Tax Law Commons^™

Exile To Main Street: The I.R.S.'S Diminished Role In Overseeing Tax-Exempt Organizations, Evelyn Brody, Marcus Owens

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The Internal Revenue Service’s post-Citizens United approach to political activity by would-be tax-exempt organizations has threatened the financial health of the entire agency. Suffering from a siege mentality in the best of times, the IRS predictably and understandably responded to the asserted “scandal” by retreating into a shell of bureaucratic reshuffling, management mumbo-jumbo, and paper moving. A fresh cadre of senior management lacking relevant experience has overhauled the exempt-organization function and emphasized granting recognition of exemption now and (possibly) asking questions later. The new self-certification process of exemption for small charities could also be setting the agency up for the …

Australia – Two Political Narratives And One Charity Regulator Caught In The Middle, Myles Mcgregor-Lowndes

Chicago-Kent Law Review

After two decades of debate about the regulation of the nonprofit sector, Australia established a national charity regulator in December 2012. The creation of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (“ACNC”) had as one of its objectives to reduce red tape, and to increase clarity by enacting a statutory definition of charity. Less than two years later, a new government proposed to abolish the ACNC, also in the name of reducing red tape. There appears to be a paradox—or at least diametrically opposed views about red tape reduction and how it can be achieved. With the government nearly two-thirds through …

The Charity Commission For England And Wales: A Fine Example Or Another Fine Mess?, Debra Morris

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The ability of the Charity Commission for England and Wales to regulate the charitable sector effectively has been repeatedly called into question in recent years. At the same time, public sector funding cuts have led to its budget being almost halved in real terms since 2007/08. Numerous official reviews and inquiries into its effectiveness have highlighted its weaknesses and raised concerns about it failing to take sufficient action to prevent abuses of charitable status. In response to the Commission’s claims that it lacks sufficient legal powers to deal with such abuse, new legislation has been passed which will fill some …

Politics, Disclosure, And State Law Solutions For 501(C)(4) Organizations, Linda Sugin

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Since the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC, there has been an explosion in section 501(c)(4) organizations active in politics. Unable to effectively process applications, the IRS mishandled organizations with conservative political ties, producing a scandal from which the agency has yet to recover. It proposed regulations that would have helped it more easily determine eligibility for 501(c)(4) exemption, but after massive public outcry, the regulations were withdrawn. No new regulations will be proposed before the 2016 presidential election.

Given the federal government’s inability to address the problem of dark money politicking by 501(c)(4) organizations through …

Fragmented Oversight Of Nonprofits In The United States: Does It Work? Can It Work?, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The United States is well known for its distinctive, although not unique, division of political authority between the federal government and the various states. This division is particularly evident when it comes to oversight of nonprofit organizations. The historical focus of federal government oversight has been limited primarily to qualification for tax exemption and other tax benefits, with more plenary power resting with state authorities. Over time, however, the federal government’s role has come to overlap significantly with that of the states, and many nonprofits have become subject to regulation by multiple states as their operations and donor bases expand …

It’S Not That Difficult: The Shared Economic Growth Solution To Tax Reform, Matthew Lykken

Pace Law Review

In this article, I outline the latest version of the Shared Economic Growth package proposal and explain how it accomplishes all of its goals, with reference to some of the recent scholarly works that support it. I then walk through the derivation of the numbers to show that it really works, based on conservative assumptions and without any reliance on economic growth or voodoo, and that it would provide a substantial addition to revenue in the coming years. These numbers are based on 2010 data, the most recent comprehensive data available, and thus prove that the proposal works in the …

International Tax Free Exchanges: The Structure Of I.R.C. Section 367, Vikram A. Gosain

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Possible Bias In Asset Valuations: An Application Of The Fraud Risk Triangle To Divorce Cases, Jennifer Tomasetti

Honors Projects in Accounting

No abstract provided.

For Better And Worse: The Differing Income Tax Treatments Of Marriage At Different Income Levels, Lawrence A. Zelenak

Faculty Scholarship

Although both marriage penalties and marriage bonuses exist at all income levels under the federal income tax, the system is tilted toward penalties for lower-income couples, toward bonuses for middle-income couples, and back toward penalties for upper income couples. This Article begins by explaining how the tax rules produce these differing treatments of marriage at different points in the income distribution. It then argues that the increase in recent decades in the social acceptability and prevalence of cohabitation makes tax marriage effects a more serious concern--in terms of both behavioral, effects and fairness-than in earlier decades. After demonstrating that Congress …

Tax Anti-Avoidance Law In Australia And The United States, Susan C. Morse, Robert Deutsch

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Taxpayers’ Lack Of Standing In International Tax Dispute Resolutions: An Analysis Based On The Hybrid Norms Of International Taxation, Limor Riza

Pace Law Review

This paper examines whether a taxpayer should have “standing” in international dispute resolutions. To answer this question the primary task is to identify the nature of international taxation. In other words, this paper discusses how to classify the field of international taxation. Is it part of public international law, private international law (i.e., conflict of laws), national (domestic) law, or is it a hybrid field that requires specific attention? Making this distinction is vital for resolving disputes when a taxpayer is taxed twice for cross-border transactions in cases where the double tax convention is unclear and both contracting states claim …

Reinvigorating The Reit's Neutrality And Capital Formation Purposes Through A Modernized Tax Integration Model, Simon Johnson

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

Efforts at reform have not spared the REIT arrangement, but have focused on objectives unrelated to its model of tax integration, despite its significant flaws. Owing to the interaction of several provisions, the model largely precludes capitalization through retained earnings. This increases the cost of REIT capital and limits its capacity to realize the neutrality and private real estate capital formation objectives Congress pursued in creating the arrangement. Accordingly, it is important to consider how to durably improve the REIT tax integration model. Ultimately, the article concludes that the shareholder allocation model, a complete integration model conceptually similar to the …

