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Is The Real Estate Investment And Jobs Act A Good Idea?, Willard B. Taylor Sep 2015

Is The Real Estate Investment And Jobs Act A Good Idea?, Willard B. Taylor

Willard B. Taylor

The Real Estate Investment and Jobs Act of 2015 would significantly relax the rules of the 1980 Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act for investments in U.S. real property made through U.S. real estate investment trusts and, in the House version, would simply exempt from FIRPTA investments by foreign pension funds. Taylor discusses the bills and argues that it would make more sense to repeal FIRPTA (including the U.S. real property holding corporation rules) and then seek to achieve parity of treatment for investments in U.S. real property by foreign persons that are made directly, through partnerships or through …


A Whole New World: Income Tax Considerations Of The Bitcoin Economy, Benjamin W. Akins Jd, Llm, Jennifer L. Chapman Jd, Cpa, Jason M. Gordon Jd, Mba Feb 2015

A Whole New World: Income Tax Considerations Of The Bitcoin Economy, Benjamin W. Akins Jd, Llm, Jennifer L. Chapman Jd, Cpa, Jason M. Gordon Jd, Mba

Benjamin W. Akins

Bitcoin is a virtual, cryptocurrency growing rapidly in influence throughout the world. Numerous characteristics associated with the bitcoin system, including low transaction costs and greater user privacy, make it appealing as a medium of electronic payment. The number of users of bitcoin, including merchants accepting the currency as a form of payment, has grown considerably in recent years. Estimates indicate that there are more than 60,000 active bitcoin users as of September 2012, with nearly 11 million bitcoins in existence. According to the latest estimates, bitcoin market capitalization is roughly $9 billion. The growth of bitcoin as an accepted currency …


Definitions, Religion, And Free Exercise Guarantees, Mark Strasser Jan 2015

Definitions, Religion, And Free Exercise Guarantees, Mark Strasser

Mark Strasser

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the free exercise of religion. Non-religious practices do not receive those same protections, which makes the ability to distinguish between religious and non-religious practices important. Regrettably, members of the Court have been unable to agree about how to distinguish the religious from the non-religious—sometimes, the implicit criteria focus on the sincerity of the beliefs, sometimes the strength of the beliefs or the role that they play in an individual’s life, and sometimes the kind of beliefs. In short, the Court has virtually guaranteed an incoherent jurisprudence by sending contradictory signals with …