Tax Law Commons^™

Book Review: Robespierre Meets The Foreign Tax Credit: Reflections On Piketty's "Capital In The Twenty-First Century" And The Contemporary Tax Policy Debate, Michael A. Livingston

ACTEC Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Terms Of The Trust: Extrinsic Evidence Of Settlor Intent, Fred Franke, Anna Katherine Moody

ACTEC Law Journal

Each edition of the Restatement of Trusts defined the phrase "the terms of the trust" exactly the same. It means the manifestation of the settlor's intent expressed in a manner that admits of its proof in judicial proceedings. This definition weds the language of the instrument to the evidentiary rules governing Trust contests. This article explores the extent to which extrinsic evidence of settlor intent is admissable and consequently a consideration for those puzzling out the meaning of a trust.

The Persistent Preference For Inception Assets, Trent S. Kiziah, J. Clay Singleton, Stewart A. Marshall Iii

ACTEC Law Journal

Often trusts contain assets which were formerly owned by the grantor. This article addresses whether trustees should give any preference to these assets in managing the trust portfolio. Particular attention is given to how the law has treated these assets over time and the current state of the law. For those trustees who wish to retain inception assets, the article contains practical guidelines to assist trustees.

Joint Ventures Of Nonprofits And For-Profits, Terri Lynn Helge

Faculty Scholarship

This article summarizes special tax considerations that should be taken into account when for-profit parties seek to engage in joint ventures with charitable organizations. In particular, there are two areas of concern unique to charitable organizations with respect to joint ventures with for-profit parties. First, certain rules restrict or prohibit a charitable organization's ability to enter into transactions with insiders. Second, a charitable organizations' participation in a joint venture with a taxable party may cause the charitable organization to incur unrelated business taxable income or lose its tax-exempt status. Underlying both of these areas of concern is the overriding concern …

The Supercharged Ipo, Victor Fleischer, Nancy Staudt

Vanderbilt Law Review

A new innovation on the IPO landscape has emerged in the last two decades, allowing owner-founders to extract billions of dollars from newly public companies. These IPOs-labeled supercharged IPOs-have been the subject of widespread debate and controversy: lawyers, financial experts, journalists, and members of Congress have all weighed in on the topic. Some have argued that supercharged IPOs are "brilliant, just brilliant," while others have labeled them "underhanded" and "bizarre."

In this Article, we explore the supercharged IPO and explain how and why this new deal structure differs from the more traditional IPO. We then outline various theories of financial …

Unfair And Unintended: The Tax-Exempt Organization Blocker Loophole, Andrew M. Dougherty

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Even Adr Must Pay Its Dues: An Analysis Of The Evolution Of The Internal Revenue Service's Adr Programs And Where They Still Need To Grow, Stephen Folan

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

The article offers information on the evolution, development and effectiveness of the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) programs in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) appeals system. It analyzes the history of the IRS's post-appeal mediation and arbitration systems and advocates adoption of its contemporary commercial arbitration principles to increase the ADR program's desirability for both the taxpayers and the IRS. It proposes cost-effective measures for dispute resolution processes.

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 …

Cigarette Tax To Fund Brain Research. Initiative Statute

Initiatives

Increases cigarette tax by $1.00 per pack, with an equivalent increase on other tobacco products. Requires tax revenues to be deposited into a special fund to provide grants and loans to support brain research on causes, treatments, detection, and cures for brain disorders and diseases. Creates 11-member oversight committee charged with administering the fund. If new tax causes decreased tobacco consumption, transfers sufficient amount of new tax revenues to offset revenue decrease to other programs funded by existing tobacco taxes. Requires annual independent audit. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and …

Cigarette Tax To Fund Brain And Stem Cell Research. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Increases cigarette tax by $1.00 per pack, with an equivalent increase on other tobacco products. Requires tax revenues to be deposited into a special fund to provide grants and loans to support brain research, including stem cell research, on causes, treatments, detection, and cures for brain disorders and diseases. Creates 11-member oversight committee charged with administering the fund. If new tax causes decreased tobacco consumption, transfers sufficient amount of new tax revenues to offset revenue decrease to other programs funded by existing tobacco taxes. Requires annual independent audit. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal …

Van Alen: A Reasonable Consistency, Wendy G. Gerzog

All Faculty Scholarship

In Van Alen, the Tax Court held that the duty of consistency required that two of the decedent’s children use the section 2032A basis valuation figures to determine gain on the sale of their interest in the decedent’s ranch, which was left to them in trust. The siblings had argued that their stepmother erroneously completed their father’s estate tax return.

