Taxation-State and Local Commons^™

Cooperative Federalism And The Digital Tax Impasse, Orly Mazur, Adam Thimmesch

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The digital economy is changing faster than the law can respond and has challenged legal systems worldwide. In the tax space, the digital economy has undermined traditional tax systems in ways that have created significant tax compliance and enforcement challenges, substantial tax revenue losses, and unwarranted distortions in the market between digital and traditional transactions. These problems are well recognized both in the legal literature and in the public sphere. Unfortunately, the legal reforms that are needed in this space have been slowed by a combination of technical, conceptual, and political impediments. This Article focuses on the digital tax landscape …

529 Plans And School Choice, Victoria J. Haneman

Scholarly Works

Some politicians believe that market-based approaches to education will meaningfully reshape public education in the United States. Advocates of school choice insist that competition for students will improve academic outcomes, drive innovation and improvement, and reduce political interference in the education system. Critics believe that there is little empirical support for any of these claims and fear that school choice policies worsen the problem of educational inequality. Although consumer choice is appealing, making an informed choice requires parents to navigate complicated application processes and transportation requirements, which may prove insurmountable to low-income families. The net effect of this is that …

Reforming State Corporate Income Taxes Can Yield Billions, Darien Shanske, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, David Gamage

Articles

In this installment of Academic Perspectives on SALT, the authors argue that the current crisis is the perfect time to make revenueraising reforms to state corporate income taxes — reforms that would have been desirable policy improvements even during an economic upturn, but that are even more clearly good policy moves in light of the current and upcoming state economic and budgetary crises.

Into The "Vortex Of Legal Precision": Access To Justice, Complexity, And The Canadian Tax System, Colin Jackson

PhD Dissertations

This thesis is an exploration of access to justice issues in the Canadian tax system. Drawing on the work of Roderick Macdonald, it argues for a broad conception of access to justice based on the empowerment of individuals in all of the sites, processes, institutions where law is made, administered, and applied. It argues that tax law shows the usefulness of this comprehensive approach to access to justice. Using the comprehensive approach to access to justice, the thesis goes on to argue that legal complexity should be seen as an important access to justice issue in tax law. It lays …

Tax Policy And Our Democracy, Clinton G. Wallace

Michigan Law Review

Review of Anthony C. Infanti's Our Selfish Tax Laws: Toward Tax Reform That Mirrors Our Better Selves.

Defining Fishing, The Slippery Seaweed Slope, Ross V. Acadian Seaplants Ltd., Rebecca P. Totten

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

In Maine, the intertidal zone has seen many disputes over its use, access, and property rights. Recently, in Ross v. Acadian Seaplants, Ltd., the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, held that rockweed seaweed in the intertidal zone is owned by the upland landowner and is not part of a public easement under the public trust doctrine. The Court held harvesting rockweed is not fishing. This case will impact private and public rights and also the balance between the State's environmental and economic interests. This Comment addresses the following points: first, the characteristics of rockweed and the …

The Economics Of American Higher Education In The New Gilded Age, Paul Campos

Publications

No abstract provided.

Tax Policy Reform: Issues To Be Addressed To The Benefit Of All Missourians, Joel Walters

The Business, Entrepreneurship & Tax Law Review

Tax policy impacts the everday decisions made by individuals, families, and businesses. Better tax policy can generate economic activity and lower the tax burden on individual taxpayers. Missouri Department of Revenue Director, Joel Walters, believes the current Missouri tax system can be changed in ways that would make it more simple, efficient, and fair. With this article, Director Walters seeks to engage Missourians in a dialogue about the strengths and weaknesses of the current tax policy environment in Missouri. The article comprhensively examines Missouri's tax system by discussing a wide variety of topics including corporate income tax, alternatives such as …

Framing Middle-Class Insecurity: Tax And The Ideology Of Unequal Economic Growth, Martha T. Mccluskey

Journal Articles

Prevailing tax discourse rationalizes growing economic inequality. Using the example of state and local economic development “subsidy wars,” this article explores how conventional tax ideas present unequal sacrifice and risk as a public responsibility, driven by economic fact rather than unjust politics.

Over the last several decades, one contributing cause of inequality has been the escalating tax and spending incentives offered by local governments to attract private business investment. This competition operates to favor wealthy corporations over small businesses, without producing broad or lasting economic gains to communities, and it erodes resources for public education, infrastructure, social services, health care, …

Tax Cannibalization And State Government Tax Incentive Programs, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

States and localities offer businesses an enormous amount of tax incentives to locate within their jurisdictions despite: 1) the mass of evidence that suggests that these incentives are not particularly effective and, 2) substantial doubts about their constitutionality.

In this essay, we develop a new critical perspective on state tax incentives. We argue that offering these incentives permits states to offer lower taxes to more mobile businesses while keeping their overall corporate tax rates high. This is arguably not the best choice for the states, but it is definitely not the best choice for the federal government. Because the states …

The Federal Government's Power To Restrict State Taxation, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This essay evaluates the limits on the U.S. federal government’s powers to restrict the taxing powers of state governments. The essay revisits earlier debates on this question, to consider the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius and also academic research on the problem of tax cannibalization.

