Tax Law Commons^™

Something Concrete: How Labor Advocates Can Best Respond To The Ambiguity Of Glacier Northwest, Ateş Serifsoy

Seattle University Law Review

The Supreme Court’s much-anticipated decision in Glacier North-west, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local No. 174 (Glacier) marked a critical moment for workers’ rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the longstanding practice of Garmon preemption. Yet, initial fears of a significant rollback of workers’ rights, driven by sensational headlines, were met with an unexpectedly narrow Court opinion. This Comment examines Glacier’s implications for Gar-mon preemption and the right to strike. It offers the historical background of the doctrine of labor law preemption before Glacier; presents a detailed analysis of Glacier itself, including its …

Clarifying The Constitutional Boundaries Of Income Taxation After Moore V. United States, Catherine Gluchowski

St. Thomas Law Review

Despite the significance of the term “income,” both the United States Supreme Court and the Internal Revenue Code do not provide an explicit definition of the term. This ambiguity causes the constitutionality of income taxation to remain a contested issue. Central to this ongoing debate is the issue of realization as a prerequisite for income taxation, exemplified by the case of Moore v. United States. In a landmark decision, the Ninth Circuit ruled that realization is not a constitutional requirement for Congress to impose a tax exempt from apportionment under the Sixteenth Amendment. This decision marked a pivotal departure from …

Constitutional Restraints On Intrastate Distribution Of Taxing Authority, Walter Hellerstein

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Original Meaning Of The Sixteenth Amendment, John R. Brooks, David Gamage

Faculty Scholarship

The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution enshrines Congress’s “power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived.” Challenges to the exercise of that power have typically turned on whether the thing being taxed is “income” or not. In the most recent example, the 2023 Supreme Court case of Moore v. United States, taxpayers have argued that the Sixteenth Amendment only authorizes taxation of realized income—this is, that gain from appreciated property can only be taxed as “income” when there has been a sale or conversion of that property.

In this Article we argue—based on the …

Congressional Power To Institute A Wealth Tax, Will Clark

Notre Dame Law Review Reflection

Over the last few years, several high-profile politicians have pushed to impose a federal “wealth tax.” For example, a recent bill introduced in the Senate would create a two percent tax on the value of assets between fifty million and one billion dollars, plus a higher percentage on wealth valued over one billion dollars. The proponents of the tax argue that it would reduce the growing wealth inequality in the United States, while opponents say that it would disincentivize investment in the American economy.

Policy arguments, however, are only relevant if the federal government has the authority to institute such …

Constitutional Law And Tax Expenditures: A Prelude, Johnny Rex Buckles

Arkansas Law Review

“A little learning is a dang’rous thing,” admonished Pope. Judges who pen legal opinions drawing on tax expenditure theory should heed the neoclassical bard. Armed with the modest yet obligatory exposure to the concept of tax expenditures presented in the basic federal income tax course in law school, many judges indeed possess enough learning to be dangerous. The thesis of this Article is that tax expenditure theory must be applied with a skillful, critical, and cautious appreciation for nuance in constitutional cases. This conclusion holds even under the assumption that tax expenditure budgeting is a useful tool of fiscal analysis. …

Equal Protection Supreme Court Appellate Division Third Department

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Paying For Gun Violence, Samuel D. Brunson

Faculty Publications & Other Works

Gun violence is an outsized problem in the United States. Between a culture that allows for relatively unconstrained firearm ownership and a constitutional provision that ensures that ownership will continue to be relatively unchecked, it has proven virtually impossible for politicians to address the problem of gun violence. And yet, gun violence costs the United States tens of billions of dollars or more annually. These tens of billions of dollars are negative externalities — costs that gun owners do not bear themselves, and thus that are imposed on the victims of violence and on taxpayers generally.

What can we do …

The Constitutionality Of A National Wealth Tax, Dawn Johnsen, Walter Dellinger

Faculty Scholarship

Economic inequality threatens America’s constitutional democracy. Beyond obvious harms to our nation’s social fabric and people’s lives, soaring economic inequality translates into political inequality and corrodes democratic institutions and values. The coincident, relentless rise of money in politics exacerbates the problem. As elected officials and candidates meet skyrocketing campaign costs by devoting more and more time to political fundraising—and independent expenditures mushroom—Americans lose faith and withdraw from a system widely perceived as beholden to wealthy individuals and corporate interests.

