Taxation & Estate Planning

Oglesby: Taxing Marijuana

Posted on February 02, 2011
Pat Oglesby (Adjunct Professor, North Carolina) has posted Laws to Tax Marijuana, 59 State Tax Notes 251 (Jan. 24, 2011), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: U.S. states and cities are now using six schemes to generate revenue from medical marijuana: specific marijuana taxes based on percentage of gross receipts,...

Colleges and Universities Raised $28 Billion in 2010 (Up 0.5%)

Posted on February 02, 2011
The Council for Advancement and Support of Education released a report today on college and university fundraising in 2010: Charitable contributions to colleges and universities in the United States increased 0.5% in 2010, reaching $28 billion. ...Adjusted for inflation, giving declined 0...

NY Times Debate: The Trouble With Corporate Taxes

Posted on February 02, 2011
New York Times, Room for Debate -- The Trouble With Corporate Taxes: In his State of the Union address, President Obama called for an overhaul of the corporate tax code. The federal corporate tax rate is 35 percent, higher than in almost any other country...

Tax Court: Blackwater Worker in Iraq Cannot Exclude Compensation Under § 112

Posted on February 01, 2011
The Tax Court yesterday held that a Florida man who earned $98,400 in 2005 working for Blackwater (since renamed Xe) providing security services to the U.S. Army in Iraq could not exclude the compensation from income under § 112 as "combat zone compensation of members of the Armed Forces...

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Subscribing to TaxProf Blog

Posted on February 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 February 01, 2011
The Senate Budget Committee holds a hearing today on Tax Reform: A Necessary Component for Restoring Fiscal Responsibility. Here are the witnesses scheduled to testify: Rosanne Altshuler (Rutgers University) Lawrence B. Lindsey (The Lindsey Group) Donald B...

New York Shelves Plans for Three New Law Schools

Posted on February 01, 2011
New York State, with fifteen law schools and the most lawyers (153,552) in the United States, may not open three new law schools after all: the ABA Journal reports that plans for two new new public law schools (SUNY-Binghamton and SUNY-Stony Brook) and one new private law school (St...

The Meritocracy of Law School (or Law Faculty as Mike Piazza)

Posted on February 01, 2011
Inside Higher Ed op-ed, Academe as Meritocracy, by Joshua A. Tucker (NYU): In its year end issue, The Economist makes one of those increasingly familiar attacks (see here and here for other examples) against the academy as an institution for the way it recruits personnel...

Gentry Presents Capital Gains Taxation and Entrepreneurship Today at BU

Posted on February 01, 2011
William Gentry (Williams College, Depsartment of Economics) presents Capital Gains Taxation and Entrepreneurship at Boston University its Law & Economics Workshop Series hosted by David I. Walker. Here is the abstract: The taxation of capital gains is a perennial issue in tax policy...

Jim Maule and Judge Judy

Posted on February 01, 2011
Judge Judy and Tax Law Judge Judy and Tax Law Part II:

Push to Repeal ObamaCare's 1099 Rule Ignores Tax-Gap Problem

Posted on February 01, 2011
Bloomberg, Push to ?Correct? IRS Small Business Rule Ignores Tax-Gap Data, by Ryan J. Donmoyer: A year ago, Congress had instructed the Internal Revenue Service to improve small businesses? compliance with tax laws and created rules to make it more difficult for entrepreneurs to hide their income...

Brunson: Repatriating Tax-Exempt Investments

Posted on February 01, 2011
Samuel D. Brunson (Loyola-Chicago) has posted Repatriating Tax-Exempt Investments: Tax Havens, Blocker Corporations, and Unrelated Debt-Financed Income on SSRN. Here is the abstract: By the end of 2010, hedge funds had approximately $1.917 trillion of assets under management...

Forbes: Should Married Couples Forego Trusts?

Posted on February 01, 2011
Forbes, Married, With Assets, by Deborah L. Jacobs: The new estate law allows couples to do without trusts--if they trust each other. Under the new law, just as under the old one, you can leave a citizen spouse or a charity an unlimited amount, without worrying about tax...

Double the Charitable Deduction to Create Jobs, Reduce Poverty

Posted on February 01, 2011
Huffington Post, A New Big Idea: Create Jobs and Reduce Poverty by Doubling the Charitable Deduction, by Dan Froomkin: Even as the United States suffers from a staggering unemployment crisis and vast income inequality, the nation's wealthiest families are sitting on huge piles of unproductive cash...

Russell Osgood, Jim Repetti Named Dean Finalists at BC

Posted on January 31, 2011
Russell K. Osgood (Visiting Professor, Washington University; former President, Grinnell College; former Dean (and Tax Prof), Cornell) and Tax Prof Jim Repetti (Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and William J. Kenealy, S.J. Professor of Law, Boston College) are among the five finalists for the Boston College deanship...

