Taxation-Federal Commons^™

States Should Quickly Reform Unemployment Insurance, Brian Galle, David Gamage, Erin Scharff, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

COVID-19 is causing mass layoffs and related economic hardship, as well as budget crises for state and local governments. This article is part of Project SAFE (State Action in Fiscal Emergencies), an academic effort to help states weather the fiscal crisis by providing policy recommendations backed by research. This article will focus on how state governments should reform unemployment insurance (UI) eligibility and benefits and the taxes funding these programs.

Antitrust And The Corporate Tax: Why We Need Progressive Corporate Tax Rates, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Lior Frank

Articles

In this article, Avi-Yonah and Frank explore how progressive corporate tax rates could address the abuse of power by monopolistic big tech companies.

Rodriguez, Tucker, And The Dangers Of Textualism, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah

Articles

The Supreme Court is increasingly turning toward textualism in interpreting statutes. This is part of its general hostility toward judge-made law, as evidenced by its recent unanimous decision in Rodriguez that there should be no federal common law except in extraordinary circumstances. Textualism poses a particular danger in the tax context because the Internal Revenue Code is so complicated and lends itself to manipulation so that courts have since the 1930s used a variety of judge-made legal doctrines to prevent such results. The classic Gregory decision from 1935 involved just such a case: The literal application of the code resulted …

Racialized Tax Inequity: Wealth, Racism, And The U.S. System Of Taxation, Palma Joy Strand, Nicholas A. Mirkay

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article describes the connection between wealth inequality and the increasing structural racism in the U.S. tax system since the 1980s. A long-term sociological view (the why) reveals the historical racialization of wealth and a shift in the tax system overall beginning around 1980 to protect and exacerbate wealth inequality, which has been fueled by racial animus and anxiety. A critical tax view (the how) highlights a shift over the same time period at both federal and state levels from taxes on wealth, to taxes on income, and then to taxes on consumption—from greater to less progressivity. Both of these …

Tax Burdens And Tribal Sovereignty: The Prohibition On Lavish And Extravagant Benefits Under The Tribal General Welfare Exclusion, Pippa Browde

Faculty Law Review Articles

This article examines a portion of a relatively new federal tax statute, the Tribal General Welfare Exclusion (TGWE), that allows qualified individuals an exclusion from gross income for payments received from American Indian/Alaska Native tribes for any "Indian general welfare benefit." Indian general welfare benefits are payments made to tribal members by the tribe pursuant to an Indian tribal government program for the promotion of general welfare, such as for health, education, or housing. The TGWE is intended, in part, to promote participation in American Indian tribal cultural and ceremonial practices. To that end, Indian general welfare benefits include payments …

Dirty Business: Accountability For Harmful Pesticide Use In Brazil, Anna Goldstein

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note argues that the alarming rise in pesticide use in Brazil, particularly under President Jair Bolsonaro, has severe human health and environmental consequences. It emphasizes the need for a binding international legal framework to hold multinational corporations accountable for human rights abuses and environmental harm in their supply chains. Current voluntary frameworks and domestic laws, such as Brazil's Law 7802, are insufficient due to weak enforcement and lack of binding standards. The proposed UN Draft Treaty on Business and Human Rights is presented as a critical solution to address these gaps and ensure corporate accountability.

A Constitutional Wealth Tax, Ari Glogower

Michigan Law Review

Policymakers and scholars are giving serious consideration to a federal wealth tax. Wealth taxation could address the harms from rising economic inequality, promote equality of social and economic opportunity, and raise the revenue needed to fund critical government programs. These reasons for taxing wealth may not matter, however, if a federal wealth tax is unconstitutional.

Scholars debate whether a tax on a wealth base (a “traditional wealth tax”) would be a “direct tax” subject to apportionment among the states by population. This Article argues, in contrast, that this possible constitutional restriction on a traditional wealth tax may not matter. If …

Fun Tax Facts, Rachana Khandelwal

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Treatment Of Medicaid Waiver Payments For Purpose Of Eitc And Actc, Xiaoyue (Tina) Tan

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Complete America's Great Trails Act S.809 (116th Congress), Mst Students Bus 223a Fall 2019

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

Taxation Of Early Distributions From A 401(K) Retirement Plan, Liubov (Luba) Shilkova

The Contemporary Tax Journal

No abstract provided.

