Purchase Agreements For Small Power Producers, Steven Ferrey, Anil Cabraal

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

Five Asian nations, India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam began designing or instituting Small Power Producer (SPP) programs in the mid-1990s to support energy development jointly with the private sector. This note draws on important markers and lessons for other countries on how to implement similar programs based on these experiences. While all Asian programs demonstrate certain commonalities due to fundamental legal relationships, each experience has been tailored to local conditions and requirements. Some have introduced innovative bidding, competitive, or incentive structures. The result is a rich palette of experience with small power projects in Asia.

Vat? A Look Inside Canada's Experience With The Goods And Services Tax, Brandon A. Ketterman

San Diego International Law Journal

Consumption taxes have been and continue to be utilized as a staple revenue producer within systems of taxation. The value-added tax (VAT) is one form of consumption tax that has grown in popularity among nations over the last several decades. In fact, after the passage of a goods and services tax (one type of VAT) in Australia in 2000, the United States now stands alone as the only remaining OECD nation, among its 30 members, without some form of a value-added tax on consumption. As the massive topic of tax reform continually appears at the forefront of the political landscape, …

Taxation, Craig D. Bell

University of Richmond Law Review

This article reviews significant developments in the law affect- ing Virginia taxation. Each section covers recent legislative changes, judicial decisions, and selected opinions or pronouncements from the Virginia Department of Taxation and the Attorney General of Virginia over the past year. The overall purpose ofthis article is to provide Virginia tax and general practitioners with a concise overview of the recent developments in Virginia taxation most likely to have an impact on their practices. This article will not, however, discuss many of the numerous technical legislative changes to the State Taxation Code of Title 58.1.

Surviving Irs Examinations And Appeals, Emily A. Parker, Robert D. Probasco

Faculty Scholarship

This article summarizes the statutory, regulatory and administrative rules and procedures that apply to IRS civil tax examinations and Appeals proceedings, including alternative dispute resolution procedures. The focus of this paper is on field examinations, rather than service center examinations, correspondence examinations, or office examinations. In addition, it attempts to answer some of the basic questions that taxpayers often ask their advisors and representatives when they are the subject of an IRS civil tax examination:

• Why was I selected by the IRS for audit?
• How long will this audit take?
• Why do the agents want all this information, documents, data, …

Unjust Enrichment And Wrongly Paid Tax, Hang Wu Tang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Boake Allen Limited v. Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2006] EWCA Civ 25 concerned early payment of Advance Corporation Tax ("ACT"). ACT was normally payable when a company paid dividends to its shareholders, but there was a statutory exception where the company was a subsidiary of a United Kingdom company and both the parent and subsidiary made a group income election. If the tax authorities accepted the election, the obligation to pay ACT would only accrue when the parent company paid dividends. Section 247 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 ("ICTA") stipulated that group income elections were only available …

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

Daimlerchrysler V. Cuno - Plaintiffs Lack Standing To Challenge State Franchise Tax Credit In Federal Court, According To The Supreme Court, Sue Ann Mota

North Carolina Central Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bankruptcy Reform: What's Tax Got To Do With It?, Michelle A. Cecil

Faculty Publications

The article takes a two-pronged approach to the issue. First, it argues that all post-petition appreciation should be taxed to the debtor rather than to the debtor's bankruptcy estate because the debtor enjoys the benefits of the asset's appreciation in value and because, from a tax perspective, the results will be identical irrespective of whether the debtor or the bankruptcy estate is taxed on the asset's post-petition appreciation. Second, the article proposes that the gain accruing before the termination of the bankruptcy proceeding be treated as discharge of indebtedness income so that the debtor can defer recognition of the gain …

Teed Off About Private Club Discrimination On The Taxpayer's Dime: Tax Exemptions And Other Government Privileges To Discriminatory Private Clubs, Jennifer Jolly-Ryan

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

A Diversity Theory Of Charitable Tax Exemption -- Beyond Efficiency, Through Critical Race Theory, Toward Diversity, David A. Brennen

Scholarly Works

Part I of the article presents Robin Paul Malloy's Law and Market Economy Theory (“LMT”) as an example of the basis for a normative explanation of the charitable tax exemption. LMT addresses the relationship among law, markets, and culture. Thus, using LMT, this part demonstrates how traditional law and economic analysis, premised on self-interest and wealth maximization, simply does not capture the essence of the many values that impact the marketplace and the market exchange process. Instead, LMT approaches legal analysis in a broader market context and is premised on the need to promote a process of sustainable wealth formation …

A Diversity Theory Of Charitable Tax Exemption—Beyond Efficiency, Through Critical Race Theory, Toward Diversity, David A. Brennen

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

What is the normative rationale for the federal income tax exemption for nonprofit charitable corporations? Even though the exemption dates back to 1894, Congress has failed to fully rationalize it. Though scholars and courts have attempted over the years to come up with a coherent rationale for the charitable tax exemption, their attempts are focused almost exclusively on economic efficiency. Thus, the charitable tax exemption is typically framed by noted tax scholars like Boris Bittker, Henry Hansmann, and others as an economically efficient means of providing certain goods and services to the public. Rationalizing the charitable tax exemption in economic …

Fiction, Form And Substance In Subchapter K -- Approaching Partnership Mergers, Divisions And Incorporations, Heather M. Field

ExpressO

The tax consequences of substantively equivalent partnership mergers, divisions and incorporations can vary dramatically depending on the form of the transaction. This disparate treatment arises because the tax analysis of these partnership transactions inconsistently adheres to the “form” of the transaction and limits the use of legal “fictions”. This part-form, part-fiction approach distorts parties’ incentives about whether and how to undertake such transactions and can make the transactions less efficient, all without materially advancing other policy goals. This result is exacerbated by non-tax business exigencies that restrict parties’ abilities to implement certain transaction forms and by the increase in “formless” …

Tribal-State Gaming Compacts And Revenue Sharing Provisions: Are The States Upping The Ante? , Richard L. Skeen

ExpressO

In the ten years following, the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Seminole Tribe v. Florida, Indian Gaming has grown to over a $19 billion a year industry, in 26 States, involving over 241 Approved Class III Tribal Gaming Ordinances. States have been eager to get a piece of this ever-increasing pie. Some commentators have predicted that States will be reluctant to enter into new compacts or renew existing compacts, however, other’s have indicated that States will continue to demand a percentages of Gaming revenues.

This comment addresses the central issue of whether the Tribal-State compacts entered into subsequent to the …