Profits V. Purpose: Hybrid Companies And The Charitable Dollar, Rachel Culley, Jill R. Horwitz

Law & Economics Working Papers

Social entrepreneurship -- a catch-all term meaning harnessing business practices for social good -- has attracted people who want to “do well while doing good” for decades. Advocates of the idea have succeeded in blurring the boundaries among legal ownership types and inspired nonprofit/for-profit joint ventures, public-private partnerships, and the widespread privatization of traditional government functions and activities. The most recent manifestation of this trend is the creation of hybrid non-profit/for-profit firms. In the United States, the Low-Profit Limited Liability Company (L3C) is growing, and there are similar firms in the United Kingdom and Canada. In this paper we address …

Recent Tax Developments In Virginia: 2013-2014, Craig D. Bell, William L.S Rowe

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Integrating Subchapters K And S And Beyond, Walter D. Schwidetzky

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article builds upon a similar, lengthier effort that I published in the Tax Lawyer in 2009. While there is overlap, this Article contains much new material. Important case law and tax proposals from the House Ways and Means Committee have come out in the interim. Due to space limitations, unlike my Tax Lawyer effort, this Article attempts to avoid prolixity. It assumes the reader has good knowledge of both Subchapters S and K and the tax entity selection process. If you are not that reader, a review of my Tax Lawyer article or Professor Mann's article in this symposium …

Beer, Liquor, Or A Little Bit Of Both? Getting To The Bottom Of Properly Classifying Flavored Malt Beverages In The United States And Australia, Bryan A. Schivera

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Income Or Liability: How Casinos' Classification Of Outstanding Chips Determine Taxability, John Bulloch

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Complicity And Collection: Religious Freedom And Tax, Jennifer Carr

Scholarly Works

This Article focuses on how the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill might be improved so that members of Congress enact it. The bill would allow war tax resisters who qualify as pacifists to direct their tax money to a separate fund not to be used for military spending. At present, the IRS is expending time and resources trying to track down tax resisters, which results in loss of revenue for the government. This Article argues that passage of an amended version of the Religious Freedom Peace Tax Fund Bill would eliminate the tension between the IRS and war tax …

The Fiscal Cliff As Reelection Strategy: Rethinking The Temporary Taxation Debate, Frank Fagan

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

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. …

Pass-Through Entity Reform: Is A Major Overhaul Necessary?, Walter D. Schwidetzky

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Investment Treaties And Industrial Policy: Select Case Studies On State Liability For Efforts To Encourage, Shape And Regulate Economic Activities In Extractive Industries And Infrastructure, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

This paper, prepared in connection with a February 2014 conference organized by the UN Economic Commission for Africa, discusses some of the implications that investment treaties have for investments in infrastructure and the extractive industries. It focuses on liability for government conduct (1) in connection with tenders and negotiations; (2) when responding to questions regarding the legality of the investment; (3) in using performance requirements to leverage benefits and capture spillovers from the investment; (4) changing the legal framework governing an investment in response to evolving needs, circumstances, and interests; (5) administering the investment; and (6) requesting, and responding to …

The Supreme Court's 2012 Tax Cases: Formalism Trumps Pragmatism And Good Sense, William Neil Brooks, Kim Brooks

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The Supreme Court of Canada released decisions in four cases in the 2012 year. We argue that each illustrates the Court's formalistic approach to interpreting tax legislation. Each of the following four cases is evaluated in turn. Canada v Craig relates to the circumstances under which a taxpayer can offset losses incurred in a farming business against income earned from a completely different source. Fundy Settlement v Canada required determining the residency of a trust for tax purposes. Canada v GlaxoSmithKline Inc. focused on the circumstances to be taken into account in determining an arm's-length price in the transfer pricing …

Exploding Wealth Inequalities: Does Tax Policy Promote Social Justice Or Social Injustice, Phyllis C. Taite

Faculty Articles

This essay discusses how tax policies work in concert to contribute to the wealth and income inequality that disadvantage the poor and middle class in favor of the wealthy. While there is current and past discourse on wealth and income inequality, and impact of the same, as well as discussions of multiple causes of wealth and income inequality, there is little discussion on how various tax policies work together as a common force to perpetuate income and economic inequality. This Essay briefly discussed how certain tax policies work in concert to systematically shift wealth to the wealthiest taxpayers. This social …

Fiscal Federalism As Risk-Sharing: The Insurance Role Of Redistributive Taxation, John R. Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In addition to funding government and redistributing income, a redistributive tax-and-transfer system, and a progressive income tax in particular, provides insurance against the risk of uncertain future income. By providing for high taxes for high incomes, and low taxes, exemptions, and transfers for low incomes, a progressive income tax lowers the volatility of potential after-tax income relative to a lump-sum tax. This insurance function is distinct from the redistributive function of the system, since it provides a direct risk-mitigation benefit to the taxpayer himself, rather than simply redistributing income from one taxpayer to another.

This article analyzes the question of …

Mitt Romney, The 47% Percent, And The Future Of The Mass Income Tax, Lawrence A. Zelenak

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Partnership Current Developments, Robert J. Crnkovich, Steven M. Friedman

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Representing Clients In Audits And Controversies In Today’S Tax Enforcement Environment, Craig D. Bell, William L.S Rowe

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

I Want Out – Tax Considerations In Exiting A Partnership, James B. Sowell

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.

Introduction To M&A Tax: S Corporations And Section 336(E), Robert G. Mcelroy, William M. Richardson

William & Mary Annual Tax Conference

No abstract provided.