Taxation & Estate Planning

Law Prof Blog Rankings

Posted on April 13, 2010
Below are the updated quarterly traffic rankings (page views and visitors) of the Top 35 blogs edited by law professors with publicly available SiteMeters for the most recent 12-month period (April 1, 2009 - March 31, 2010), as well as the percentage change in traffic from the prior 12-month period:...

Per Capita Income Has Fallen 3.2% Since Obama's Inauguration; 47 of 50 States See Decline in Income

Posted on April 13, 2010
Washington Times, Income Falls 3.2% During Obama's Term: Real personal income for Americans -- excluding government payouts such as Social Security -- has fallen by 3.2% since President Obama took office in January 2009, according to the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis...

Rasmussen: 66% Say America Is Overtaxed

Posted on April 13, 2010
Rasmussen Reports, 66% Say America Is Overtaxed: Sixty-six percent (66%) believe that America is overtaxed. Only 25% disagree. Lower income voters are more likely than others to believe the nation is overtaxed. Not surprisingly, the tax issue provokes a wide gap between the Political Class and Mainstream Americans...

Government Files Brief Opposing Cert. in Textron Tax Work Papers Case

Posted on April 13, 2010
I previously blogged the eleven amicus briefs filed in January in the U.S. Supreme Court (No. 09-750), supporting Textron's certiorari petition seeking review of the First Circuit's 3-2 en banc decision in United States v. Textron, Inc., No. 07-2631 (1st Cir...

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NYU Hosts Reading Today of Dan Shaviro's Getting It

Posted on April 13, 2010
Following up on my prior post, the NYU Graduate Tax Program is hosting a reading and discussion today of the new novel by Tax Prof Daniel N. Shaviro (NYU), Getting It (iUniverse, 2010): Bill Doberman is a liar. He's also a conniver, a phony, a hypocrite, and a cad --...

Northwestern Dean Van Zandt Defends the U.S. News Rankings

Posted on April 13, 2010
David E. Van Zandt (Dean, Northwestern), Rankings Are Valuable (And Here to Stay); So Let?s Focus on Making Them Better: The debates about the merits of the U.S. News & World Reports annual law school rankings undoubtedly will escalate with the imminent release of the new rankings...

Donald Marron Named Director of Tax Policy Center

Posted on April 13, 2010
The Tax Policy Center announced today that Donald Marron, who served as a member of the President?s Council of Economic Advisers and as acting director of the Congressional Budget Office, will become the director on May 17, succeeding Rosanne Altshuler, who will be returning to Rutgers University after nearly two...

Fleischer: Charitable Tax Subsidies and Distributive Justice

Posted on April 13, 2010
Miranda Perry Fleischer (Colorado) has published Theorizing the Charitable Tax Subsidies: The Role of Distributive Justice, 87 Wash. U. L. Rev. 505 (2010). Here is the abstract: Distributive justice plays a starring role in many fundamental tax policy debates, from the marginal rate structure to the choice of base to...

California's Top 250 Tax Deadbeats

Posted on April 13, 2010
The California Franchise Tax Board has released its annual list of the 250 biggest California tax deadbeats. Among the notable names on the list are: Pamela Anderson (actress) ($493,144) Timothy Blixseth (Yellowstone Club founder) ($894,058) Ron Isley (singer) ($303,411) Halsy Minor (CNet founder) ($13,120,479)

Still More on the Future Ed Conference

Posted on April 13, 2010
Following up on my prior posts (here and here) on Friday's conference on Future Ed -- New Business Models for U.S. and Global Legal Education hosted by Harvard Law School and New York Law School: Above the Law, Just How Crappy Is Legal Education Today? American Lawyer, The Future of...

2011 U.S. News Law School Rankings

Posted on April 13, 2010
Two days before the official release, Above the Law links to an advance copy of the 2011 U.S. News & World Report Law School Rankings.

TRAC: IRS Audit Rate of Large Companies Continues to Plummet

Posted on April 12, 2010
The Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University today released a report, Despite Rising Deficits, IRS Audits of the Largest and Richest Corporations Decline: Despite a growing federal deficit, IRS audit efforts aimed at the nation's largest corporations have precipitously declined in the last few years and now are at...

Dorf on the 2011 U.S. News Law School Rankings

Posted on April 12, 2010
Michael C. Dorf (Cornell), US News "Faculty Hotness" Controversy Generating More Heat Than Light (April 1, 2010): The announcement that US News would include a new category of "faculty hotness" in its 2011 law school rankings continued to generate controversy yesterday, as law school deans scrambled to position themselves as...

Tax Student Writing Competition

Posted on April 12, 2010
The National Law Review is sponsoring the 2010 Law Student Writing Competition for tax articles. The deadline for submisisons is April 23, 2010: The National Law Review (NLR) consolidates practice-oriented legal analysis from a variety of sources for easy access by lawyers, paralegals, law students, business executives, insurance professionals, accountants,...

Gordon: Global Governance and Offshore Financial Centers

Posted on April 12, 2010
Richard K. Gordon (Case Western) has published On the Use and Abuse of Standards for Law: Global Governance and Offshore Financial Centers. 88 N.C. L. Rev. 501 (2010). Here is the abstract: Current trends in international legal scholarship have shifted from a paradigm of state actors working within recognized sources...

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on April 12, 2010
Saturday: Tax Lawyer Steve Carell More Moot Court Rankings More on the Future Ed Conference: Graduating 3Ls are 'Worthless' Providing Competitors With Standing to Challenge Favorable IRS Actions Transfer Pricing Methodology in the Wake of Roche Paying Taxes Improves the Quality of Government Sunday: Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads Tax...

