Author: Conor Clarke
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Thorndike: The Forgotten Ancestor of AI Taxes
Joseph Thorndike, “Today’s AI Taxes Have a Forgotten Depression-Era Ancestor” (Tax Notes, July 6, 2026): Taken together, recent proposals for taxing AI can seem novel, even unprecedented — a creative response to the extraordinary pace of technological change and its rapid spread through the economy. The flurry may also reflect the staggering wealth accumulating around…
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Democracy Journal Publishes New Tax Symposium
Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, has recently published a tax symposium—focused on “why we need more tax revenue, and how to raise it”—that features a number of law professors, including contributions from Brian Galle, Lily Batchelder, and David Kamin (with Chye-Ching Huang and Brandon Debot of the Tax Law Center at NYU). The full set…
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Bankman et al: Home Production and the Income Tax
Joseph Bankman (Stanford), Jacob Goldin (Chicago), Adam Kern (San Diego), and Ana Vasilj (Chicago) have posted “Buy or D.I.Y.: Home Production and the Income Tax” on SSRN (and forthcoming in the Columbia Law Review). Here is the abstract: The income tax aspires to be comprehensive-a tax on “all income, from whatever source derived.” Yet every…
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DOJ Tax is Hiring
Trevor Sikes, “DOJ Seeks More Tax Attorneys as Caseload Increases” (Tax Notes, June 29, 2026): The Justice Department’s Tax Litigation Branch of the Civil Division is looking to bolster its workforce following a significant exodus of attorneys and an increased caseload, according to a government official. “During the last couple of years, we’ve lost some significant amount of…
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Supreme Court Tells Us What “Just Compensation” Means in a Tax Sale
The Supreme Court just decided Pung v. Isabella County. The case resolves a question left open by Tyler v. Hennepin County (2023): when the government forecloses on and sells property to satisfy a tax debt, is “just compensation” under the Takings Clause measured by the tax-sale auction price or by fair market value? Writing for…
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California Billionaire Tax Qualifies for November Ballot
Paul Jones, “California Billionaire Tax Qualifies for November Ballot” (Tax Notes, June 22, 2026): The California ballot initiative proposing a one-time billionaire wealth tax has qualified for the November ballot. But the success for proponents comes as some labor groups and traditionally progressive groups have now joined business interests and antitax groups in opposition to…
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King Charles to Reveal Personal Taxes
Sean Coughlan, “King Charles to reveal personal tax bill for first time as monarch” (BBC, June 21): King Charles will become Britain’s first monarch in modern times to reveal his personal tax bill. His tax payments will be shared on Thursday as a new element in the annual royal financial accounts, with the decision said…
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Government Seeks to Resume Taxpayer Info Sharing With ICE
Trevor Sikes, “Government Seeks to Resume Taxpayer Info Sharing With ICE” (Tax Notes, June 16, 2026): An injunction against the sharing of taxpayer data between the IRS and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was improperly granted and is hindering criminal law enforcement efforts, according to the Justice Department. In its June 12 appellate brief to the First Circuit in CEDC v. Bessent, the…
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Junior Tax 2026 Concludes at Seattle University
The 2026 Junior Tax Conference took place on June 12 and 13 at Seattle University School of Law. (Many thanks to Luke Maher for hosting!) Here are the sixteen projects presented and discussed across the two days:
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Fox and Liscow: The Rich’s Real Tax Trick Isn’t ‘Buy, Borrow, Die’
Edward Fox (Michigan) and Zachary Liscow (Yale), “The Rich’s Real Tax Trick Isn’t ‘Buy, Borrow, Die’” (Tax Policy Center, June 15, 2026): A fashionable theory of how the rich avoid taxes captures something real—but it misses what’s mostly going on. Consider two of the wealthiest billionaires in the US: Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk. The theory…
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Bearer-Friend and Polcz on Taxing Ai and the American Ai Sovereign Wealth Fund Act
Jeremy Bearer-Friend (GW) and Sarah Polcz’s (UC Davis) proposal for taxing generative Ai has received some recent and notable attention. In a recent New York Times op-ed, Bernie Sanders referenced it as a basis for his now-introduced American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act. The Ari Melber show on MSN did a segment on the proposal…
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Goshen, Hamdani, and Raskolnikov: The Regressive Effects of Climate Stewardship
Zohar Goshen (Columbia), Assaf Hamdani (Oxford), and Alex Raskolnikov (Columbia) have published “Poor ESG: Regressive Effects of Climate Stewardship” in the Brigham Young University Law Review. Here is the abstract: The rise of inequality and global warming are the two ultimate challenges of our time. After decades of congressional failure to address climate change, the…
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Avi-Yonah: Taxation and Birthright Citizenship
Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan), “Taxation and Birthright Citizenship” (Tax Notes, June 8, 2026): Under the 14th Amendment, individuals who are born in the United States are U.S. citizens and citizens of the state where they reside if they are “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States. The debate surrounding birthright citizenship focuses on the meaning…
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Were Green Tax Credits Doomed From the Start?