The United States needs innovative approaches to help rebuild foundational, shared understandings of American democracy, the American Dream, and opportunity and …

Taking Tax Due Process Seriously: The Give And Take Of State Taxation, Hayes R. Holderness

Law Faculty Publications

As the Internet has increased the ease and amount of interstate transactions, the states have struggled to require “remote vendors” — vendors without a physical presence in the taxing state — to collect or pay taxes. The states are attempting to overcome these struggles by lowering Commerce Clause limitations on their jurisdiction to tax, but meaningful limitations on such jurisdiction imposed by the Due Process Clause await the states. The Due Process Clause requires that state actions be fundamentally fair, and, to meet this standard, a state must provide a person with a benefit and the person must indicate acceptance …

Equal Protection - Property Taxes As A Method Of Funding Public Education; San Antonio Independent School District V. Rodriguez, Mark K. Croft

Akron Law Review

Suit was brought in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas challenging the constitutionality of the Texas school financing system on the theory that it discriminated on a basis of wealth, permitting provision of a higher quality of education to be offered the children in property-rich school districts while residents pay a lower tax rate, thus denying equal protection of the law.' The District Court found the laws forming this system unconstitutional on this basis. Appeal brought the case to the Supreme Court in October of 1972, where it was reversed.

Does Federal Spending "Coerce" States? Evidence From State Budgets, Brian Galle

Northwestern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Strange Bedfellows: The Federal Constitution, Out-Of-State Nongrantor Accumulation Trusts, And The Complete Avoidance Of State Income Taxation, Jeffrey Schoenblum

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

With the maximum rate of federal income tax at 39.6 percent, the Medicare surtax on investment income of 3.8 percent, and some state income tax rates exceeding 9 percent, taxpayers in the highest brackets have been seeking to develop strategies to lessen the tax burden. One strategy that has been receiving increased attention is the use of a highly specialized trust known as the NING, a Nevada incomplete gift nongrantor trust, which eliminates state income taxation of investment income altogether without generating additional federal income or transfer taxes. A major obstacle standing in the way of accomplishing this objective, however, …

Federalism And Phantom Economic Rights In Nfib V. Sibelius, Matthew Lindsay

All Faculty Scholarship

Few predicted that the constitutional fate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would turn on Congress’ power to lay and collect taxes. Yet in NFIB v. Sebelius, the Supreme Court upheld the centerpiece of the Act — the minimum coverage provision (MCP), commonly known as the “individual mandate” — as a tax. The unexpected basis of the Court’s holding has deflected attention from what may prove to be the decision’s more constitutionally consequential feature: that a majority of the Court agreed that Congress lacked authority under the Commerce Clause to penalize people who decline to purchase health insurance. …

Brief Of Constitutional Law Professors As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, Ernest A. Young

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Politics And Balanced Budgets, Nancy Staudt

Faculty Working Papers

Unbalanced budgets have sparked decades of debate among legislators, scholars, and the public at large. Although the controversy has abated somewhat in recent years, many continue to believe that Congress has a tendency to pursue a level of public debt that is both inefficient and unfair. Foremost among those who criticize the federal budgeting process are fiscal constitutionalists, a group of public choice scholars who believe the constitutional constraints are the only means by which the public will obtain protection from legislative fiscal irresponsibility. This article explores the public choice argument for a balanced budget amendment and argues that it …

Taxation Without Representation, Nancy Staudt

Faculty Working Papers

Poll taxes are unconstitutional and yet Americans continue to link political rights to economic status. When taxpayers claim, "We pay taxes and therefore should decide how public monies are spent," they claim a privileged position in society based on their monetary contributions to the state and federal fiscal position that, by implication, nontaxpaying Americans should not have. Not only do taxpayers claim they deserve special political privileges, but the law itself continues to couple political rights to taxpaying status in ways that legal scholars have largely left unexplored. This article examines a range of political benefits tied to the payment …

Finding The "Income" In "Income Tax": A Look At Murphy V. Lr.S. And An Attempt To Pick Up Pieces Of Glenshaw Glass, Matthew J. O'Connor

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Introducing The Law Of Nonprofit Organizations And Philanthropy, David A. Brennen

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

On January 5,2007, the Nonprofit and Philanthropy Law Section of AALS held its first program at the AALS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. The program, entitled "State-Level Legal Reform of the Law of Nonprofit Organizations," was a fitting way to launch what should prove to be a valuable contribution to the study of law relating to nonprofit organizations and philanthropy. This burgeoning area of academic legal study is well poised to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years due to its impact on many traditional areas of legal study, including tax law, corporate law, estate law, trust law, …

