Tax Law Commons^™

Finding The Pearl In The Oyster: Supercharging Ipos Through Tax Receivable Agreements, Christopher B. Grady

Northwestern University Law Review

A new, “supercharged” form of IPO has slowly developed over the last twenty years. This new form of IPO takes advantage of several seemingly unrelated provisions of the tax code to multiply pre-IPO owners’ proceeds from a public offering without reducing the amount public investors are willing to pay for the stock. Supercharged IPOs use a tax receivable agreement to transfer tax assets created by the IPO back to the pre-IPO ownership, “monetizing” the tax assets. As these structures have become more efficient, commentators have expressed concerns that these agreements deceive shareholders who either ignore or do not understand the …

Trump & Vat: Nafta, Trade Barriers, And Retaliatory Tariffs, Richard Thompson Ainsworth

Faculty Scholarship

During the first presidential debate President-elect Donald J. Trump argued that the value added tax (VAT) operated as a trade barrier to American business everywhere. He particularly pointed to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Mexico was a special concern. China was also a concern, but in this instance Trump was troubled both by China’s VAT and by China’s alleged currency manipulation.

This paper can only consider the VAT aspect of Trump’s trade policy. There appears to be some confusion about the operation of the VAT, particularly the border adjustment mechanism, and how US tariffs could “level the playing …

The Global Fight Against Base Erosion And Profit Shifting Under The Oecd’S Country-By-Country Reporting Rules: A Possible Solution?, Oladiwura Ayeyemi Eyitayo-Oyesode

LLM Theses

The base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) phenomenon continues to create detrimental consequences in states. BEPS is engendered by two fundamental factors, namely, unhealthy fiscal policies of tax havens and preferential tax regimes, and transfer mispricing by multinational corporations (MNCs). The OECD, through its BEPS Project notes that the lack of transparency in the global activities of MNCs is a major cause of BEPS. To close this gap, the OECD released the CBCR Rules. This thesis discusses the severity of the BEPS phenomenon and assesses the anti-BEPS efforts of the OECD. Upon an assessment of these efforts, this thesis argues …

Pre-Enforcement Litigation Needed For Taxing Procedures, Stephanie Mcmahon

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Courts have opened tax guidance to procedural attack. Consequently, taxpayers who are found to owe tax may challenge the validity of the guidance implementing the tax if the procedure used by the Treasury Department in adopting the guidance failed to comply with the Administrative Procedure Act, in particular, with notice-and-comment. This increased willingness to consider tax guidance's procedural defects offers little to most taxpayers unless they are also given a better means to raise procedural challenges. Under current law and in most circumstances, generally, taxpayers can bring a challenge only after they have been found to owe taxes in an …

Privacy In Taxation, Michael Hatfield

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Expressive Theory Of Tax, Kitty Richards

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

The tax code is full of ineffective, inefficient, inequitable, or otherwise problematic provisions that make little sense when evaluated through the lens of traditional tax policy analysis, yet remain popular with citizens and legislators alike. The tax literature is equally full of carefully-researched, technically precise, and theoretically sound proposals for reform that nonetheless fail to get traction in the public debate. Why?

What tax scholarship is missing is the importance of social meaning: what do our tax laws say about our society's values, and how is taxation being used to construct cultural ideals in contested spaces?

This Article applies expressive …

Source, Character And Taxable Presence In A Digital World: International Taxation Of Online Advertising, Assaf Prussak

SJD Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the application of the U.S. and international tax rules and norms to income derived from online advertising, to consider the challenges and problems that arise when these rules are applied to such a purely-digital type of income, to propose an alternative framework for the taxation of online advertising, and to discuss the legislative measures adopted by various countries in an attempt to tax this type of income (and other income derived from digital-based activities).

The Illusion Of Fiscal Illusion In Regulatory Takings, Bethany R. Berger

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Minimalism About Residence And Source, Wei Cui

All Faculty Publications

Many economists and legal scholars claim that the traditional conceptual and policy framework for international taxation is defunct. The examples they offer most often to support such claims are failures of residence- or source-based taxation to achieve a variety of normative objectives. This article suggests that there is a very different way of seeing why international taxation has become intellectually controversial. The key problem is not that the globalization of economic activities makes the traditional policy tools outdated; instead, it is that scholars and policymakers have more frequent occasions to disagree about the normative goals of international taxation. Thus most …

Canada: Limitation On The Elimination Of Double Taxation Under The Canada-Brazil Income Tax Treaty, David G. Duff

All Faculty Publications

This short comment reviews the Tax Court of Canada decision in Société générale valeurs mobilieres inc. v. The Queen, addressing the interpretation of the elimination of double taxation article in the Canada-Brazil Income Tax Treaty. The comment argues that the Court rightly rejected the taxpayer’s argument that treaty relief should extend to Canadian tax otherwise payable on gross interest income without taking into account any expenses incurred to earn this income, accepting the revenue department’s argument that treaty relief was limited to Canadian tax otherwise payable on net interest income earned in Brazil.

