Taxation & Estate Planning

Forbes: State Tax Breaks for Seniors on the Chopping Block

Posted on March 03, 2011
Forbes, State Tax Breaks for Seniors on the Chopping Block, by Janet Novack: While the national media has been transfixed by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker?s decision to take on the unions, relatively little attention has been paid to the exploits of another new Midwestern Republican governor who has taken on...

Your Tuition Dollars at Work: Charlie Sheen and Sex Toys

Posted on March 03, 2011
Students at several colleges are pushing to have Charlie Sheen as their graduation speaker: George Washington University ($41,242 tuition) University of Missouri-Columbia ($19,592 non-resident tuition) West Chester University ($16,114 non-resident tuition) "Northwestern University [$40,247 tuition] officials are defending an explicit after-class event for a "Human Sexuality" course [taught by Professor...

Cain: Advice for Same-Sex Couples Filing Their 2010 Tax Returns

Posted on March 03, 2011
Following up on my prior post, The Tax Implications of Obama's Abandonment of the Defense of Marriage Act (Feb. 23, 2011): Patricia A. Cain (Santa Clara) offers her thoughts on how same-sex couples should file their 2010 tax returns in light of the DOJ's action: Prof...

Rosenzweig Presents Thinking Outside the Tax Treaty Today at NYU

Posted on March 03, 2011
Adam Rosenzweig (Washington University) presents Thinking Outside the (Tax) Treaty at NYU today as part of its Colloquium Series on Tax Policy and Public Finance convened by Daniel Shaviro (NYU) and Mihir Desai (Harvard Business School). Here is part of the Introduction: Part I of this article will survey and...

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How to Build a Progressive Tea Party

Posted on March 02, 2011
The Nation, How to Build a Progressive Tea Party, by Johann Hari: Imagine a parallel universe where the Great Crash of 2008 was followed by a Tea Party of a very different kind. Enraged citizens gather in every city, week after week?to demand the government finally regulate the behavior of...

The Day They Took the Laptops

Posted on March 02, 2011

Johnston: Breaking News -- Tax Revenues Plummeted

Posted on March 02, 2011
David Cay Johnston has published Breaking News: Tax Revenues Plummeted,130 Tax Notes 1089 (Feb. 28, 2011): Johnston analyzes changes in tax revenue in light of claims by various politicians that the deficit is a problem of spending, not revenue. [Click on tables to enlarge...

CBPP: To Avert Revenue Loss, States Should Decouple From § 168(k) Expensing

Posted on March 02, 2011
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, States Can Avert New Revenue Loss by Decoupling From Federal Expensing Provision: A recent change in federal tax law regarding business investment in machinery and equipment could be very costly for many states ? at a time when they can least afford it...

Substantial Performance, Ministerial Acts and the All Events Tests

Posted on March 02, 2011
Glenn Walberg (University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Cameron School of Business) has published Just Enough: Substantial Performance, Ministerial Acts and the All Events Tests for Income and Expense Accruals, 10 Fla. Tax Rev. 459 (2010). Here is the Conclusion: The doctrine of substantial performance can fill a gap in the tax...

Forman Presents Tax Reform in an Era of Hyper-Deficits

Posted on March 02, 2011
Jonathan Barry Forman (Oklahoma) presents Taxes and Tax Reform in an Era of Hyper-Deficits and Gridlock today at the Oklahoma City Economic Roundtable.

Shakow: Does It Hurt a State to Introduce an Income Tax?

Posted on March 02, 2011
David J. Shakow (Pennsylvania; Of Counsel, McKee Nelson, New York) has posted Does It Hurt a State to Introduce an Income Tax?, 58 State Tax Notes 679 (Dec. 6, 2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In an article in the Wall Street Journal [The Bill Gates Income Tax, Oct...

Equity and Efficiency in Intellectual Property Taxation

Posted on March 02, 2011
Jeffrey A. Maine (Maine) & Xuan-Thao Nguyen (SMU) have published Equity and Efficiency in Intellectual Property Taxation, 76 Brooklyn L. Rev. 1 (2010). Here is the abstract: The article critiques the federal income tax regime governing intellectual property using normative criteria in evaluating taxes: equity and efficiency...

Wesley Snipes Seeks Supreme Court Review of His Tax Convictions

Posted on March 02, 2011
Wesley Snipes, who is serving his three-year sentence on three counts of willful failure to file tax returns under § 7203, filed a cert. petition with the U.S. Supreme Court raising these two issues: Is an accused person deprived of the right under Article III and the Sixth Amendment to...

Law School: New School, Old School, or No School?

Posted on March 02, 2011
Dave Hoffman (Temple) has an interesting post (Disrupting Law Schools) on the new report, Disrupting College How Disruptive Innovation Can Deliver Quality and Affordability to Postsecondary Education. As the photo on the cover suggests, the thrust of the report is that online education is a disruptive innovation that will force...

Subscribing to TaxProf Blog

Posted on March 01, 2011
We offer two ways to have TaxProf Blog content automatically delivered to your computer or smart phone, as explained in the left column of the blog, "Subscribe to TaxProf Blog Via RSS Feed or Email": RSS Feeds: You can subscribe to one of three different feeds to receive TaxProf Blog...

