Taxation-State and Local Commons^™

Decoupling State Income Tax From Federal: Current Taxation Of Unrealized Gain, The New York Proposal, Henry Ordower

All Faculty Scholarship

A proposal decouples NY from federal tax computations to tax billionaires on unrealized appreciation. If enacted, the proposal generates basis discontinuities across borders but enhances state revenue and may prove attractive to many states. The article reviews how states seek to enhance revenues and considers issues of cross-border taxation and the fundamental right to travel.

New York’S Proposed Mark-To-Market Tax Decouples From Federal Tax, Henry Ordower

All Faculty Scholarship

A proposal decouples NY from federal tax computations to tax billionaires on unrealized appreciation. If enacted, the proposal generates basis discontinuities across borders but enhances state revenue and may prove attractive to many states. The article reviews how states seek to enhance revenues and considers issues of cross-border taxation and the fundamental right to travel.

The Spirit Is Willing: A Proposal For American Single Malt Whiskey, Raymond Cleaveland

Seattle University Law Review

Over the past twenty-five years, small, independent American distilleries have carved out a new niche in the United States liquor market: craft single malt whiskey. Inspired by the success of single malt Scotch and other single malts, American craft distillers are now fighting for their own shelf behind the bar and in the liquor store aisle. In 2018, a cadre of these distillers petitioned the U.S. Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to formally recognize a new category of whiskey in the Code of Federal Regulations: American Single Malt Whiskey. For purposes of consumer protection, the Treasury …

For Richer Or Poorer: Incentivizing Meaningful Investments In Qualified Opportunity Zones, Monica L. Keo

Seattle University Law Review

The wealth disparity in the United States is nothing new. Many have proposed wealth taxes and higher tax rates for large corporations to address income inequality; however, these proposals have been criticized as tax programs that are difficult to administer. Congress passed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017 and created a new investment vehicle known as the Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ). The QOZ program incentivizes private investors to invest their capital gains in exchange for a reduction in capital gains tax. The underlying idea of the QOZ program is to utilize a new tool designed to spur …

New Hampshire V. Massachusetts: Taxation Without Representation?, Richard Pomp

Faculty Articles and Papers

In this article, Professor Pomp details the dispute behind New Hampshire’s pending motion in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The issue is whether Massachusetts may constitutionally subject remote-working nonresidents to its income tax when, prior to the pandemic, those workers commuted in-state.

It is beyond dispute that nonresidents who earn their income within a state can be taxed by the state. The constitutional rule that a state tax may not discriminate against interstate commerce, which ensures nonresident taxpayers are treated the same as residents, acts as a safeguard against taxation without representation. Resident taxpayers indirectly serve the tax interests of nonresidents …

Responding To The Pandemic: A Case Study, Richard Pomp

Faculty Articles and Papers

This article describes how Connecticut, despite catching a fiscal break from the pandemic, has failed to seize the opportunity to enact meaningful reform targeted at its $90 billion debt.

The article begins by explaining why Connecticut fared well during the pandemic. Many wealthy taxpayers moved into Connecticut from New York City. The increase in their stock-market driven income taxes, as well the sales tax boost from secondary and tertiary purchases by homebuyers, has eliminated Connecticut’s short-term budget deficit. The State is sitting on a $3 billion rainy-day fund.

Next, the article examines several tensions between the democratic governor, Ned Lamont, …

Compared To What? Menstruation, Pregnancy, And The Complexities Of Comparison, Emily Gold Waldman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

When crafting a sex discrimination argument, finding the right comparison can be crucial. Indeed, comparison-drawing has been a key strategy for advocates challenging the constitutionality of the tampon tax. In their 2016 lawsuit challenging New York’s tampon tax, the plaintiffs alleged that the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance had imposed a “double standard” when deciding which products would be considered tax-free medical items and which would not. Similar arguments were made in the subsequent challenge to Florida's tampon tax. In both cases, the arguments had powerful rhetorical force, helping to effectuate legislative repeal of the tampon taxes …

The Carbon Price Equivalent: A Metric For Comparing Climate Change Mitigation Efforts Across Jurisdictions, Gabriel Weil

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Climate change presents a global commons problem: Emissions reductions on the scale needed to meet global targets do not pass a domestic cost-benefit test in most countries. To give national governments ample incentive to pursue deep decarbonization, mutual interstate coercion will be necessary. Many proposed tools of coercive climate diplomacy would require a onedimensional metric for comparing the stringency of climate change mitigation policy packages across jurisdictions. This article proposes and defends such a metric: the carbon price equivalent. There is substantial variation in the set of climate change mitigation policy instruments implemented by different countries. Nonetheless, the consequences of …

Fictitiously Overstating Taxable Income, Stanley Veliotis

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Keeping People In Their Homes: How A Reduction In Property Tax Burden Can Retain Homeownership For Low-Income Communities, Andy O'Connell, Daniel Lange

Law Student Publications

This article seeks to educate policymakers and advocates on the benefits of a reduction in real property tax burdens. In Virginia, there is a dangerous combination of high real property taxes and low income that can lead homeowners to become delinquent on their property taxes. Ultimately, this can lead to taxpayers' homes being foreclosed upon. The best solution for Virginia is the Circuit Breaker tax credit, a program enacted by many other states that allows for a maximum property tax burden for families based on their income and amount of assets. This program is pinpointed to only helping those who …