Race Conscious Affirmative Action By Tax Exempt 501(C)(3) Corporations After Grutter And Gratz, David A. Brennen

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment generally acts as a legal limit on the permissible bounds of government action. Accordingly, public universities and other government entities are constitutionally prohibited from engaging in acts that violate equal protection of the laws. The Supreme Court recently reinforced this point when it ruled, in two related cases, that public universities may consider the race of applicants when making admissions decisions, so long as an applicant's race does not amount to a deciding factor when granting admission. By its very terms, the constitutional limitation imposed by the Equal Protection Clause only directly …

State Taxation Of Interstate Commuters: Constitutional Doctrine In Search Of Empirical Analysis, David Schultz

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Unconstitutionality Of Eliminating Estate And Gift Taxes, James G. Wilson

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The recent proposal to eliminate estate and gift taxes is not only immoral and a poor allocation of resources, but also is unconstitutional. Irrespective of their ideology, virtually all American lawyers will initially dismiss this accusation as frivolous because it conflicts with their tradition of equating conceptions of "constitutionality" with United States Supreme Court opinions. The Court has long been highly deferential to Congress in federal tax law cases. It is inconceivable that the current Court would find anything "irrational" in a facially neutral law eliminating all estate and gift taxes. Indeed, if I sat on that bench, I would …

The Tax Court, Article Iii, And The Proposal Advanced By The Federal Courts Study Committee: A Study In Applied Constitutional Theory, Deborah A. Geier

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Spurred by the report issued by the Federal Courts Study Committee, this article explores the constitutionality of the Tax Court as an Article I court.

Justice Scalia And The Elusive Idea Of Discrimination Against Interstate Commerce, Richard B. Collins

Publications

No abstract provided.

Case Digest, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Neither Private Refugee Assistance Agency Nor its Members have Standing to Contest U.S. Interdiction of Foreign Vessels on High Seas Carrying Undocumented Aliens Haitian Refugee Center v. Gracey, No. 85-5258, slip op. (D.C. Cir. Jan. 9, 1987).

Separation of Citizen Children from Illegal Alien Parents Should be Considered when Determining Extreme Hardship Deportation Proceedings -Cerillo-Perez v. INS, 55 U.S.L.W.2457 (9th Cir. 1987).

California State Court's Exercise of Personal Jurisdiction over Japanese Manufacturer to Indemnify Taiwanese Company is Unreasonable and Unfair in Violation of Due Process. Asahi Metal Industry Co. v. Superior Court of California, 107 S. Ct.1026 (1987).

Nondiscriminatory Ad …

The Perils Of Panama--Are United States Employees Of The Panama Canal Commission Exempt From United States Income Taxation?, Pamela P. Bond

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Since the enactment of the Panama Canal Treaty (the Treaty) on October 1, 1979, United States citizens employed by the Panama Canal Commission have come to the United States federal courts seeking exemption from income taxation. The Commission employees have based their claims on an executive agreement which accompanied the Treaty. Specifically, they have relied on the language found in article XV of the Agreement in Implementation of Article III of the Panama Canal Treaty (the Implementation Agreement).

California V. Grace Brethren Church, Lewis F. Powell Jr

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Ramah Navajo School Board V. Bureau Of Revenue Of New Mexico, Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Supreme Court Case Files

No abstract provided.

Recent Developments

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Recent Decisions, Jamie S. Martin, Margaret H. Fiorillo, J. Andrew Hoyal, Ii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW--COMMERCE CLAUSE--STATE TAX ON INSTRUMENTALITIES OF FOREIGN COMMERCE INVALID WHEN TAX RESULTS IN MULTIPLE TAXATION AND IMPAIRS FEDERAL UNIFORMITY IN REGULATION OF FOREIGN TRADE

Jamie S. Martin

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IMMIGRATION--LAWFUL UNRELINQUISHED DOMICILE--DEPORTABLE RESIDENT ALIEN MUST ACCUMULATE SEVEN YEARS OFLAWFUL DOMICILE SUBSEQUENT TO ADMISSION FOR PERMANENT RESIDENCE TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR DISCRETIONARY RELIEF

Margaret H. Fiorillo

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LONGSHOREMEN'S AND HARBOR WORKERS' COMPENSATION ACT--MANUFACTURER MAY SUE STEVEDORE FOR INDEMNIFICATION FROM LIABILITY ARISING OUT OF LONGSHOREMEN'S INJURIES--THEORY OF EQUITABLE CREDIT DOES NOT APPLY TO THE LHWCA

J. Andrew Hoyal, II