Author: Paul Caron
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State & Local Tax Burden as a Percentage of State Income
The Tax Foundation has published this downloadable 50-state map of State and Local Tax Burden as a Percentage of State Income Ranking [click on chart to enlarge]:
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Bartlett: Tax Cuts And ‘Starving The Beast’
Bruce Bartlett (Forbes), Tax Cuts And "Starving The Beast": The Most Pernicious Fiscal Doctrine in History: I believe that to a large extent our current budgetary problems stem from the widespread adoption of an idea by Republicans in the 1970s called "starve the beast." It says that the best, perhaps only, way of reducing government spending
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Survey of CFOs: Majority See State Taxes Increasing
Grant Thornton has released a survey of 496 CFOs and senior comptrollers of U.S. companies. Among the findings: In the coming year, do you believe your aggregate state effective tax rate will: All CA IL MI NY Increase 64% 68% 72% 64% 78% Remain the Same 24% 17% 11% 29% 11% Decrease 1% 5%
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TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup
Saturday: Goodbye, Class of 2010 ABA Tax Section May Meeting TIGTA Identifies Widespread Noncompliance With IRA Rules Accounting for Taxes in Valuing S Corporations The Tax-Exempt Status of Elite Law Schools Sunday: "The Kingdom of God Is Not Run on GAAP" — But This World Is Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads Faisal Shahzad's Tax Problem
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“The Kingdom of God Is Not Run on GAAP” — But This World Is
A federal jury last week convicted co-pastors Anthony and Harriet Jinwright of multiple counts of tax evasion and fraud. From the Charlotte Observer: [C]hurch finance expert Dan Busby, who heads the national Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, reviewed the trial and called it "one of the most egregious cases" of pastoral misconduct that he's seen. Jinwright
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Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads
There is a bit of movement in this week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads, with a new paper debuting on the list at #3 (which I highly recommend): 1. [1268 Downloads] Pursuing a Tax LLM Degree: Why and When?, by Paul L. Caron (Cincinnati), Jennifer M. Kowal (Loyola-L.A.) & Katherine Pratt (Loyola-L.A.) 2. [280 Downloads] Taxation and
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Faisal Shahzad’s Tax Problem
Faisal Shahzad, the attempted Times Square bomber, purchased his home at 119 Long Hill Avenue, Shelton, CT in July 2004 for $273,000 — he put down 20% ($54,600) and took out a conventional 30-year mortgage loan from Chase for $218,400. In February 2009, he took out a $65,000 equity line of credit from Wachovia. In September 2009, Chase
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Davis and the Civic Responsibility Exception to the Negative Commerce Clause
Ryan D. Wheeler (J.D. 2009, Pepperdine) has published Note, The Court Lends States a Break: Department of Revenue of Kentucky v. Davis and the Civic Responsibility Exception to the Negative Commerce Clause, 37 Pepp. L. Rev. 375 (2010). Here is part of the Conclusion: Davis, in tandem with United Haulers, marks the first significant change to
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The Tax Injunction Act and Federal Jurisdiction
David Fautsch (J.D. 2010, Michigan) has published The Tax Injunction Act and Federal Jurisdiction: Reasoning from the Underlying Goals of Federalism and Comity, 108 Mich. L. Rev. 795 (2010). Here is the abstract: States routinely contest federal jurisdiction when a state tax is challenged in federal district court on federal constitutional grounds. States argue that
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Goodbye, Class of 2010
The University of Cincinnati College of Law sent off the Class of 2010 into the world today at our graduation ceremony at venerable Music Hall They are our 177th graduating class, making us the fourth-oldest continuously operating law school in the country. It is always a reflective day for the faculty, as we watch with
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ABA Tax Section May Meeting
The ABA Tax Section May Meeting concludes today in Washington, D.C. The full program is here. Highlights of the meeting were: The Laurence Neal Woodworth Memorial Lecture in United States Tax Law and Policy on Tax Policy in the 21st Century: Challenges and Changes from the Time of Larry Woodworth by Thomas Barthold (Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee
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TIGTA Identifies Widespread Noncompliance With IRA Rules
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released a report finding widespread noncompliance with IRA rules: The Federal Government is losing millions of dollars each year due to increasing taxpayer noncompliance with IRA requirements. … , TIGTA reviewed the actions taken by the IRS to identify and correct individual excess contributions to IRAs and
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Accounting for Taxes in Valuing S Corporations
Courtney Sparks White (J.D. 2009, Capital) has published Comment, S Corporations: A Taxing Analysis of Proper Valuation, 37 Cap. U. L. Rev. 1117 (2009). Here is part of the Introduction: This comment will focus on the appropriate way to account for taxes in valuing S corporations. The primary issue is whether or not to tax
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The Tax-Exempt Status of Elite Law Schools
Oksana Koltko (J.D. 2010, John Marshall) has published Comment, Chasing Profits—Disregarding Values: Legal Persona of Elite Schools and Their Destructive Tax-Exempt Status, 42 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1073 (2009). Here is part of the Conclusion: [O]nce undercapitalized higher education has undergone a dramatic transformation into lavishly lucrative enterprises. The tax code, with its obsolete vision,
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IRS Releases Interim Report on 400 Colleges and Universities
The IRS today released (IR-2010-58) an interim report summarizing responses to compliance questionnaires sent to 400 public and private colleges and universities in October 2008: The interim report contains preliminary information on the respondents’ organizational structures, demographics, exempt and unrelated business activities, endowments, executive compensation as well as governance practices. Respondents are divided into three
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Death Tax Lives in Estate Repeal for Heir Who Must Sell Assets
Following up on my recent posts (How to Protect Your Family From Estate Tax Uncertainty and The Costs of Estate Tax Dithering): Bloomberg, Death Tax Lives in Estate Repeal for Heir Who Must Sell Assets, by Ryan J. Donmoyer & Margaret Collins: Blanche Christerson, an executive in Deutsche Bank AG’s private wealth management division, loves her
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Should Education Tax Credits Be Tied to Community Service?
