Taxation-Federal Commons^™

Getting Serious About Curtailing Deferral Of Us Tax On Foreign Source Income, Robert J. Peroni, J. Clifton Fleming Jr., Stephen E. Shay

Faculty Scholarship

When a U.S. person conducts business or investment activity abroad through a foreign corporation in a country that imposes only low rates of tax, the so-called deferral privilege allows the U.S. taxpayer to defer substantial amounts of U.S. tax at the cost of only a small foreign levy. Hence, the deferral privilege operates as a tax subsidy of sorts for U.S. persons with operations in low tax foreign countries and provides a major incentive for U.S. persons to shift their business operations and investments to foreign countries that impose little or no tax on the earnings of the foreign corporations.To …

"To Lay And Collect Taxes": The Constitutional Case For Progressive Taxation, Leo P. Martinez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Collapse Section 341, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

Simplification of current income tax provisions always runs an uphill course. As a proper standard for evaluating a provision of existing law we should ask whether, if it did not exist, we would need to invent it. Unfortunately, when we move to the task of crafting and altering the details of current law, the blandishments of equity, revenue yield, and special-interest gain easily outshine the sober virtue of simplification; we forget this potentially embarrassing question.

As a modest step toward simplification, I propose the repeal of one section of the code, a section famed among tax cognoscenti for its opaque …

Tax Expenditure Analysis And Constitutional Decisions , Linda Sugin

Faculty Scholarship

This article looks at the significance of the similarities and differences between tax benefits and direct spending for purposes of the equal protection and establishment clauses, with a particular focus on the charitable contribution deduction. Because economic equivalence is not critical under these constitutional provisions, tax expenditure analysis is not relevant to the legal analysis. While this article deals only briefly with numerous provisions of the Code and analyzes only two constitutional provisions, it provides a model for considering the constitutionality of any tax provision.

The Deceptively Disparate Treatment Of Business And Investment Interest Expense Under A Cash-Flow Consumption Tax And A Schanz-Haig-Simons Income Tax, J. Clifton Fleming, Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Fewer Tax Returns, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Alan L. Feld presents a proposal for simplifying the income tax by reducing the number of taxpayers who have to file returns.

Government Precommitment To Tax Incentive Subsidies: The Impact Of United States V. Winstar Corp. On Retroactive Tax Legislation, Daniel S. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Summons Power And The Limits Of Theory: A Reply To Professor Hyman, Leo P. Martinez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Tax And The Married Woman, Lawrence A. Zelenak

Faculty Scholarship

Reviewing, Edward J. McCaffery, Taxing Women (1997)

Ending The Irs As We Know It: Thoughts From Outside The Beltway, J. Clifton Fleming Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Of Fairness And Might: The Limits Of Sovereign Power To Tax After Winstar, Leo P. Martinez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Theories Of The Corporation And The Tax Treatment Of Corporate Philanthropy Symposium: Corporate Philanthropy Law, Culture, Education, And Politics, Linda Sugin

Faculty Scholarship

This essay is organized as follows: Part I describes the entity model of the corporation as developed in corporate and ethical theory, showing how that model is embodied in the Code and how variations in that model produce different conclusions about the legitimacy of the charitable contribution deduction for corporations. It discusses some issues that arise when corporate philanthropy is considered in the context of the entity theory and how the tax law might respond to those issues. Part II explains how the nexus-of-contracts conception of the corporation, applied as an analytical tool, challenges the tax law's treatment of corporate …

Scoping Out The Uncertain Simplification (Complication?) Effects Of Vats, Bats, And Consumed Income Taxes, J. Clifton Fleming Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Nunn-Domenici And Nonprofits, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

Context determines the meaning of legal rules, especially tax rules. The Nunn-Domenici proposal to restructure the U.S. income tax system on consumption tax lines (S. 722, 104th Cong.) will have an impact on nonprofits that provides an illustration of this principle.

