Tax Law Commons^™

International Private Equity Valuation And Disclosure, Douglas Cumming, Andrej Gill, Uwe Walz

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Private equity (PE) firms are financial intermediaries standing between the portfolio firms and their investors. They are typically organized as closed-end funds aiming to overcome informational asymmetries and to exploit specialization gains in selecting and overseeing portfolio firms.' However, their existence as financial intermediaries creates new informational asymmetries (with respect to the investors in the PE funds). Fund managers raise follow-on funds before exiting their investments, and may have incentives to overvalue their as-yet-unsold investments when making disclosures to institutional investors. Despite strong incentives to overvalue, PE funds do not face mandatory disclosure rules in any country with a significant …

Vultures, Hyenas, And African Debt: Private Equity And Zambia, Olufunmilayo B. Arewa

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Although the Donegal court explicitly limited its scrutiny to the legal questions raised by the case rather than questions of morality and humanity, 23 the moral and ethical considerations connected with the activities of vulture investors are significant. This is particularly true in Africa, which in the post-colonial period has experienced poor economic performance in both absolute and relative terms, as well as significant and even increasing levels of poverty.24 Poverty has exacerbated political instability in Africa.25 The political situation in much of the African continent is similarly tenuous, with sub-Saharan African states in many instances serving as exemplars of …

The Taxation Of Compensatory Profits Interests: The Blind Men And The Elephant, Philip F. Postlewaite

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The position increasingly held by academics is that the current tax treatment of such receipts is improper and should be obvious to all.6 Apparently, the small but determined group which defends the status quo7 not only fails to appreciate the clarity of the situation,8 but their analysis is derisively dismissed as sophistry and their motives impugned for acting as tools of the establishment. As the lowly representative of the Gang of Three, and the only one apparently not smart enough to be paid for his advocacy,'0 notwithstanding the intensity and inventiveness of the presenters' advocacy, I remain unconvinced. My support …

Not All Carried Interests Are Created Equa, Adam H. Rosenzweig

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Recently, a significant debate over the taxation of so-called "carried interest "in private equity funds has received much attention from scholars, the government, commentators, and the media. This debate has focused on whether private equity fund managers who earn a percentage of the returns generated by the fund should be entitled to preferential "capital gain" treatment on such returns. The primary concern in this debate revolves around whether managers are effectively being compensated for services normally taxed at higher rates while receiving the benefit of preferential rates reserved for capital gains. Proponents of reform point to the services being performed …

Return Of The Poll Tax: How The Internet Threatens 200 Years Of Progress Toward Equality, Max Oppenheimer

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Conscientious Legislator And Public Opinion On Taxes, Lawrence A. Zelenak

Faculty Scholarship

This essay examines some of the difficulties of understanding public opinion on taxes, and offers some suggestions as to how the conscientious legislator might proceed in light of those difficulties. The essay begins by describing two contexts in which public opinion appears to contradict itself, and suggests how the apparent contradictions might be resolved. It then offers three suggestions for the conscientious legislator whose goal is to discern (rather than to manipulate) public opinion on taxes - to be neither unduly optimistic nor despairing about the potential for educating the public on tax policy issues, to understand and guard against …

Taxation Of Carried Interests: The Reform That Did Not Happen, Howard E. Abrams

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Ideology Of Tax Avoidance, William B. Barker

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Using Salience And Influence To Narrow The Tax Gap, Susan Cleary Morse

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Saving Private Ryan's Tax Refund, Francine J. Lipman

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

International Financial Centers And The World Economy, James R. Hines Jr.

Other Publications

International financial centers (IFCs) are countries and territories with low tax rates and other features that make them attractive investment locations. These properties of IFCs occasionally raise concerns that they may erode tax collections, divert economic activity, and otherwise burden nearby high-tax countries. A large body of economic research over the last 15 years considers these issues, with findings that point sharply in the opposite direction: the evidence strongly suggests that the policies of IFCs contribute to investment, employment, and the efficient functioning of markets and government policies in other countries.