More Anti-Simplification: How Pti And Gilti Override The Section 245a Exemption And The U.S. Territorial Tax System, Christine A. Davis

Mercer Law Review

In December of 2017, the United States (U.S.) enacted tax reform commonly known as the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” (TCJA), which was initially thought to “establish[] a territorial tax system for multinational companies.” Over time, however, tax professionals began to understand that the TCJA layered a territorial tax system that exempted foreign earnings from the U.S. income tax (exemption tax system) on top of a residence-based worldwide tax system that used a foreign tax credit (FTC) to protect against juridical double taxation (worldwide tax system). Furthermore, the U.S. exemption tax system is severely limited by the worldwide tax system. …

Does Capital Bear The U.S. Corporate Tax After All? New Evidence From Corporate Tax Returns, Edward Fox

Articles

This article uses U.S. corporate tax return data to assess how government revenue would have changed if, over the period 1957–2013, corporations had been subject to a hypothetical corporate cash flow tax—that is, a tax allowing for the immediate deduction of investments in long-lived assets like equipment and structures—rather than the corporate tax regime actually in effect. Holding taxpayer behavior fixed, the data indicate actual corporate tax revenue over the most recent period (1995–2013) differed little from that under the hypothetical cash flow tax. This result has three important implications. First, capital owners appear to bear a large fraction of …

Tax Cannibalization By State Corporate Taxes: Policy Implications, Darien Shanske, David Gamage

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The tax cannibalization problem is especially large for state corporate income taxes because state governments piggyback on a deeply flawed federal corporate tax base. In this article, we clarify a point of possible confusion about these issues and then discuss some policy implications.

Tax Cannibalization By State Corporate Taxes: Revised Estimates, David Gamage, Darien Shanske

Articles by Maurer Faculty

To what extent do our prior estimates for the tax cannibalization problem still apply post-2017? In this article we address that question, focusing on the implications of the reduced federal corporate income tax rate.

Eitc For All: A Universal Basic Income Compromise Proposal, Benjamin M. Leff

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Much has been written about a concept called universal basic income (UBI). With a UBI, the government gives every person a certain amount of money each year, or even each month. The UBI has broad appeal with thinkers on both the right and the left, but the appeal is partially because different thinkers have different visions of what the current state of affairs is with respect to government welfare policies and different theories about why these existing policies are inadequate or damaging. Reforming existing programs, rather than making a radical break with the past, could satisfy at least some of …

Something For Nothing: Universal Basic Income And The Value Of Work Beyond Incentives, Jonathan D. Grossberg

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Proponents and opponents of a universal basic income all acknowledge that the most significant political challenge to its adoption in the United States is that a universal basic income would not have a work requirement attached. Often, this is characterized as a problem involving incentives—the availability of a universal basic income would cause many people to stop working (or significantly curtail the number of hours that they work) and simply live off the universal basic income. This Article makes three contributions to the literature related to a universal basic income: First, it provides a typology for understanding the many reasons …

Foreword, In From The Texas Cotton Fields To The United States Tax Court: The Life Journey Of Juan F. Vasquez (Mary Theresa Vasquez & Anthony Head, 2020), Brant J. Hellwig

Books and Chapters

The story of the life of the first Hispanic American appointed to serve as a judge on the United States Tax Court. An educational and inspirational story of a professional career, the book is accessible to lawyers and laypersons of all ages.

New Regulations, New Understandings: Taking Advantage Of The Section 199a Deduction With Restricted Imposed By Section 643(F), Victor Gabuardi

St. Thomas Law Review

This Article explores the intricacies and benefits of the Section 199A deduction and a general description of the final regulations. Part II of this Article discusses the Section 199A deduction, the technicalities, and operational component of the same. Part III of this Article discusses how individuals and relevant passthrough entities (“RPE”) have the ability to aggregate similar businesses they own to either qualify or even maximize on their Section 199A deduction. Part IV of this Article discusses the Section 199A calculation for RPEs and trusts, including the difference for trusts in calculating the Section 199A deduction before and after the …

Alternative Methods To Regulating Paid Uncredentialed Tax-Return Preparers Post Loving, Mikell Washington

Upper Level Writing Requirement Research Papers

No abstract provided.