Author: Paul Caron
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Don’t Fund Health Care by Taxing Capital
Reuters, Don’t Fund Healthcare by Taxing Capital, by James Pethokoukis: Washington will have difficulty producing a stranger bit of public policy than raising investment taxes to pay for healthcare reform. Remember, the consensus critique of the U.S economy is that it’s been plagued by too much consumption and debt. O.K., fine. So the answer is
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Health Care Law Adds Even More Taxes
The Heritage Foundation, Reconciliation Bill Adds Even More Taxes: By signing the legislation, Obama already broke his campaign promise not to raise “any form” of taxes on families making less than $250,000 per year. The reconciliation bill adds even more taxes for Americans — an estimated $52.3 billion over 10 years, according to a new
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Does New 10% Tanning Tax Discriminate Against Whites?
A lawyer asks whether the new 10% tanning tax included in the health care bill unconstitutionally discriminates against whites: I [have] a question about the intersection of taxation and civil rights law. It strikes me that the health care bill which requires that indoor tanning salons will charge customers a 10% tax beginning in July will
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‘Medicare Tax’ in Health Bill Changed to ‘Unearned Income Medicare Contribution’
Pro Publica, ‘Medicare Tax’ Now to be Called ‘Unearned Income Medicare Contribution’: The payroll tax increase that was formerly known as “Medicare tax” in both President Obama’s health care reform reconciliation proposal and the original House reconciliation bill is NOT A TAX. Repeat: NOT A TAX. Sure, individuals with earnings over $200,000 and couples with
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Goodbye GRATs
Forbes, Goodbye GRATs?, by Ashlea Ebeling: Congress seems set to crack down on a popular strategy for cutting estate and gift taxes. Tucked into a jobs and small business tax relief bill that the House is expected to vote on Wednesday are new restrictions on a popular estate planning strategy that has been used by,
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Bryan Camp Wins Texas Outstanding Law Review Article Award
Protecting Trust Assets from the Federal Tax Lien, 1 Est. Plan. & Community Prop. L.J. 295 (2009), by Bryan Camp (Texas Tech), has been selected as the Texas Bar Foundation’s Outstanding Law Review Article for 2009. The award is presented annually to designate the most important and best-written legal article published in Texas. From the Texas
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Famous People Rejected by Their First College Choice
Wall Street Journal, Before They Were Titans, Moguls and Newsmakers, These People Were…Rejected; At College Admission Time, Lessons in Thin Envelopes: Few events arouse more teenage angst than the springtime arrival of college rejection letters. With next fall's college freshman class expected to approach a record 2.9 million students, hundreds of thousands of applicants will
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Mehrotra: War, Taxes, and the Politics of Fiscal Citizenship
Ajay K. Mehrotra (Indiana-Bloomington) has published The Price of Conflict: War, Taxes, and the Politics of Fiscal Citizenship, 108 Mich. L. Rev. 1053 (2010). Here is the abstract: Since 2003 American political leaders and lawmakers have been committed to the simultaneous pursuit of tax cuts and military excursions abroad. Just a few decades ago, when
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7th Circuit Denies WellPoint Deduction for $115m Paid to Settle State Lawsuits Over Acquisition of Health Insurance Companies
The Seventh Circuit yesterday affirmed the Tax Court (T.C. Memo. 2008-236 (Oct. 27, 2008)) in denying a current deduction to WellPoint for $113,837,500 paid to settle lawsuits brought by Connecticut, Kentucky, and Ohio challenging its acquisition of Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance companies in those states, as well as $827,595 in legal fees, as “ordinary and necessary” business expenses under §
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Tax Man Piles on Jesse James
As if Jesse James, owner of West Coast Choppers (and husband of Oscar award winner Sandra Bullock), did not have enough trouble after press reports surfaced of his affair with a tattoo model (and alleged white supremacist): California tax authorities have filed a $3,918 tax lien against Mr. James. Going Concern Tax Watchdog
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Coverdale: How Congress Regulates Tax-Exempt Organizations in Ignorance
John F. Coverdale (Seton Hall) has published Legislating in the Dark: How Congress Regulates Tax-Exempt Organizations in Ignorance, 44 U. Rich. L. Rev. 809 (2010). Here is part of the Introduction: Part II introduces donor-advised funds and briefly summarizes their history. Part III examines the private and public advantages of donor-advised funds, which could be
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Pressure Builds for a Value-Added Tax
Albert R. Hunt (Bloomberg), All Fiscal Roads Lead U.S. to a Value-Added Tax Derek Thompson (The Atlantic), VAT: Now There's a Good Idea Fareed Zakaria (CNN), Value of a Value-Added Tax
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Infanti: Dissecting O’Donnabhain
Anthony C. Infanti (Pittsburgh) has posted Dissecting O'Donnabhain, 126 Tax Notes 1403 (Mar. 15, 2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner [134 T.C. No. 4 (Feb. 2, 2010)], a sharply divided Tax Court allowed a medical expense deduction for some costs related to sex reassignment surgery. This short commentary examines the opinions
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Koppel: Is the Tax Power Infinite?
