Taxation & Estate Planning

Wisconsin Seeks to Hire Tax Prof

Posted on August 05, 2009
The University of Wisconsin Law School seeks to hire in the areas of Tax Law and Contracts/Commercial Law/Bankruptcy: With respect to tax law, we are seeking to hire someone with expertise in business taxation, including corporate and partnership tax...

Bell: Reforming the U.S. News Rankings

Posted on August 05, 2009
Following up on my prior post on Tom Bell's annual listing of the z-scores of each school in the Top 100 of the U.S. News law school rankings: Tom proposes several changes to the rankings: USN&WR should publish all of the data that it uses in ranking law schools...

San Diego Hosts Business Valuation and Tax Conference on Oct. 9

Posted on August 05, 2009
The University of San Diego School of Law on Friday, October 9, 2009, hosts the second annual USD Business Valuation and Tax Conference?the preeminent summit of lawyers, appraisers, accountants and experts who depend on business valuations. The conference co-chairs are David Laro, U...

CRS: Tax Options for Financing Health Care Reform

Posted on August 05, 2009
The Congressional Research Service has released Tax Options for Financing Health Care Reform (R40648), by Jane G. Gravelle. Here is the Summary: Several tax options have been proposed to provide financing for health care reform. President Obama has proposed restricting itemized deductions for high income taxpayers, along with some narrower...

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Judge Orders Sale of Creation Science Theme Park to Pay Evangelist's Tax Debts

Posted on August 05, 2009
I previously blogged (here and here) the criminal tax conviction of Kent Hovind, the self-styled Dr. Dino of Creation Science Evangelism and owner of Dinosaur Adventure Land Theme Park, Science Center, and Museum. Press reports say that U.S. District Judge Casey Rodgers has ordered the sale of the Pensacola, Florida...

Shaviro: The 2008-09 Financial Crisis: Implications for Income Tax Reform

Posted on August 05, 2009
Daniel N. Shaviro (NYU) has posted The 2008-09 Financial Crisis: Implications for Income Tax Reform on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Tax rules encouraging excessive debt, complex financial transactions, poorly designed incentive compensation for corporate managers, and highly leveraged home ownership all may have contributed to the financial crisis, but...

Using the 'Quality Assessment' Survey to Take Back the U.S. News Law School Rankings

Posted on August 05, 2009
Inside Higher Ed: Seizing the Spotlight on U.S. News, by Jason Solomon (Georgia) & Nancy Rapoport (UNLV): We all owe Catherine Watt, the former Clemson administrator who gave a well-publicized presentation [blogged here and here] on her university?s efforts to improve its U...

Mullane: Regulation of Executive Compensation Through the Tax Code

Posted on August 05, 2009
Joy Sabino Mullane (Villanova) has published Incidence and Accidents: Regulation of Executive Compensation Through the Tax Code, 13 Lewis & Clark L. Rev. 485 (2009). Here is the abstract: Congress has enacted a number of tax provisions that aim to penalize companies and their executives when the executive is paid...

Corporate Income Taxes Suppress Workers' Wages

Posted on August 05, 2009
The Tax Foundation, The Corporate Income Tax and Workers? Wages: New Evidence from the 50 States, by Robert Carroll: While state-local corporate tax revenue has remained relatively constant for several decades, bringing in roughly five percent of revenue, some states have significantly increased their reliance on corporate taxes while others...

Tax Revenues Fall 18%, Biggest Drop Since Depression

Posted on August 04, 2009
From the Associated Press: Tax receipts are on pace to drop 18% this year, the biggest single-year decline since the Great Depression, while the federal deficit balloons to a record $1.8 trillion. Other figures in an Associated Press analysis underscore the recession's impact: Individual income tax receipts are down 22%...

An Empirical Analysis of the Jurisprudence of the U.S. Tax Court (1990-2008)

Posted on August 04, 2009
Lilian V. Faulhaber (Harvard Law School), Daniel Martin Katz (Ph.D. candidate, University of Michigan, Department of Political Science) & Michael James Bommarito II (Ph.D. candidate, University of Michigan, Department of Political Science) have posted A Tale of Two Codes: An Empirical Analysis of the Jurisprudence of the United States Tax...

Taxing Texting

Posted on August 04, 2009
Although 14 states already ban texting whiling driving. Congress is considering a statute that would withhold funds to states without such a ban. Tax Prof Jim Maule (Villanova) considers an alternative: taxing texting: Is it possible to have a tax, or, if it?s more palatable, a user fee, on texting...

Seven Myths About Taxing the Rich

Posted on August 04, 2009
Curtis S. Dubay (Heritage Foundation) has published Seven Myths About Taxing the Rich: Myth: Raising taxes on the rich will close budget deficits; Truth: Increasing the progressivity of the income tax code by raising the top two rates will not close the deficit...

Halperin: Mitigating the Inequity of Reducing Corporate Tax Rates

Posted on August 04, 2009
Daniel Halperin (Harvard) has published Mitigating the Potential Inequity of Reducing Corporate Rates. Here is the abstract: Since the statutory marginal U.S. income tax rate on corporate income is higher than the marginal rate imposed by all of our trading partners except Japan, there have been a number of proposals...