Senate Holds Tax Reform Hearing Today

Posted on March 01, 2011
The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing today on How Did We Get Here? Changes in the Law and Tax Environment Since the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Scheduled to tetsify are five former Assistant Secretaries for Tax Policy: Fred T. Goldberg Jr. (1992) Jonathan Talisman (2000-01) Mark A...

Miller & Kaufman: Tax Proposals in President Obama's FY 2012 Budget

Posted on March 01, 2011
David S. Miller & Charles Kaufman (both of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, New York) have posted A Summary of the Individual and Corporate Tax Proposals in the Obama Administration's Fiscal Year 2012 Budget on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper summarizes the corporate and individual tax proposals in the...

CTJ: Tax Proposals in President Obama?s FY 2012 Budget

Posted on March 01, 2011
Citizens for Tax Justice, Tax Proposals in President Obama?s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget: While the President's budget does include many laudable proposals to raise revenue, these don't come close to offsetting the revenue losses from the tax cuts that he proposes...

IRS Is Holding $1.1 Billion in Tax Refunds

Posted on March 01, 2011
The IRS announced yesterday (IR-2011-21) that it is holding more than $1.1 billion in tax refunds averaging $640 for 1.1 million people who did not file a federal income tax return for 2007. To collect the money, a 2007 return must be filed by April 18, 2011.

TPC Hosts Program on The Credit Needs of Low-Income Families at Tax Time

Posted on March 01, 2011
The Tax Policy Center hosts a lunchtime program today on The Credit Needs of Low-Income Families at Tax Time (webcast here): Nearly 20 million tax filers?many of whom count themselves among the working poor?are expected to use a refund anticipation loan (RAL) or refund anticipation check (RAC) this tax season,...

NLJ: Getting Ahead Requires Law Grads to Know More Than the Tax Code

Posted on March 01, 2011
National Law Journal, Everything Associates Didn't Learn in Law School: Getting ahead takes much more than knowing the Rule in Shelley's Case or the finer points of the tax code. What do law firm partners mean when they talk about whether an associate "gets it"? And how can students make...

Chronicle of Higher Education on Law Schools

Posted on March 01, 2011
Law Schools Revamp Their Curricula to Teach Practical Skills: Nationwide, law schools are integrating more clinical experiences and practical-skills training into their curricula in response to complaints that their graduates lack real-world experience...

CBPP: Six Tests for Corporate Tax Reform

Posted on March 01, 2011
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Six Tests for Corporate Tax Reform: Congress may consider major changes to the corporate tax code this year. In light of the nation?s significant economic and budgetary challenges, a well-designed corporate tax reform proposal should: Contribute to long-term deficit reduction Reduce the tax code?s...

NLJ: Empirical Legal Scholarship Divides the Academy

Posted on March 01, 2011
National Law Journal, Empiricism Divides the Academy: Upstart Number-Crunchers Attract Praise and Derision: Law and statistics might seem like strange bedfellows, but more legal scholars appear to be embracing the data-driven approach to research that has long been the norm in political science, economics and the social sciences...

Schmalbeck Presents A New Tax-Exempt Category for Churches at Toronto

Posted on March 01, 2011
Richard Schmalbeck (Duke) presents Considering a New Category of Exemption for American Churches at the University of Toronto today as part of its James Hausman Tax Law and Policy Workshop Series: The U.S. tax law defining organizations that are eligible for treatment as charitable determines both the tax exemption of...

Sullivan: Passthroughs Shrink the Corporate Tax by $140 Billion/Year

Posted on February 28, 2011
Following up on last week's post, Geithner: End Pass-Through Treatment of LLCs, Partnerships & S Corps (Feb. 25, 2011): Martin A. Sullivan (Tax Analysts) has published Passthroughs Shrink the Corporate Tax by $140 Billion, 130 Tax Notes 987 (Feb. 28, 2011): Over the past three decades, the number and the...

IFA International Tax Colloquium and Tax Writing Competition

Posted on February 28, 2011
a style="float: right;" onclick="window.open( this.href, '_blank', 'width=640,height=480,scrollbars=no,resizable=no,toolbar=no,directories=no,location=no,menubar=no,status=no,left=0,top=0' ); return false" href="http://taxprof.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c4eab53ef014e8661d56c970d-popup"> The inaugural International Tax Colloquium of the U...

Forbes: Are Amazon.com?s Days of Tax-Free Selling Numbered?

Posted on February 28, 2011
Forbes, Are Amazon.com?s Days of Tax Free Selling Numbered?: Are Amazon.com?s days as a haven for sales-tax shirking shoppers numbered? Retail analyst David Strasser, a managing director at Janney Montgomery Scott, suggests that they could be. ?There?s a lot of momentum building,?? he said Friday...

Loopholes

Posted on February 28, 2011
From the son of Tax Prof John Miller (Idaho):

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on February 28, 2011
Saturday: Taxability of Former Duke Lacrosse Players' $60m (?) Settlement More on Tax Lawyers Who Make $1,000/Hour What Lawyers Earn (by County) WSJ: Governors Get a Jump on Corporate Tax Reform Sunday: Oscar Swag Bags to Result in $100k Income to Celebrity Presenters Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads A-Rod Uses...

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