What Can The Irs Compel Charities To Say To Donors, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

The 1993 tax act created new substantiation and reporting requirements for charitable giving. One of the new provisions, section 6115, requires a charity to make specified disclosures to the donor. If the charity receives a "quid pro quo contribution" of more than $75 it must inform the donor that the amount of the charitable contribution excludes the value of goods or services the donor received. The charity must provide a good-faith estimate of the value of the goods or services. If the charity fails to comply, it may incur a penalty, section 6714, of $10 per contribution, but not more …

Primer #4: Understanding And Illustrating Tax Benefits, William T. Hutton

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

An Open Letter To Congressman Gingrich, Bruce Ackerman, Akhil Amar, Jack Balkin, Susan Low Bloch, Philip Chase Bobbitt, Richard Fallon, Paul Kahn, Philip Kurland, Douglas Laycock, Sanford Levinson, Frank Michelman, Michael Perry, Robert Post, Jed Rubenfeld, David Strauss, Cass Sunstein, Harry Wellington

Faculty Scholarship

We urge you to reconsider your proposal to amend the House Rules to require a three-fifths vote for enactment of laws that increase income taxes. This proposal violates the explicit intentions of the Framers. It is inconsistent with the Constitution's language and structure. It departs sharply from traditional congressional practice. It may generate constitutional litigation that will encourage Supreme Court intervention in an area best left to responsible congressional decision.

Unless the proposal is withdrawn now, it will serve as an unfortunate precedent for the proliferation of supermajority rules on a host of different subjects in the future. Over time, …

Nonrecourse Debt Revisited, Restructured And Redefined , Linda Sugin

Faculty Scholarship

This article suggests that the foundation for the tax treatment of nonrecourse debt under current law-the true debt approach-is unworkable. It does not reflect economic reality or correctly measure income. It leads to bizarre and unpredictable consequences, and invites abuse, such as inflated seller financing and deduction shifting from low bracket to high bracket taxpayers. Much has been written about the role of nonrecourse debt in making abusive tax shelters profitable, and while abusive tax shelters no longer abound as they once did, nonrecourse debt continues to pose serious problems, even in the post-Tax Reform Act of 19862 era. If …

A Second Look At The Zero Basis Hoax, J. Clifton Fleming Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Divorce And Redemption, Alan L. Feld

Faculty Scholarship

The Tax Court and the Ninth Circuit recently took inconsistent positions on the federal income tax treatment of a redemption of closely held stock incident to a divorce. Their differences lie at the intersection of two tax issues long presumed settled, the treatment of transfers of marital property in connection with a divorce and the treatment of the departing and remaining shareholders on redemption of stock in a closely held corporation. The dispute suggests that some adjustment in these areas may be desirable.

Tax Subsidies: One-Time Vs. Periodic An Economic Analysis Of The Tax Policy Alternatives, Daniel S. Goldberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Taxes, Morals, And Legitimacy, Leo P. Martinez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Important Developments In Exempt Organizations, Stephen Schwarz, Laura B. Chisolm

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Below-Market Interest On Loans And Installment Sales: Tax Consequences, William T. Hutton

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Summons Power And Tax Court Discovery: A Different Perspective, Leo P. Martinez

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Tax Policy At The Beginning Of The Clinton Administration, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

Ten years ago, in 1983, the Yale Journal on Regulation was started by students at the Yale Law School to foster scholarship and debate on issues of regulatory policy. Today the Journal staff consists of students from Yale University graduate and professional programs in law, management, forestry, and public health. One of the Journal's primary missions was to track the regulatory/deregulatory developments under the Reagan Administration and later the Bush Administration. Since our tenth anniversary coincided with the installment of a Democratic Administration under President Clinton, we have asked two professors at the Yale Law School to submit an essay …

Tax-Deferral Transactions: Installment Sales, Like-Kind Exchanges And Involuntary Conversion, William T. Hutton

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Important Developments In Exempt Organizations, Stephen Schwarz, Miriam Galston

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Of Blimps And Appraisals And Judicial Grace, William T. Hutton

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Does Treasury Have Authority To Index Basis For Inflation?, Lawrence A. Zelenak

Faculty Scholarship

In this article he examines the claim, which has been publicized in recent months, that the Treasury Department could unilaterally index the capital gains tax for inflation by a new regulation interpreting code section 1012. He concludes, in light of more than seven decades of administrative, judicial and legislative history, that such unilateral action would be invalid.