Review Of Current Scholarship On The Fiscal Cliff, David J. Herzig

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Taxation And Incentives In The Business Enterprise, David Gamage, Shruti Rana

Faculty Scholarship

This book chapter discusses the tax perspective on business enterprise law with a comparative focus on the U.S. and Japan.

The Internal Revenue Service And A Crisis Of Confidence: A New Regulatory Approach For A New Era, Donald B. Tobin

Faculty Scholarship

The Internal Revenue Service is not usually thought of as the agency charged with enforcing the nation’s campaign finance laws. It has found itself, however, at the center of a firestorm over both its involvement and its ineptitude in enforcing certain rules that regulate the campaign activities of tax-exempt organizations. For historical, legal, and practical reasons, the Internal Revenue Code regulates the political activity of tax-exempt groups, in some instances providing for disclosure of campaign donors and expenditures, and in other instances limiting the amount of political activity engaged in by tax-exempt organizations. As campaigns become more sophisticated and complicated, …

The United States Tax Court: An Historical Analysis (2d Ed. 2014), Harold Dubroff, Brant J. Hellwig

Books and Chapters

The second edition leaves largely intact the first four Parts of the original text, which provide a remarkably detailed history of the creation of Board of Tax Appeals through the congressional chartering of the United States Tax Court as a court of record established under article I of the Constitution. Part V is a new chapter devoted to the judicial consideration of the Tax Court’s constitutional status that culminated in the Supreme Court’s 1991 decision in Freytag v. Commissioner.

Whereas the original text addressed procedural matters following the discussion of the historical development of the Court, the second edition …

The Individual Mandate Tax Penalty, Jeffrey H. Kahn

Scholarly Publications

In 2010, President Obama signed legislation that significantly altered the healthcare and health insurance markets in the United States. An integral part of that reform is the individual mandate, a provision that requires individuals to purchase and maintain healthcare insurance. Failure to maintain such coverage subjects an individual to a tax penalty. The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of that provision under Congress’s taxing power.

Despite the Supreme Court upholding the individual mandate, fundamental questions remain. This Article addresses the question of whether the use of a tax penalty to encourage taxpayers to do something that the government desires is …

Loving And Legitimacy: Irs Regulation Of Tax Return Preparation, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Tax Favors For Philanthropy: Should Our Republic Underwrite De Tocqueville's Democracy?, Rob Atkinson

Scholarly Publications

This article critically reviews the current rationales for the federal income tax system's favorable treatment of philanthropy, gives those rationales a new descriptive synthesis based on de Tocqueville's account of American democracy, and offers a normative alternative based on neo-classical ethical and political theory. It first identifies the two basic normative questions: What is the function of philanthropy that warrants favorable tax treatment, and how well does favorable tax treatment advance that function? It then examines the answers of three distinct phases of normative tax theory: the traditional subsidy thesis, the antithetical technical definition of income theory, and a set …

Codifying And Miscodifying Judicial Anti-Abuse Tax Doctrines, Linda Jellum

Articles

No abstract provided.

Pfics Gone Wild!, Monica Gianni

Akron Tax Journal

This Article begins in Part II with a discussion of what constitutes a passive foreign investment company ("PFIC") and follows in Part III with the tax rules applicable to PFICs. Part IV begins with a general explanation of the goal of tax deferral, with discussion of several anti-deferral tax regimes enacted prior to the PFIC provisions, i.e., Personal Holding Companies ("PHCs"), Foreign Personal Holding Companies ("FPHCs"), Subpart F income of CFCs, Foreign Investment Companies ("FICs"), and Regulated Investment Companies ("RICs"). An understanding of these regimes is necessary to appreciate the genesis of the PFIC rules. Part V analyzes the policy …