Tax Law Commons^™

What Can The Oecd Learn From The States?, Richard Pomp

Faculty Articles and Papers

In this article, Professor Pomp argues that the OECD should look to the American states for insight into taxing cross-jurisdictional corporations. In the early 20th century, the states had to respond to the challenge of taxing domestic interstate corporations. While these corporations posed no tax problem at the federal level, states had to respond to the reality of corporations shifting profits into neighboring tax havens. They needed a better alternative to federal transfer pricing and sourcing rules. In the 1930’s, some states began combining domestic related entities.

The growth of multinational corporations created new problems for both the states and …

A Report To The Connecticut Office Of Policy And Management Regarding A Proposed Payroll Tax, Richard Pomp

Faculty Articles and Papers

This Report analyzes a 5% payroll tax that would be imposed on employers in the amount of the Connecticut wages they pay to their employees. An anticipated response to this tax is that employers would shift this tax to their employees by reducing their wages by the cost of the tax. In this case, there would also be a reduction of the existing personal income tax rates by 5 points, but only if there were a reduction in wages. The effect would be to eliminate the 3% and 5% brackets, and would only be applicable to wages; it would not …

Income Taxation Of Small Business: Toward Simplicity, Neutrality And Coherence, David G. Duff

All Faculty Publications

Among the many contributions that Judith Freedman has made to tax law and policy in the United Kingdom and around the world, one of the most sustained and significant involves the regulation and taxation of small business. This article reviews Professor Freedman’s contributions to tax law and policy regarding small business, and evaluates Canadian experience with the taxation of private companies and their shareholders in light of Professor Freedman’s work. Part II summarizes Professor Freedman’s main conclusions regarding the taxation of small business, addressing both the taxation of similar economic activities conducted through different legal forms and the rationale and …

How Well-Targeted Are Payroll Tax Cuts As A Response To Covid-19? Evidence From China, Wei Cui, Jeffrey Hicks, Max Norton

All Faculty Publications

Numerous countries cut payroll taxes in response to economic downturns caused by COVID-19. This includes China, which completely exempted most firms from making social insurance (SI) contributions, resulting in an average tax cut of 21 percentage points on formal labor costs and approximately 20% of total tax remittances made by firms. We use novel data on 900,000 firms in one Chinese province to document new facts about the structure of SI in China and evaluate payroll tax cuts as a COVID-19 relief measure. We calculate that labor informality causes 54% of tax-registered firms---representing 24% of aggregate economic activity---to receive no …

Sustainable Tax Policy Through The Lens Of Intergenerational Justice, Neil H. Buchanan

UF Law Faculty Publications

As the papers in this issue demonstrate, the tax system, both domestically and internationally, can be used to help undo generations of damage to all aspects of society, allowing our children and grandchildren to inherit a society that is more just and prosperous than what we are living with today. This is what sustainable policy design requires.

The Spurious Allure Of Pass-Through Parity, Karen C. Burke

UF Law Faculty Publications

In 2017, Congress reduced tax rates on both corporate and noncorporate income. The drafters invoked the concept of pass-through parity to justify lower rates on noncorporate business income, resulting in a new and highly controversial deduction for pass-through owners under § 199A. The concept of pass-through parity conflates equitable treatment of different entity forms with equitable distribution of the ultimate tax burden among labor and capital. The flawed rationale for § 199A may be viewed as an attempt to preserve the pre-2017 preference for pass-through income; conceptually, the advantage of lower corporate rates is limited to the availability of a …

Doubling Down On A Billion Dollar Blind Spot: Women Business Owners And Tax Reform, Caroline Bruckner

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Impact Of Taxation On Immigration, Henry Ordower

All Faculty Scholarship

Rules governing admission of immigrants to stable, developed countries vary widely among countries, yet wealthy immigrants with capital to invest and highly educated immigrants receive favorable admission decisions from immigration authorities more frequently and quickly than do conflict and economic refugees who will become part of a substantially fungible labor force. As preferred immigration destination countries limit the number of immigrants they will admit — the U.S. certainly does —, admissions are likely to follow a hierarchy based on expectations that certain immigrants will contribute significantly to the economy and welfare of the destination country in a manner that distinguishes …

Uniform International Tax Collection And Distribution For Global Development, A Utopian Beps Alternative, Henry Ordower

All Faculty Scholarship

Under the guise of compelling multinational enterprises (MNEs) to pay their fair share of income taxes, the OECD and other multinational agencies have introduced proposals to prevent MNEs from eroding the income tax base of developed economies by continuing to shift income artificially to low or zero tax jurisdictions. Some of the proposals have garnered substantial multinational support, including recent support from the new U.S. presidential administration for a global minimum tax. This Article reviews many of those international proposals. The proposals tend to concentrate the incremental tax revenue from the prevention of base erosion into the treasuries of the …

The Village Of Billionaires: Fair Taxation And Redistribution Amid Relative And Absolute Poverty, Alexis Brassey, Henry Ordower

All Faculty Scholarship

Tax justice and principles underpinning the international tax regime are in vogue. The idea that companies and individuals need to pay their "fair share", not just in the domestic sense but also the international sense, is now a mainstream position. This paper explores the problems relating to what might constitute a "fair share" by setting out what is meant when this expression is used. A reasonable assumption is to consider taxation as the means by which the state funds public services and in some jurisdictions, contributes to greater equality within society. Those goals, however, give rise to competing claims. This …

The Pursuit Of Comprehensive Education Funding Reform Via Litigation, Lisa Scruggs