Tax Symposium: Introduction, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Michigan Journal of International Law

This issue of MJIL features four out of the many outstanding papers that were presented at a conference on Taxation and Citizenship held at Michigan Law in October 2015 and co-organized by Allison Christians and myself. The impetus for the conference was the realization that the unique U.S. practice of taxing its citizens on worldwide income, regardless of where they reside, has become a major flashpoint in the relationship between the United States and its citizens living overseas, and sometimes also between the United States and the country those citizens resided in.

The Tax-Immigration Nexus, Tessa R. Davis

Faculty Publications

Tax and immigration law have a shared interest in defining community. In order to implement a tax, we must know who belongs to the taxable community. At the same time, immigration law must define and administer the requirements for membership in the national community. Despite the differing objectives of tax and immigration law—raising revenue and deciding who may enter, remain, and become a citizen in the United States, respectively—both of these regimes uses a concept of citizenship to define their respective communities. Starting from this common thread of the relevance of citizenship to both immigration and tax law, this Article …

La Aplicación De Otros Métodos De Valoración En El Régimen De Precios De Transferencia, Fernando Loayza Jordán, Martín La Rosa Almenara

Scholarly Articles

Previamente a la última reforma del régimen peruano de precios de transferencia, solo se permitía la aplicación de métodos específicos de valoración, lo que generó una serie de problemas de índole práctica y constitucional. Estos se resolvieron parcialmente con la reciente inclusión de una disposición que permite la aplicación de “otros métodos”. El presente trabajo analiza la problemática de la situación previa, así como las soluciones que presenta la reforma y sus límites. Por último, se propone una serie de precisiones que, a juicio de los autores, deberían incluirse en la reglamentación de los “otros métodos”.

Prior to the last …

Análisis Crítico Del Requisito Del Perjuicio Fiscal En El Régimen Peruano De Precios De Transferencia, Fernando Javier Loayza Jordán

Scholarly Articles

Tesis para optar el Título de Abogado, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

El régimen peruano de precios de transferencia limita la aplicación de ajustes que afecten negativamente a la recaudación tributaria, de modo tal que solo se permiten ajustes cuando estos corrijan el perjuicio fiscal que se generaría por la aplicación del IR sobre un valor distinto al de mercado.

Por lo tanto, la importancia del perjuicio fiscal como requisito para realizar ajustes reside en constituirse como la condición que determinará si la asignación del valor de una transacción será (i) el valor de mercado según el ALP o (ii) …

The Tax Lives Of Uber Drivers: Evidence From Internet Discussion Forums, Shu-Yi Oei, Diane M. Ring

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, we investigate the tax issues and challenges facing Uber and Lyfi drivers by studying their online interactions in three internet discussion forums: Reddit.com, Uberpeople.net, and Intuit TurboTax AnswerXchange. Using descriptive statistics and content analysis, we examine (1) the substantive tax concerns facing forum participants, (2) how taxes affect their driving and profitability decisions, and (3) the degree of user sophistication, accuracy of legal advising, and other cultural features of the forums.

We find that while forum participants displayed generally accurate understandings of tax filing and income inclusion obligations, their approaches to expenses and deductions were less accurate …

Conspicuous Philanthropy: Reconciling Contract And Tax Laws, William A. Drennan

American University Law Review

It sold for $15 million, and the IRS treated it as worthless. Avery Fisher, a titan of industry and a lover of classical music, made a generous contribution to renovate a charity's building, and in exchange the charity agreed to name the building after Fisher in perpetuity. Forty years later, the Fisher family sold the naming rights back to the charity for $15 million in cash. The IRS treats these publicity rights as worthless when charities grant them, and this generates substantial tax benefits for the donor and the donor's family. In contrast, the common law can treat these publicity …

(Anti)Poverty Measures Exposed, Francine J. Lipman

Scholarly Works

Few economic indicators have more salience and pervasive financial impact on everyday lives in the United States than poverty measures. Nevertheless, policymakers, researchers, advocates, and legislators generally do not understand the details of poverty measure mechanics. These detailed mechanics shape and reshape poverty measures and the too often uninformed responses and remedies. This Article will build a bridge from personal portraits of families living in poverty to the resource allocations that failed them by exposing the specific detailed mechanics underlying the Census Bureau’s official (OPM) and supplemental poverty measures (SPM). Too often, when we confront the problem of poverty, the …

Postpartum Taxation And The Squeezed Out Mom, Shannon Weeks Mccormack

Articles

Faced with too-short (or nonexistent) maternity leaves, inflexible work schedules, and the soaring costs of childcare in the United States, many new mothers temporarily leave the workforce to care for their young children. Although media attention has focused on the “opt-out” mom, many more mothers are squeezed out of the external workplace. But mothers that try to return to work may discover that it is difficult to do so, as employers have been shown to be less likely to hire mothers than others. A mother that does reenter may find that even short periods out of work cost (sometimes far) …

Energy Subsidies: Worthy Goals, Competing Priorities, And Flawed Institutional Design, David M. Schizer

Faculty Scholarship

The United States uses on targeted subsidies for both "green" energy and hydrocarbons. These subsidies pursue worthwhile goals. But unfortunately, many have design flaws that make them less effective or even counterproductive. The goal of this Article is to show how to do better.