IFCs contribute to economic activity by improving the potential …

Subsidizing Charitable Contributions: Incentives, Information, And The Private Pursuit Of Public Goals, David M. Schizer

Faculty Scholarship

The charitable deduction has enjoyed relatively little support in the legal academy. Many commentators have asked what it adds to the tax system and, as critics such as Stanley Surrey and Paul McDaniel have observed, the deduction obviously does not itself collect tax revenue. Defenders respond that the deduction helps to measure income and to keep taxpayers from inefficiently substituting leisure for work, but these points are, of course, contested. Instead of revisiting debates about what the deduction adds to the tax system, this Article focuses on the broader question of what it adds to the pursuit of public goals. …

The Oecd Harmful Tax Competition Report: A Tenth Anniversary Retrospective, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

Eleven years ago the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development published its report "Harmful Tax Competition: An Emerging Global Issue." The Report identified for the first time two problem areas facing international income taxation of geographically mobile activities: tax havens and harmful preferential tax regimes. It sought to initiate activities to eliminate both types of problems.

Tax Reform In The (Multi)National Interest, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

This letter will attempt to raise some proposals for U.S. corporate and international tax reform. It will begin by asking why we need to tax corporations at all, since the rationale for the corporate tax is important for assessing reform proposals. It will then discuss options for corporate and international tax reform, beginning with long-term options (a 10-year horizon), continuing with the medium term (2-5 years), and concluding with short-term options like the Obama proposals (1-2 years).

Tax Policy Challenges, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

In 1995, when the late, great Jack Nolan asked me to deliver the inaugural lecture in honor of Larry Woodworth, I was both honored and flattered. I had come to know Larry Woodworth beginning in 1969, when I was a rookie treasury tax policy staffer. At that time, he had already served the Joint Committee on Taxation for 25 years and had been the third Chief of Staff in its history beginning as chief of staff in 1964. Larry Woodworth was not only as knowledgeable about the tax law as anyone you would ever hope to meet, and as savvy …

Strict Liability And Tax Penalties, William A. Drennan

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reconsidering The Taxation Of Foreign Income, James R. Hines Jr.

Articles

The purpose of this Article is to analyze the consequences of taxing active foreign business income,1 and in particular, to compare a regime in which a home country taxes foreign income to a regime in which it does not. In practice, countries typically do not adopt such extreme policy positions. For example, a country such as France, which largely exempts foreign business income from taxation, nevertheless taxes small pieces of foreign income;2 and a country such as the United States, which attempts to tax the foreign incomes of U.S. corporations, permits taxpayers to defer home country taxation in some circumstances, …

International Mobility Of Highly Skilled Workers In The Canadian Context: Tax Barriers And Reform Options, Jinyan Li

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

No abstract provided.

The Administration Of Canada’S Transfer Pricing Rules: Issues And Recommendations, Jinyan Li, Pierre Barsalou, John Oatway, François Vincent

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

No abstract provided.

Recent Developments In Federal Income Taxation: The Year 2008, Martin J. Mcmahon Jr., Ira B. Shepard, Daniel L. Simmons

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article discusses, and provides context to understand the significance of, the most important judicial decisions and administrative rulings and regulations promulgated by the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department during 2008 - and sometimes a little farther back in time if the authors find the item particularly humorous or outrageous. Most Treasury Regulations, however, are so complex that they cannot be discussed in detail and, anyway, only a devout masochist would read them all the way through; just the basic topic and fundamental principles are highlighted. Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code generally are discussed to the extent that …

Improving Inter-Nation Equity Through Territorial Taxation And Tax Sparing, Jinyan Li

All Papers

The current international tax system allocates the taxation of cross-border income by reference to the residence of the taxpayer and/or the source of income. The governing rules are contained in domestic tax laws and bilateral tax treaties. As noted by Professor Easson, the current regime of allocation is not based on any real agreement between nations and cannot be rationalized by any “obvious principle of fairness”. In fact, it is biased in favour of the capital exporting nations that devised the rules of the game. In order to improve fairness, Professor Easson considered it desirable to have some “redistribution” in …

Peter Mieszkowski And The General Equilibrium Revolution In Public Finance, James R. Hines Jr.