Blank & Levin Present Tax Enforcement Publicity Peaks April 1-15 Today at Rutgers-Newark

Posted on April 12, 2010
Joshua D. Blank (NYU) & Daniel Z. Levin (Rutgers Business School) present When Is Tax Enforcement Publicized?, 30 Va. Tax Rev. __ (2010), today at Rutgers-Newark as part of its Faculty Colloquium Series. Here is the abstract: Every spring, the federal government appears to deliver an abundance of announcements that...

Leviner Presents Tax Enforcement and Tax Return Preparers Today at Hebrew University

Posted on April 12, 2010
Sagit Leviner (Ono Academic College, Israel) presents Bridging the Gap Between Tax Theory and Reality: The Story of Tax Return Preparers at the Hebrew University Law School today as part of its Tax Law & Policy Colloquium. Here is the abstract: This paper brings together the theoretical analysis of tax...

Walker Presents Business Deductions in a Net Income Tax Today at Florida State

Posted on April 12, 2010
David I. Walker (Boston University) presents Suitable for Framing: Business Deductions in a Net Income Tax System at Florida State today as part of its Faculty Enrichment Series hosted by Gregg D. Polsky. Here is the abstract: The federal income tax code includes numerous provisions disallowing or curtailing income tax...

Yale Prof: In Praise of the U.S. News Rankings

Posted on April 12, 2010
Heather K. Gerken (Yale) has published In Praise of Rankings, 19 Widener L.J. 1 (2009). Here is the Introduction: Like all right-thinking law professors, I have tut-tut-tutted the law school rankings put out by the U.S. News & World Report. Students accord it an objectivity it does not deserve! Ranking...

2009-10 Faculty Salary Increase Lowest in 50 Years

Posted on April 12, 2010
The AAUP today released its annual survey of faculty salaries, reporting an average increase of 1.2% in 2009-10, the lowest in the 50-year history of the survey. Here are the Top 10 national universities and liberal arts colleges in average salaries for full professors: National Universities: Harvard ($191,200) Columbia ($188,600)...

Murphy Redux? Commentators Decry Federal Circuit's Harmless Error Rule

Posted on April 12, 2010
Jeremiah Coder (Contributing Editor, Tax Analysts), Did the Federal Circuit Just Issue Another Murphy?, 127 Tax Notes 143 (Apr. 12, 2010): When an appellate court is universally denounced for its legal reasoning, a hasty retreat and a withdrawn opinion usually follow...

Forbes: Congress Blocks e-Filing by Requiring Paper Filing of Certain Forms; But PDF Attachments to e-Filing Coming in 2012

Posted on April 11, 2010
Forbes, When the IRS Says 'Mail It In', by Ashlea Ebeling: Congress has instructed the IRS to get 80% of all individual taxpayers filing their 1040s electronically by 2012. But at the same time, it keeps creating special credits and provisions that mean some taxpayers still can't file electronically--or at...

Farber: The Taxation of Derivative Gains and Losses

Posted on April 11, 2010
Michael S. Farber (Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York) has posted Capital Ideas: The Taxation of Derivative Gains and Losses, 126 Tax Notes 1493 (Mar. 22, 2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This report explores the history of the taxation of derivative gains and losses ? primarily § 1234A...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on April 11, 2010
There is a bit of movement in this week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads, with new papers debuting on the list at #1 (which I highly recommend) and #3: 1. [782 Downloads] Pursuing a Tax LLM Degree: Why and When?, by Paul L. Caron (Cincinnati), Jennifer...

Tax Planning for the Obama Tax Hikes

Posted on April 11, 2010
Forbes, The Obama Tax Hikes--What to Do, by Ashlea Ebeling: Buy munis, book losses, avoid marriage, consider a Roth conversion now and get your Lasik eye surgery next year.

Motro: In Praise of Open Windows

Posted on April 11, 2010
Wall Street Journal, In Praise of Open Windows, by Tax Prof Shari Motro (Richmond): Last spring, the Obamas planted a White House vegetable garden. This year, why not follow up by cutting the air conditioning and opening the windows? They might also set a temperature range for the White House...

Providing Competitors With Standing to Challenge Favorable IRS Actions

Posted on April 10, 2010
Sunil Shenoi (J.D. 2009, Michigan; Ropes & Gray, Boston) has published Note, Undoing Undue Favors: Providing Competitors With Standing to Challenge Favorable IRS Actions, 43 U. Mich. J.L. Reform 531 (2010). Here is the abstract: The IRS occasionally creates rules, notices, or regulations that allow taxpayers to pay less than...

Transfer Pricing Methodology in the Wake of Roche

Posted on April 10, 2010
Christopher J. Kotarba (J.D. 2010, Columbia) has published Note, Better Than the "Best": Transfer Pricing Methodology in the Wake of Roche, 48 Colum. J. Transnat'l L. 140 (2009) (Dorsey & Whitney Student Writing Prize in Comparative and International Law Outstanding Note Award Winner)...

Paying Taxes Imrpoves the Quality of Government

Posted on April 10, 2010
Yener Altunbas & John Thornton (both of the University of Wales, Bangor Business School) have posted Does Paying Taxes Improve the Quality of Governance? Cross-Country Evidence. Here is the abstract: A growing economics literature argues that taxation can strengthen the quality of governance and public sector institutions by making governments...

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