Inside Higher Ed, Linking Tax Credits to Service: College leaders just about uniformly endorse the idea of community service by students. And college leaders just about uniformly endorse the idea of tax breaks to help pay for college. But combine those two concepts? Higher education isn’t excited about that idea. During his campaign for president,
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Tax Court Imposes Mandatory e-Filing, Effective July 1, 2010
The Tax Court announced yesterday that it will make e-filing mandatory for most parties represented by counsel, effective for petitions filed on or after July 1, 2010: After completion of this transition to mandatory eFiling for represented parties, the requirement to eFile in the Tax Court will be substantially in accord with eFiling policies applicable
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Forbes: How to Protect Your Family From Estate Tax Uncertainty
Following up on Tuesday’s post, The Costs of Estate Tax Dithering: Forbes, How to Protect Your Family From Estate Tax Uncertainty, by Ashlea Ebeling: An Illinois woman inherited not quite $100 million this year. Estate taxes could consume 53%, 45%, 16% or none of it, depending on whether the federal and/or Illinois estate taxes–which both
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U.S. News Law School Rankings: Judicial Clerkships
U.S. News & World Report yesterday published its second ranking of law schools by the percentage of the 2008 J.D. graduating class with clerkships with Article III federal judges. Here are the Top 50 law schools by this measure, along with the percentage of all federal and state judicial clerkships and their overall U.S. News ranking, as well as Brian Leiter’s ranking by the percentage of U.S. Supreme
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Marquette Rescinds Deanship Offer to Lesbian Scholar
Chronicle, Marquette U. Professors Criticize Withdrawal of Job Offer to Lesbian Scholar: Marquette University has withdrawn an employment offer it made to a prospective new dean for its College of Arts and Sciences, provoking sharp criticism from several faculty members who see the move as a blow to academic freedom and diversity at the Jesuit
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Cockfield: Optimal Climate Change Tax Policy
Arthur J. Cockfield (Queen's University, Faculty of Law) has posted Optimal Climate Change Tax Policy for Small Open Economies on SSRN. Here is the abstract: What are the best climate change tax policies for governments with relatively small open economies such as the Canadian one? This chapter assesses recent Canadian government climate change tax policy initiatives,
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Boskin: It’s Time to Junk the Corporate Tax
Wall Street journal op-ed, Time to Junk the Corporate Tax, by Michael J. Boskin (Stanford University, Hoover Institution): Nobel Laureate Robert Lucas says reform would deliver great benefits at little cost, making it "the largest genuinely true free lunch I have seen.' President Obama has put tax reform on the agenda, but surprisingly little attention is
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WSJ: Bar-Raised for Law-Grad Jobs
Following up on yesterday's post, 'Right Now Is the Worst Time in History to be Graduating From Law School': in today's Wall Street Journal, Bar Raised for Law-Grad Jobs: Employment Prospects Dim as Firms Retrench, Derailing Career Paths for Many, by Nathan Koppel: 40,000 law-school students [will] graduate this spring and enter one of the
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National Federation of the Blind Sues Law Schools Over Online Application
National Law Journal, Advocate for the Blind Targets Law School Online Application Process: A national advocacy group for the blind on Wednesday accused law schools across the country of violating the rights of blind would-be law students by using the Law School Admission Council’s (LSAC) online application process. The National Federation of the Blind filed