Author: Paul Caron
-
More Moot Court Rankings
Following up on last Saturday’s post, 2009-10 Moot Court Rankings: the University of Houston Moot Court National Championship ranking is used to determine the sixteen schools to be invited to Houston in January 2011 to compete for the National Championship. Here are the current Top 16 schools: 1 Columbia 2 Loyola (Chicago) 2 Texas Tech 4 South Texas
-
More on the Future Ed Conference: Graduating 3Ls are ‘Worthless’
Following up on yesterday's post, HLS & NYLS Host Conference Today on Future Ed — New Business Models for U.S. and Global Legal Education: Above the Law reports on some provocative comments at the Apocalypse Now session by: Chester Paul Beach (General Counsel, United Technologies): "We don’t allow first or second year associates to work
-
Providing Competitors With Standing to Challenge Favorable IRS Actions
Sunil Shenoi (J.D. 2009, Michigan; Ropes & Gray, Chicago) 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 they would under a strict reading
-
Transfer Pricing Methodology in the Wake of Roche
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). Here is the Conclusion: While transfer pricing is not without its critics,
-
Paying Taxes Improves the Quality of Government
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 more responsive and accountable to their citizens,
-
Willens: Taxpayer Bound by Form in Which Transaction Cast
Robert Willens (Robert Willens LLC, New York; Adjunct Professor, Columbia) has published Taxpayer Bound by Form in Which Transaction Cast, 127 Tax Notes 113 (Apr. 5, 2010). Here is the abstract: Some leveraged acquisitions are structured in a manner designed to enable the acquirer to execute a § 338 election regarding the target. This goal can be
-
Engle: Notional Generosity
Josh Eagle (South Carolina) has posted Notional Generosity, 35 Harv. Envtl. L. Rev. ___ (2011), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This article explores a phenomenon that might be called “gift-form generosity”: people earning similar amounts of income are more willing to part with a dollar’s worth of one kind of property than another. Among
-
Does Altruism or Social Pressure Drive Charitable Giving?
Stefano DellaVigna (UC-Berkeley, Department of Economics), John A. List (University of Chicago, Department of Economics) & Ulrike Malmendier (UC-Berkeley, Department of Economics) have posted Testing for Altruism and Social Pressure in Charitable Giving on NBER. Here is the abstract: Every year, 90% of Americans give money or time to charities. Is such generosity necessarily welfare enhancing for
-
Law Stories and the Narrative Model of Judging
Kenworthey Bilz (Northwestern) has published We Don't Want to Hear It: Psychology, Literature and the Narrative Model of Judging, 2010 U. Ill. L. Rev. 429. Here is the abstract: The “narrative” model of legal judging argues that legal decision makers both do and should render judgments by assembling sensible stories out of evidence (as opposed to
-
San Diego Hosts Conference Today on Climate & Energy Law
The University of San Diego School of Law today hosts its Second Annual Climate & Energy Law Symposium which will explore various regulatory approaches being proposed and adopted to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The tax panel is Climate Change and Tax Law: Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan) David G. Duff (University of British Columbia) Roberta Mann (Oregon) Walter
-
Helge: Regulation of the Charitable Sector Through a Federal Charity Oversight Board
Terri Lynn Helge (Texas-Wesleyan) has posted Policing the Good Guys: Regulation of the Charitable Sector Through a Federal Charity Oversight Board, 19 Cornell J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 101 (2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Recently, public confidence in the charitable sector has eroded due to a barrage of media reports on scandals and abuses. The
-
Caron to Deliver TePoel Lecture on The Costs of Estate Tax Dithering
I am honored to have the opportunity to deliver the TePoel Lecture at Creighton University School of Law next Friday, April 16, on The Costs of Estate Tax Dithering. The lecture is part of the Creighton Law Review symposium on Estate Planning: Moral, Ethical and Religious Perspectives: Panel #1: Moral, Ethical, and Religious Issues in Estate
-
St. Louis Hosts Conference Today on Critical Issues in International & Comparative Taxation
Saint Louis University School of Law today hosts the Sanford E. Sarasohn Memorial Conference on Critical Issues in International & Comparative Taxation: Critical tax scholarship seeks to uncover implicit biases in a nominally neutral tax system. In an international and comparative context, tax scholars will examine the distribution of tax burdens as that distribution discriminates
-