Cracking The Tax Codes: How State Tax Laws Influence The Number Of Manufacturing Jobs Within Their Borders, Nick Lorenson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

With the recent economic downturn, jobs have been at the forefront of people’s concerns. Policy makers in every state have promised their constituents new jobs. Of particular importance are high paying jobs. Manufacturing jobs tend to be a well-paying and highly sought after form of employment. However, in recent decades, the percentage of manufacturing jobs has been declining in the United States. Also, manufacturing facilities have shown an increased likelihood of relocating to different states. I theorize that manufacturing facilities relocating and expanding in different states is primarily due to state tax policies. This phenomenon has increased within recent years …

The Effect Of U.S. State Taxes On State Economic Prosperity, Casey Dainsberg

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Policy makers today are faced with trying to create solutions for economic troubles that become increasingly more complex and foreboding. Tax cuts and tax hikes are proposed and considered as possible solutions to various economic problems. However, the question still remains regarding which policies are most effective. The purpose of this research is to asses these competing claims. It seeks to find evidence that will shed light on one of these views. I have done this by accumulating tax and economic data from the fifty U.S. States between the years 2001-2009. Previous research has concluded that taxes do affect the …

Beyond Batsa: Getting Serious About State Corporate Tax Reform, Quinn T. Ryan

Washington and Lee Law Review

The state corporate income tax system is broken, and only Congress can fix it. The current state of affairs is problematic for states, burdensome for multistate corporations,2 and unfair to smaller, local businesses.3 States are unable to resolve these problems themselves; federal intervention is the only solution.

Forging Fiscal Reform: Constitutional Change, Public Policy, And The Creation Of Administrative Capacity In Wisconsin, 1880-1920, Ajay K. Mehrotra

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In 1911, Wisconsin became one of the first U.S. states to adopt an effectively administered income tax. Wisconsin reformers were able to overcome several institutional barriers to create the administrative capacity necessary to assess and collect a graduated income tax that in time raised significant revenue, but did not supplant the property tax. With this limited success, the Wisconsin income tax soon became a model for other states and even the national government. In this sense, Wisconsin was a leader in forging fiscal reform. Political activists, lawmakers, and other government actors in the Badger State led a turn-of-the-century property tax …

State And Local Taxation: When Will Congress Intervene?, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article examines congressional activity in the state and local tax area to determine when, if ever, Congress will enact legislation mandating uniformity in state and local taxation. The article begins by briefly describing our current system of state and local taxation and explaining why we need more uniformity therein.

The article then provides an empirical study of congressional activity in the state and local tax area between January, 1971 and May, 1996. Specifically, it focuses first on four discrete but representative areas in which Congress has enacted legislation regulating state and local taxation, and, second, on four discrete but …

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 …

State And Local Taxation Of Financial Institutions:An Opportunity For Reform, C. James Judson, Susan G. Duffy

Vanderbilt Law Review

Forces at work in both public and private sectors may soon change the way state and local political subdivisions tax financial institutions. The market for financial services is changing dramatically. Governments have expanded substantially the scope of activities in which financial depositories may engage. The competitive environment for financial activities also is changing as general business corporations enter the financial services field, an area previously considered the exclusive domain of financial institutions. Financial institutions have increasing opportunities for interstate activity, which offers both risks and challenges. These changes have occurred during a period in which the extensive framework of state …

Making Tax Abatements More Effective, Wayne R. Wendling

Testimonies

No abstract provided.

The Massachusetts Fiscal System: Structure And Performance, Padraig O'Malley, Raymond G. Torto

Center for Studies in Policy and the Public Interest Publications

On November 4, 1980 the citizens of Massachusetts, by a vote of 59% to 41%, resoundingly endorsed a tax reduction plan known as Proposition 2 1/2. All communities in the Commonwealth were faced with an immediate reduction in their local revenues due to the immediate cut in the excise tax that Proposition 2 1/2 called for, and up to 130 communities will have to implement a 15% reduction in their tax levies for FY 1982.

Already there are protestations from many local officials that they cannot make the required tax cuts without severely reducing the level of local services. The …

A Fact Book On Proposition 2 1/2, Padraig O'Malley

Center for Studies in Policy and the Public Interest Publications

In this age of inflation many tax reduction plans have been proposed throughout the nation. This November Massachusetts voters will vote on Proposition 2 1/2 - a tax reduction proposal sponsored by a coalition of citizens.

This booklet describes the costs and benefits of Proposition 2 1/2 in an objective way, so that you can make an informed decision when you cast your vote. The University of Massachusetts' Center for Studies in Policy and the Public Interest and the Massachusetts Cooperative Extension Service believe that when you have access to unbiased information you will make better decisions and participate more …

Paul J. Hartman And The Literature Of State And Local Taxation-An Appreciation, William R. Andersen

Vanderbilt Law Review

The editors of this symposium have asked me for a brief account of the contributions of Professor Hartman's published writings in the field of state and local taxation. In fairness, those contributions cannot be accounted in brief; what follows is more of a bibliography, and an appreciation...

As a final example of Hartman's concern for institutional relationships in tax policy, mention should be made of the 1959 piece on municipal income taxation.' Here, Hartman has changed lenses on his microscope and examines not the relationship between the nation and the states but that between the states and the cities. His …