SOI Releases Updated Individual Income Tax Return Statistics

Posted on August 04, 2009
The IRS's Statistics of Income Division has released: Individual Income Tax Returns, 2007 (Publication 1304, Statistics of Income?2007): The publication includes sections on changes in law, explanation of terms, and the description of the sample, as well as many statistical tabulations...

Nicolas Cage, IRS

Posted on August 04, 2009
I previously blogged (here and here) actor Nicolas Cage's $666,000 tax settlement with the IRS for the 2002-2004 tax years. The IRS now has filed a tax lien against Mr. Cage to collect $6.3 million for 2007: Houston Chronicle National Ledger New York Daily News Web CPA

Obama as Mondale: Five Reasons Why Middle Class Tax Hikes Are Coming

Posted on August 04, 2009
Reuters: 5 Reasons Why Obama Will Hike Middle-Class Taxes, by James Pethokoukis: C?mon, how about some Walter Mondalesque candor from the Obama White House on taxes? ... [H]ere?s why it will happen eventually: Obama knows the budget math doesn?t work Obama seems to prefer tax hikes to spending cuts Obama...

WSJ: Joe the Plumber Was Right

Posted on August 04, 2009
Editorial in today's Wall Street Journal: Teeing Up the Middle Class -- Joe the Plumber?s Tax Vindication Is Nigh: Few of President Obama?s 2008 campaign pledges were more definitive than his vow that anyone making less than $250,000 a year ?will not see their taxes increase by a single dime?...

Stephen Shay Named Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs

Posted on August 04, 2009
Stephen E. Shay, a tax partner at Ropes & Gray (Boston), has been named Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs in the U.S. Treasury Department. From the Ropes & Gray press release: As deputy assistant for international tax affairs, Shay will be part of the Treasury?s Office of Tax...

Chodorow: Economic Substance and Interest Under U.S. and Jewish Law

Posted on August 04, 2009
Adam Chodorow (Arizona State) has posted Economic Substance and the Laws of Interest: A Comparison of Jewish and U.S. Federal Tax Law, in Handbook of Jewish Law and Economics (Oxford University Press, 2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Both Jewish law and U...

Former IRS Commissioner Mark Emerson Joins alliantgroup

Posted on August 04, 2009
Former (2003-2007) IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson today agreed to serve as Vice Chairman for alliantgroup, a leading provider of tax services to small, medium, and large businesses. In the role of Vice Chairman, Everson will advise alliantgroup on strategic, operational, and client service initiatives...

Taxing Views

Posted on August 03, 2009
The Daily Telegraph: Council Tax Revaluation Could Penalise Homes With a View, by Robert Winnett: Thousands of people with views of the sea, mountains or rivers could pay more tax after the next election under plans to overhaul council tax, documents released under the Freedom of Information act have disclosed...

Chodorow: Tracing Basis Through Virtual Spaces

Posted on August 03, 2009
Adam Chodorow (Arizona State) has posted Tracing Basis Through Virtual Spaces, 95 Cornell L. Rev. ___ (2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Whether and to what extent virtual income should be subject to tax has received recent interest from both tax scholars and governments...

Duke Prof

Posted on August 03, 2009
In today's Inside Higher Ed: Getting Out of Grading, by Scott Jaschik Few parts of their jobs seem to annoy professors more than grading. The topic consumes gripe sessions, blog posts and creates plenty of professorial angst (not to mention student angst)...

Avi-Yonah: Corporate and International Tax Reform

Posted on August 03, 2009
Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan) has posted Corporate and International Tax Reform: Long-, Medium-, and Short Term Proposals on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The current controversy surrounding President Obama?s international tax proposals seems like an opportune moment to try to consider them in context...

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on August 03, 2009
Saturday: Breakthrough Cincinnati Public Law Schools Raise Tuition to Offset State Budget Cuts and Endowment Losses The Virtual Tax Library Receives Outstanding Article Award From AALL GM's Tax Shelter Not Available to Other Car Makers (or Other Taxpayers) Boulware and the Demise of the Miller Rule Sunday: Top 5 Tax...

McCaffery: The Politics of Estate Tax Reform

Posted on August 03, 2009
Edward J. McCaffery (USC) has posted Through the Looking Glass: The Politics of Estate Tax Reform on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This brief article summarizes an argument that the estate tax reform or repeal debate has always been about money: but not the government?s money from the tax, which...

Cohen: Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Tax Opinions

Posted on August 03, 2009
Stephen B. Cohen (Georgetown) has posted Judge Sonia Sotomayor's Tax Opinions, 124 Tax Notes 474 (Aug. 3, 2009), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Judge Sonia Sotomayor has written three published opinions on federal taxation, one as a District Court judge and two as a Court of Appeals judge...

100 Best Blogs for Law Students

Posted on August 03, 2009
TaxProf Blog has been named one of the 100 Best Blogs for Law Students -- it was one of fourteen blogs named in the "Blogs From Professors" category. Other categories are: Blogs From Law Students News and Information Blogs From Recent Law School Graduates Financial Aid and Scholarships Blogs About...

MSN: Five Estate Tax Myths That Won't Die

Posted on August 03, 2009
MSN Money: 5 Estate-Tax Myths That Won't Die, by Liz Pulliam Weston: [T]he estate tax is scheduled to disappear next year and then spring back to life, phoenix-like, in 2011. The top options under consideration are to: Make permanent the 2011 exemption, in which estates under $1 million escape taxation...

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