Specifically, this Article focuses on three sets of issues. First, there often is tension between our environmental and national security goals. Unfortunately, the economics literature on energy largely ignores these trade-offs by omitting national security from the analysis. This Article takes issue with this approach and suggests ways to manage these trade-offs. Second, this Article argues …

A Guide To The Guide To The Republican Better Way Plan, Alex Raskolnikov

Faculty Scholarship

This special Issue of the Columbia Journal of Tax Law is bound to have both an immediate impact and a lasting significance. The immediate impact is assured because the sole focus of this Issue is the tax plan proposed by the Congressional Republicans as part of their broad reform agenda called A Better Way: Our Vision For A Confident America. As this Issue goes to print, the Better Way Plan (or the Plan for short) is being debated in the White House, on Capitol Hill, in the press, in academic circles, think tanks, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and …

Prop Up The Heavenly Chorus? Labor Unions, Tax Policy, And Political Voice Equality, Philip T. Hackney

Journal Articles

Labor Unions are nonprofit organizations that provide laborers a voice before their employer and before governments. They are classic interest groups. United States federal tax policy exempts labor unions from the income tax, but effectively prohibits labor union members from deducting union dues from the individual income tax. Because these two policies directly impact the political voice of laborers, I consider primarily the value of political fairness in evaluating these tax policies rather than the typical tax critique of economic fairness or efficiency. I apply a model that presumes our democracy should aim for one person, one political voice. For …

Taxing Greed, Genevieve Tokić

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

Appeals to greed in support of various tax proposals are often seen in response to populist moods in politics. Such appeals may be used to garner political support for a policy or proposal. However, there has been little academic consideration of the role of greed (or attitudes towards greed) in the law, and in tax law in particular. This Article seeks to fill that gap by taking a close look at the concept of greed. In doing so, the Article first surveys the history of greed and its meaning, and draws on political philosophy and economic literature to provide a …

Minimalism About Residence And Source, Wei Cui

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this Article, I relate the discomfort with fundamental principles in taxing individuals’ worldwide income to a problem that has attracted greater attention in recent years: the assignment of geographical sources to income. I suggest that there is substantial similarity between critiques of residence rules (of which critiques of citizenship-based taxation are examples) and critiques of source rules. However, I argue that problematic residence and source rules are only symptoms, not causes, of unsatisfactory conceptual paradigms in international taxation. Many scholars portray source and residence rules as inadequate means for achieving purportedly given normative objectives in the age of intense …

Defining Residence For Income Tax Purposes: Domicile As Gap-Filler, Citizenship As Proxy And Gap-Filler, Edward A. Zelinsky

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this paper, I place the United States’ adherence to citizenship-based taxation in the context of the states’ tax systems. Forty-one states impose general income taxes on the worldwide incomes of their respective residents. These state tax systems are important repositories of experience that confirm the administrative benefits of citizenship-based taxation. Domicile today plays an important role in state tax systems as a gap-filler when more objective statutory residence laws fail to assign any state of residence to the taxpayer. Citizenship is an administrable proxy for domicile and serves a similar gap-filling role in the taxation of individuals whose income …

Citizenship Overreach, Peter J. Spiro

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article examines international law limitations on the ascription of citizenship and national self-definition. The United States is exceptionally generous in its extension of citizenship. Alone among the major developed states, it extends citizenship to almost all persons in its territory at the moment of birth. This birthright citizenship is constitutionally protected under the Fourteenth Amendment. At the same time that it is generous at the front end, U.S. citizenship is sticky at the back. Termination of citizenship on the individual’s part can involve substantial fees. Expatriation is contingent on tax compliance and, in some cases, will implicate the recognition …

A Global Perspective On Citizenship-Based Taxation, Allison Christians

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article contends that, with regard to individuals who reside permanently outside of the United States, the global assistance sought under FATCA to enforce U.S. income taxation solely on the basis of citizenship violates international law. It argues that insisting upon foreign cooperation with the FATCA regime, under threat of serious economic penalties, is inconsistent with universally accepted norms regarding appropriate limits to the state’s jurisdiction to tax, while also being normatively unjustified. Accordingly, FATCA should be rejected by all other nation states to the extent it imposes any obligations with respect to individuals who permanently reside outside of, and …

Source Of Income And Canadian International Taxation, Jinyan Li, J. Scott Wilkie

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Tribute To Professor Erik Jensen, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

No abstract provided.

Recent Developments In Federal Income Taxation: The Year 2016, Martin J. Mcmahon Jr., Bruce A. Mcgovern

UF Law Faculty Publications

This recent developments outline 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 the most recent twelve months—and sometimes a little farther back in time if we 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—unless one of us decides to go nuts and spend several …

Is Consistency The Hobgoblin Of Little Minds? Co-Investment Under Code Section 4941, Elaine Waterhouse Wilson

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.