How The State And Federal Tax Systems Operate To Deny Educational Opportunities To Minorities And Other Lower Income Students, Camilla E. Watson

Scholarly Works

The importance of education cannot be overstated. Education is a core principle of the American Dream, and as such, it is the ticket to a better paying job, homeownership, financial security, and a better way of life. Education is the key factor in reducing poverty and inequality and promoting sustained national economic growth. But while the U.S. Supreme Court has referred to education as "perhaps the most important function of the state and local governments," it has nevertheless stopped short of declaring education a fundamental right guaranteed under the Constitution. As a consequence, because education is not considered a fundamental …

Law's Ability To Further The "Menstrual Movement", Christopher A. Cotropia

Law Faculty Publications

"The current menstrual movement calls for overcoming the cultural stigma associated with menstruation, achieving “menstrual equity,” and ending “period poverty.” The stigma the movement seeks to address is that menstruation is seen as taboo, unclean, and impure. The movement’s aims are twofold: First, it wants to increase awareness of menstruation and remove discrimination against those who menstruate, thus achieving menstrual equity. Second, it intends to provide greater access to menstrual hygiene products (“MHPs”), particularly for homeless and lower income people, thus eliminating period poverty. To achieve these goals, the movement is advocating to legislatively eliminate the “tampon tax” and increase …

A Major Simplification Of The Oecd’S Pillar 1 Proposal, Michael J. Graetz

Faculty Scholarship

In this report, Graetz suggests major modifications to the OECD’s pillar 1 blueprint proposal to create a new taxing right for multinational digital income and some product sales that would greatly simplify the proposal. The modifications rely on readily available existing financial information and would achieve certainty in the application of pillar 1, while adhering to its fundamental structure and policies.

Tax Law And The Digital Economy In Singapore, Vincent Ooi

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This chapter is divided into three main parts: 1) international tax law, 2) domestic tax law, and 3) tax and regulation. The first part deals with the international tax system and the way it has been affected by technology. This part will focus on income tax. Existing rules of nexus, characterisation of income and treatment of data are increasingly being challenged, leading to changes in the OECD Model Convention and the implementation of the Base Erosion and Profits Shifting (“BEPS”) project. These in turn have had a considerable impact on Singapore tax law, as Singapore is an active participant in …

Marijuana Taxation: Theory And Practice, Benjamin Leff

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Marijuana legalization creates a host of complex legal problems, not the least of which is how to best tax the emerging legal market. This Essay attempts to bridge the gap between tax theory and marijuana policy to make some modest claims. First, it roots the discussion of state-level marijuana taxation in the theoretical distinction between ordinary revenue-raising taxes and "Pigouvian" or regulatory taxes. It makes the somewhat controversial claim that the best taxing strategy for states is to attempt to capture as much of the marijuana legalization premium as possible without driving consumers into the illegal market and that other …

Why States Should Now Consider Expanding Sales Taxes To Services, Part 1, Gladriel Shobe, Grace Stephenson Nielsen, Darien Shanske, David Gamage

Articles by Maurer Faculty

States are facing a severe budget crisis as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. And with the federal government unlikely to pass a relief bill to address those state budget issues,1 states will need to play a significant role in making up revenue shortfalls.

This is the first in a three-part series, which is a contribution to Project SAFE: State Action in Fiscal Emergencies. This essay will lay out the general case for why states should consider expanding their sales tax bases to more services as a response to the COVID-19 crisis. The follow-ups will discuss further mechanics and details …

Why States Should Consider Expanding Sales Taxes To Services, Part 1, Gladriel Shobe, Grace Stephenson Nielsen, Darien Shanske, David Gamage

Articles by Maurer Faculty

States are facing a severe budget crisis as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. And with the federal government unlikely to pass a relief bill to address those state budget issues,1 states will need to play a significant role in making up revenue shortfalls.

This is the first in a three-part series, which is a contribution to Project SAFE: State Action in Fiscal Emergencies. This essay will lay out the general case for why states should consider expanding their sales tax bases to more services as a response to the COVID-19 crisis. The follow-ups will discuss further mechanics and details …

Taxing Local Energy Externalities, Hannah J. Wiseman

Notre Dame Law Review

There is a fundamental problem of scale in the governance of industrial development. For some of the fastest-growing U.S. industries, the negative impacts of development fall primarily at the local level, and the benefits tend to accrue more broadly to states and the federal government. These governments accordingly have inadequate incentives to address the very localized negative externalities of development. Yet states also increasingly preempt most local control over some forms of development. This creates a regulatory void, in which state and federal regulations are inadequate, and local governments lack the power to use traditional Pigouvian tools such as regulation, …

State And Local Taxation, Brian Sengson, Diandria Green, Blake Joiner, David Greenberg

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys the most critical and comprehensive changes in Georgia law occurring between June 1, 2019, and May 31, 2020. Most notably, the article discusses Georgia’s tax response to COVID-19, Georgia’s new marketplace facilitator statute, the jurisdictional limits of the Georgia Tax tribunal, and other important topics.