Johnston: Tax Refunds Via Debit Cards -- A Victory for Taxpayers Over Bankers

Posted on January 31, 2011
David Cay Johnston has published Tax Refunds: More for Taxpayers, Less for Bankers,130 Tax Notes 591 (Jan. 31, 2011): This article examines the seeming benefits, and possible costs of issuing income tax refunds via debit cards and the cards' place in the history of government aid to big business...

Samford, Northwestern Win 2010 ABA Law Student Tax Challenge

Posted on January 31, 2011
The ABA Tax Section has released the list of winners of the 2010 Law Student Tax Challenge: The contest features J.D. and LL.M. divisions, both of which compete in two person teams that research the tax issues involved, and then submit technical memoranda and client letters with their solutions...

Chris Christie v. Pat Quinn

Posted on January 31, 2011
Following up on my recent posts (links below) on the gigantic individual (67%) and business (45%) income tax hikes recently approved in Illinois: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is running this ad soliciting Illinois businesses to move to his state: Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is not pleased: Indiana and Wisconsin...

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on January 31, 2011
Saturday: Clint Eastwood on the Flat Tax Bartlett: Obama Walked Into Tax Reform Neutrality Trap The IRS Ban on Political Activity by Tax-Exempt Religious Organizations The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 Sunday: Dilbert Creator Scott Adams: How to Tax the Rich Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads Thorndike: The...

NPR: Why Does GE Pay 3.6% Tax Rate, and Wal-Mart Pay 33.6%?

Posted on January 31, 2011
NPR, For Many Companies, Low Taxes Are Key To Profits: During his State of the Union address, President Obama said the current tax system is broken. "Those with accountants or lawyers to work the system can end up paying no taxes at all," he said. "But all the rest are...

'You've Got a Buddy in the Tax Fraud Business'

Posted on January 31, 2011
The former Cincinnati-based in-house counsel for the former 30-store retail chain Buddy's Carpet -- which carpet-bombed local media with advertising with the tag line "You've Got a Buddy in the Carpet Business," a play on the late former owner Burton B...

NLJ: Law Schools Imagine Life Without the LSAT

Posted on January 31, 2011
National Law Journal, Who Needs the LSAT Anyway? Law Schools Are Beginning to Imagine Life Without the Test: Is the LSAT the best way to gauge who will succeed in law school, or is it a barrier to diversity in the legal profession and a far too influential ­component of...

Death of Charles Galvin

Posted on January 31, 2011
Tax Prof Charles O. Galvin, Distinguished Professor Emeritus and former Dean of SMU, died on Jan. 27 at the age of 91. From the SMU press release: ?Dean Galvin was one of the greatest deans in the history of the law school and one of the foremost tax professors of...

PBS: Tax Justice

Posted on January 31, 2011
Watch the full episode. See more Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.

Thorndike: The American Tax Tradition of 'Soaking the Rich'

Posted on January 30, 2011
Weekend Wall Street Journal, Soaking the Wealthy: An American Tradition, by Joseph J. Thorndike (Tax Analysts): Americans like to tax the rich. As a nation, we rely more on progressive taxes?and less on regressive ones?than any other developed country...

'Hard-Ass' Larry Summers v. 'Tiger Mom' Amy Chua on Developing Children (and Faculty)

Posted on January 30, 2011
Weekend Wall Street Journal, Larry Summers vs. the Tiger Mom: In one of the most entertaining of the sessions at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week, the organizers pitted Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary, Harvard president and recently departed Obama administration chief economic adviser, against Prof...

Dilbert Creator Scott Adams: How to Tax the Rich

Posted on January 30, 2011
Weekend Wall Street Journal, How to Tax the Rich: Try giving them perks and privileges (an extra vote?) in return, says 'Dilbert' creator Scott Adams. The president was too polite to mention it during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday, but here's a quick summary of the problem:...

Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads

Posted on January 30, 2011
This week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads is the same as last week's list: 1. [743 Downloads] 2010 Federal Tax Update, by Samuel A. Donaldson (U. Washington) 2. [332 Downloads] High Volatility, Negative Correlation, Roth IRA Conversions, and the Codified Economic Substance Doctrine, by Gregg D...

The IRS Ban on Political Activity by Tax-Exempt Religious Organizations

Posted on January 29, 2011
H. Chandler Combest (J.D. 2010, Alabama) has published Note, Symbolism as Savior: A Look at the Impact of the IRS Ban on Political Activity by Tax-Exempt Religious Organizations, 61 Ala, L. Rev. 1121 (2010). Here is part of the Introduction: This Note argues that the religious organization political activity prohibition...

The Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007

Posted on January 29, 2011
Curt Hochbein (J.D. 2010, Capital) has published Comment, Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007, 38 Cap. U. L. Rev. 889 (2010). Here is part of the Conclusion: Taxpayers who purchase homes are taking the risk that one day they may not be able to afford their mortgage, that the...

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