Patrick Driessen, “Were Green Tax Credits Doomed From the Start?” (Tax Notes, June 1, 2026): When the energy consumption and business tax benefits (referred to here as green tax credits) were enacted in the Inflation Reduction Act (P.L. 117-169),1 the historical persistence of tax expenditures suggested that these provisions would survive almost any election cycle.…
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Delmotte: Equality Before Tax Law
Charles Delmotte (Michigan State) has published “Equality Before Tax Law” in the Washington & Lee Law Review. Here is the abstract: The income tax code is riddled with exceptions—exclusions, rate preferences, and deductions—that reduce tax burdens for dominant majorities and powerful interest groups. These carveouts now amount to an astonishing $1.9 trillion, equivalent to seventy-five…
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Dynan, Elmendorf, and Gullo on Federal Discretionary Spending
Karen Dynan (Harvard), Douglas Elmendorf (Harvard), and Theresa Gullo (Arbroath Associates) have a new NBER working paper, “The Federal Government’s Discretionary Spending” (May 2026). Here is the abstract: This paper examines federal discretionary spending, including its place in the overall budget, its composition, and the economic and political forces shaping its size. Both defense and…
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Reports: Trump To Drop Anti-Weaponization Fund Plans
Marc Caputo, “Scoop: Trump admin plans to drop ‘weaponization’ fund” (Axios): The Trump administration plans to drop its controversial $1.8 billion “weaponization” fund the president sought to compensate alleged victims of prosecutorial conduct under his predecessor, two senior administration officials told Axios. “It’s dead for now,” one of the sources said. [ . . .…
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Angrist et al on University Endowment Taxation and Scientific Progress
Joshua Angrist (MIT), Marc Diederichs (Passau) & Glenn Ellison (MIT) have a new NBER working paper, “Will The University Endowment Tax Slow Scientific Progress? Evidence from Elite Economics PhD Programs.” Here is the abstract: The 2025 university endowment tax hike and other sources of financial pressure may lead the schools that train the most prolific…
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Boll, Saez, and Zucman on California Billionaires
Jasper Boll (Paris School of Economics), Emmanuel Saez (Berkeley), and Gabriel Zucman (PSE and Berkeley) have a new NBER working paper, “California Billionaires: Wealth, Taxes, and Wealth Tax Revenue Estimates.” Here is the abstract: This paper documents the wealth of California’s billionaires and the taxes they pay. California billionaires’ wealth exceeds $2 trillion today, the…
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Avi-Yonah on the Revival of Economic Substance
Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan), “Liberty Global and the Revival of Economic Substance” (Tax Notes, May 25, 2026): On April 21 the Tenth Circuit issued its long-awaited opinion in Liberty Global. By a 2-1 majority, the panel upheld the decision of the district court that a tax shelter used by Liberty Global had to be disregarded under…
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Herzfeld: Inverting the Tax Landscape
Mindy Herzfeld (Florida), “Inverting the Tax Landscape: Domestications” (Tax Notes, May 18, 2026): Cast your mind back 10 years (if you can) to the hottest cross-border tax and mergers and acquisitions strategy of the day: inversions. That term generally encompassed both single U.S. companies reincorporating overseas into tax-favorable jurisdictions and mergers between U.S. and foreign…
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Estimating the Present Value of R&D Tax Benefits
Brandon Pecoraro (Joint Committee on Taxation) et al, “Estimating the Present Value of R&D Tax Benefits in the United States” (NBER May 2026): Using a panel of confidential corporate tax returns, we provide the first direct estimates of the realized present value of corporate tax benefits from R&D credits and deductions in the United States.…
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Thorndike: When Congress Reformed the IRS Without Starving It
Joseph Thorndike, “When Congress Reformed the IRS Without Starving It” (Tax Notes, May 11, 2026): On a hot summer day in late July 1953, employees of the IRS began walking the streets of Boston, ringing doorbells and putting two simple questions to anyone who answered: Have you filed your 1952 return? Can you prove it? A yes…
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Avi-Yonah: Are Wealth Taxes and Mark-to-Market Income Taxes Constitutional?
Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan) has a new column in Tax Notes, “Are Wealth Taxes and Mark-to-Market Income Taxes Constitutional?” Here is the introduction: In Moore v. United States, the Supreme Court avoided the question of whether a wealth tax or a tax on unrealized income is constitutional. The majority held that as long as income is realized by…
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Givati: Income and Preferences for International Redistribution
Yehonatan Givati (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) has published “Income and Preferences for International Redistribution: Theory and Evidence” in the Journal of Empirical Legal Studies. Here is the abstract: How do preferences for international redistribution vary with income across countries? And within countries, are poor people more or less likely than rich people to support international…