HLS & NYLS Host Conference Today on Future Ed — New Business Models for U.S. and Global Legal Education
Harvard Law School and New York Law School host a two-day conference beginning today on Future Ed: New Business Models for U.S. and Global Legal Education (program; speakers): Got an idea about the future of U.S. legal education? Think it’s time to go clinical? Or global? Or virtual? Should law be combined with other fields of
-
Northwestern Hosts Symposium Today on International Tax Reform in a Reset Economy
The Northwestern Graduate Tax Program hosts a symposium today on International Tax Reform in a Reset Economy: Business people, tax practitioners, and legal academics generally agree that the United States international tax regime is broken. Criticisms abound that the system is overly complicated, disadvantageous to American businesses competing in a global economy, and frequently subject
-
Today Is Tax Freedom Day — Earlier in AK, LA & MS, Later in CT, NJ, NY
Today is Tax Freedom Day, the day on which Americans will have earned enough money to pay all federal, state, and local taxes for the year: Tax Freedom Day will arrive on April 9 this year, the 99th day of 2010, according to the Tax Foundation’s annual calculation using the latest government data on income and
-
Schmalbeck Presents A New Tax-Exempt Category for Churches Today at UCLA
Richard L. Schmalbeck (Duke) presents 501(say)(what?): Considering a New Exempt Category for Churches at UCLA today as part of its Tax Policy and Public Finance Colloquium Series hosted by Steven Bank and Kirk Stark. Here is the Summary: It seems to me that there is a solution to all three of the major tax policy problems presently troubling
-
Slemrod Presents Buenas Notches and Car Notches Today at NYU
Joel Slemrod (University of Michigan, Ross School of Business) presents Buenas Notches: Lines and Notches in Tax System Design and Car Notches at NYU today as part of its Colloquium Series on Tax Policy and Public Finance. The co-convenors of the colloquium are Daniel Shaviro (NYU) & Mihir Desai (Harvard Business School). Here is the Conclusion of Buenas Notches:
-
McMahon Presents U.K. Lessons for the U.S. in Eliminating the Marriage Penalty Today at Indiana
Stephanie McMahon (Cincinnati) presents Tax Filing in the U.K.: A Guide for the U.S. When Eliminating the Marriage Penalty at Indiana-Bloomington today as part of its Tax Policy Colloquium Series organized by Ajay K. Mehrotra. Here is the abstract: The United States is one of the last countries to use the joint return for married couples’ tax filing; most other countries
-
Death of Jack Bierman
Jacquin D. Bierman, former Director of the Miami Graduate Tax Program and the first Professor-in-Residence in the IRS Chief Counsel's Office, died on March 23 at the age of 95. From the New York Times obituary: A product of the New York City school system who graduated first in his class at NYU, and obtained his law degree
-
Tamakuni Presents Japanese Tax Reform Today at SMU
Fumitoshi Tamakuni (Chuo University, Tokyo) presents Japanese Style Tax Reform – Past and Future at SMU today as part of its Tax Policy Colloquium Series hosted by Christopher H. Hanna and Henry J. Lischer, Jr.. Here is a brief summary of the presentation: Since the end of World War II, tax reform in Japan has mostly followed the tax
-
Bill Turnier, Paul Volcker on the VAT
(Hat Tip: Patrick Oglesby.) Wall Street Journal editorial, Volcker on the VAT: The Middle Class Is Where the Money Is: Kudos for candor to Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve Chairman and current White House economic adviser, for admitting what other Democrats also know but don't want to admit until after the November election: The
-
Hickman & Hill: Concepts, Categories, and Compliance in the Regulatory State
Kristin E. Hickman (Minnesota) & Claire A. Hill (Minnesota) have published Concepts, Categories, and Compliance in the Regulatory State, 94 Minn. L. Rev. 1151 (2010). Here is the abstract: Law is, of course, always a product of its history. But for some regimes, history matters both more and differently than for others. In some instances, the requirements
-
Tax Policy Center Hosts Program Today on Tax Complexity: Can Technology Make Us Free?
The Tax Policy Conference hosts a luncheon program today on Tax Complexity: Can Technology Make Us Free? in Washington, D.C. (live webcast here): As April 15 approaches, many of us are fuming over our 1099s, W-2s, and 1040s. Not only because we must pay tax, but also because the process is so complex. Some of
-
Law Prof Plutocrats
Daniel Gordon (St. Thomas University School of Law) has published Hiring Law Professors: Breaking the Back of an American Plutocratic Oligarchy, 19 Widener L. Rev. 137 (2010). Here is the abstract: Law students and the consumers of legal services like to think that professors are hired by law schools on the basis of pure intellectual ability