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Information Matters In Tax Enforcement, Leandra Lederman, Joseph C. Dugan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Most scholars recognize both that the government needs information about taxpayers’ transactions to determine whether their reporting is honest, and that third third-party reporting helps the government obtain that information. Given governments’ reliance on tax collections, it would be risky to think that information or third third-party reporting is not needed by tax agencies. However, a recent article by Professor Wei Cui asserts that “modern governments can practice ‘taxation without information.’” Professor Cui’s argument rests on two claims: (1) “giving governments effective access to taxpayer information through third parties does not explain the success of modern tax administration” because, he …

The Wealth Tax: Apportionment, Federalism, And Constitutionality, Alex Zhang

Faculty Articles

Proposals of wealth taxation as a mechanism to combat economic inequality and raise revenue for welfare programs have dominated recent political debate. Despite extensive academic commentary, questions surrounding the constitutionality of a wealth tax remain unresolved. Previous scholarly approaches have drawn a dichotomy between two key cases. Supporters of the wealth tax emphasize Hylton's functional rule for identifying direct taxes, which must be apportioned under the Constitution, and reject Pollock, which invalidated the federal income tax on the grounds that it was a direct tax. Opponents of the wealth tax, in contrast, argue that Pollock, rather than …

The Lawyer, The Engineer, And The Gigger: § 199a Framed As An Equitable Deduction For Middle-Class Business Owners And Gig Economy Workers, Andrew L. Snyder

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

Section 199A of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provides owners of noncorporate, pass-through businesses such as sole proprietorships, partnerships, and S corporations-as well as independent contractors and certain trusts-with an unprecedented deduction of up to 20 percent of "qualified business income." But the statute draws distinctions between industries and professions, thus creating inequities without a well-articulated policy rationale. Section 199A's critics have called for the provision's repeal entirely, citing efficiency and equity concerns. But Congress should not repeal section 199A or allow it to sunset in 2025. The provision can potentially provide tax relief to gig economy workers, for …

"I'D Gladly Pay You Tuesday For A [Tax Deduction] Today": Donor-Advised Funds And The Deferral Of Charity, Samuel D. Brunson

Faculty Publications & Other Works

In recent years, donor-advised funds have become an increasingly popular vehicle for charitable giving. In part, their popularity can be traced to a disconnect in the law: donor-advised funds look in many ways like private foundations, but the tax law treats them as public charities. This disconnect is advantageous to donors. Because Congress was worried about wealthy individuals' ability to take advantage of the control they can exercise over private foundations, it imposed a series of additional tax rules on private foundations. These rules, among other things, limit the deductibility of donations to private foundations, require that private foundations make …

Treaty Shopping And The New Multilateral Tax Agreement—Is It Business As Usual In Canada?, Catherine Anne Brown, Joseph Bogle

Dalhousie Law Journal

On 1 January 2020 the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Multilateral Convention (MLI) entered into effect for many of Canada’s tax treaties. New provisions introduced by the MLI, specifically the principal purpose test (PPT) and a new preamble, raised concerns that the bar to deny treaty benefits would be substantially lower than the bar previously set by Canada’s General Anti- Avoidance Rule (GAAR). This paper considers how the MLI will impact access to treaty benefits in Canada by applying the new MLI measures to treaty shopping cases previously challenged under the GAAR. The paper concludes that application of …

Humanizing The Tax System: What National Taxpayer Advocate Nina E. Olson Did For America's Kids And Their Families, Francine J. Lipman

Scholarly Works

At their core, taxpayer rights are human rights. They are about our inherent
humanity.—Nina E. Olson

The federal income tax system does not exist for statutes, regulations, codes, enforcement, assessments, collection, redistribution, procedures, publications, liens, levies, refunds, liabilities, litigation, compliance, or even revenue. At its core, the federal income tax system exists for people. People like you, me, and all our loved ones including spouses, partners, parents, kids, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, grandparents, grandkids, friends, and neighbors. The people who eat at our tables and sleep under our roofs. The tax system is about current and future generations who live …

Automation And Workers: Re-Imagining The Income Tax For The Digital Age, Jinyan Li, Arjin Choi, Cameron Smith

Articles & Book Chapters

In the age of automation, more and more workers lose jobs or become gig workers, and the share of labour income in national income is expected to decline further. These developments threaten the sustainability of Canada’s 102-year-old income tax as a major source of government revenue and a key instrument for redistributing social income. The authors make the case for re-imagining the income tax to suit the digital age. They propose that all workers should be taxed the same, regardless of the private-law arrangements or technical means used to carry out the work. They call for a reconceptualization of the …

Pay Toll With Coins: Looking Back On Fbar Penalties And Prosecutions To Inform The Future Of Cryptocurrency Taxation, Caroline T. Parnass

Georgia Law Review

Cryptocurrencies are gaining a foothold in the global
economy, and the government wants its cut. However, few
people are reporting cryptocurrency transactions on their tax
returns. How will the IRS solve its cryptocurrency
noncompliance problem? Its response so far bears many
similarities to the government’s campaign to increase Reports
of Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBARs). FBAR
noncompliance penalties are notoriously harsh, and the
government has pursued them vigorously. This Note explores
the connections and differences between cryptocurrency
reporting and foreign bank account reporting in an effort to
predict the future regime of cryptocurrency tax compliance.

Constructive Dialogue: Beps And The Tcja., Reuven Avi-Yonah

Articles

From its inception, the international tax regime was heavily influenced by the United States. The regime is traditionally traced back to the work of the four economists for the League of Nations in 1923, who came up with the orig- inal compromise underlying the tax treaty network, i.e., that passive income should be taxed primarily at residence and active income primarily at source (the “benefits principle”). Arguably, this compromise between the claims of res- idence and source countries was made possible by the U.S. unilateral adoption of the foreign tax credit in 1918, because the United States (already the world’s …