Articles

The importance of understanding the implications of general equilibrium is by now abundantly clear to researchers analyzing public fi nance issues. What is perhaps less apparent is that this was not always so. The study of public fi nance was radically transformed during the 15 years between 1959 and 1974 by the pioneering efforts of a small number of leading scholars, notably including Peter Mieszkowski. Thanks to their efforts, the analysis of applied problems in public finance moved from partial equilibrium to general equilibrium, providing the methods and insights that characterize modern public economics. The transformation began with the publication …

Introduction: Symposium On The Globalization Of Private Equity: Changes In The International Market And The Impact On Private Equity Investments , David Van Zandt

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The title of this year's symposium is "Globalization of Private Equity: Changes in the International Market and the Impact on Private Equity Investments." As reflected by the title, the goal of this year's symposium is to explore the changes in the private equity industry after the financial crisis. The papers in this issue examine topics such as the future of convergence between hedge funds and private equity, the legal and ethical implications of vulture funds in developing countries, and the legal, ethical, and financial implications surrounding valuation and disclosure. Additionally, this issue will explore the contentious legal and political debate …

Global Distributive Justice: The Potential For A Feminist Analysis Of International Tax Revenue Allocation, Kim Brooks

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article has a modest aim - to engage feminists and progressive international tax scholars in a shared dialogue about the importance of protecting and enhancing the state’s revenue-raising and international revenue distribution roles. To this end, the article reviews some of the feminist and critical race scholarship that might assist international tax scholars and policy makers concerned with issues of international revenue distribution; explains the role of tax treaties in allocating tax revenues between nations; applies a feminist analysis to the problem of this international revenue allocation project; and offers some tentative thoughts about a feminist approach to allocating …

Residence Of Companies Under Tax Treaties And Ec Law (Canada), Kim Brooks

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This chapter reviews the development and present Canadian law on the residence of corporations for tax purposes. It highlights a few of the elements of Canada's corporate law regime by way of context; outlines why residence matters to corporations for Canadian tax purposes, traces the history of the Canadian tests for corporate residence, explains how the Canadian Income Tax Act addresses continuances, and reviews the approach to the determination of corporate residence reflected in Canada's tax treaties.

Tax Sparing: A Needed Incentive For Foreign Investment In Low-Income Countries Or An Unnecessary Revenue Sacrifice?, Kim Brooks

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Low income countries often offer tax incentives to induce foreign investment, but the effectiveness of these measures may he limited by the domestic tax practices of investors' high income home countries. Most high-income countries provide a tax credit for the amount of tax paid to a foreign jurisdiction on the international profits of resident companies or individuals. Where no tax, or reduced tax, is paid to the foreign jurisdiction because of a tax incentive, the result is that the investor pays the same amount of tax they would have paid in the absence of the tax incentive, but simply pays …

Doma And The Internal Revenue Code, Patricia A. Cain

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to make the argument that I think needs to be made: DOMA, as applied to the Internal Revenue Code as a whole, is unconstitutional because it lacks a rational basis.

Let me explain, up front, that my constitutional argument about § 3 has nothing to do with whether Congress has the power to enact such legislation. Congress, after all, does have the power to levy taxes and control our borders. Thus, Congress should have the power to determine which married couples can file a joint return and which non-citizen spouses can be given preferential …

Cash Businesses And Tax Evasion, Susan Morse, Stewart Karlinsky, Joseph Bankman

Faculty Publications

This Article attempts to provide a qualitative picture of tax evasion in the small business sector. It provides details from almost 275 field study interviews with cash business owners and with tax preparers and bankers who serve cash business clients. Our research suggests answers to the questions of who evades taxes, what taxes they evade, and why and how they evade taxes. This Article proceeds in three additional parts. Part II summarizes the main threads of relevant social science research on small business tax compliance. Part III describes the methodology and results of this interview study. Part IV concludes.

Protectionist Pitfalls In U.S. Tax Reform, James R. Hines Jr.

Book Chapters

The magnitude of current and projected U.S. budget deficits makes it appropriate for the government to cast its net wide in seeking new revenue sources. In doing so, however, there is the danger of misconstruing the role of domestic taxation in a global economy, and thereby designing a tax reform proposal with significant protectionist elements.

Combating Global Climate Change: Why A Carbon Tax Is A Better Response To Global Warming Than Cap And Trade, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, David M. Uhlmann

Articles

Global climate change is the most significant environmental issue facing our nation and the world. There no longer is any question that global warming is occurring. Nor is there any serious debate about whether human activity is the root cause. If we fail to make significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions over the next ten to twenty years, we face the possibility of catastrophic environmental harm by the end of this century.