Dave Koppel (The Volokh Conspiracy), Is the Tax Power Infinite?: For the moment, let’s put aside the question of whether the Obamacare tax is an Article I tax, or a 16th Amendment income tax. Does Congress have the infinite power to control people’s behavior (such as by ordering them to engage in commercial transactions) via
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Federal Circuit Affirms Gov’t Victory in Son of BOSS Tax Shelter Case
Following up on my prior post, Government Wins First Son of BOSS Case to be Tried (Dec. 27, 2007): the Federal Circuit yesterday upheld the Court of Federal Claims decision in a Son of BOSS (bond option sales strategy) case that Jade Trading's $450,000 investment that generated more than $40 million in tax losses lacked economic substance. Jade Trading LLC v.
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Zelinsky: Tax Incentives for Economic Development
Edward A. Zelinsky (Cardozo) has published Tax Incentives for Economic Development: Personal (and Pessimistic) Reflections, 58 Case W. Res. L. Rev. 1145 (2008). Here is the Introduction: The topic of this essay—state and local tax incentives for economic development—is a deeply personal subject for me. For almost twenty years, I served on the Board of
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Johnson Posts Shelf Project Papers on SSRN
Calvin H. Johnson (Texas) has posted several of his Shelf Project tax papers on SSRN: ‘Contributions to Capital’ from Nonowners, 126 Tax Notes 1127 (Mar 1, 2010) Gains and Losses on Business Depreciable Property, 126 Tax Notes 787 (Feb. 8, 2010) Two Years of the Shelf Project, 126 Tax Notes 513 (Jan. 25, 2010)
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Blank & Levin: Tax Enforcement Publicity Peaks April 1-15
Joshua D. Blank (NYU) & Daniel Z. Levin (Rutgers Business School) have posted When Is Tax Enforcement Publicized?, 30 Va. Tax Rev. __ (2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Every spring, the federal government appears to deliver an abundance of announcements that describe criminal convictions and civil injunctions involving taxpayers who have been accused of
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IRS Releases 2010 Filing Season Stats
The IRS today released preliminary 2010 filing season statistics (IR-2010-35): 2010 FILING SEASON STATISTICS Cumulative through the weeks ending 03/13/09 and 03/12/10 Individual Income Tax Returns 2009 2010 % Change Total Receipts 70,807,000 68,743,000 -2.9% Total Processed 67,595,000 64,284,000 -4.9% E-filing Receipts: TOTAL 56,665,000 56,802,000
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Joint Tax Committee Releases Report on Manager’s Amendment to H.R. 4849
The Joint Committee on Taxation today released A Description of the Revenue Provisions Added or Modified by the Manager’s Amendment to H.R. 4849 (JCX-21-10): The manager’s amendment modifies section 306 of H.R. 4849, relating to the availability of collection due process rights with respect to levies for tax liabilities of Federal contractors, adds a provision
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Anand Presents Is Systemic Risk Relevant to Securities Regulation? Today at Toronto
Anita I. Anand (University of Toronto, Faculty of Law) presents Is Systemic Risk Relevant to Securities Regulation? at the University of Toronto today as part of the James Hausman Tax Law and Policy Workshop Series. Here is the part of the Introduction: [T]his article asks whether securities regulators should have a role to play in regulating systemic risk. The
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Accounting Doctoral Program Rankings Based on Research Productivity of Program Graduates
Nathaniel M. Stephens (Utah State University, Jon M. Huntsman School of Business), Scott L. Summers (Brigham Young University, School of Accountancy), Brady Williams (Brigham Young University, School of Accountancy) & David A. Wood (Brigham Young University, School of Accountancy) have posted Accounting Doctoral Program Rankings Based on Research Productivity of Program Graduates on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This paper
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Woman Tries to Bribe IRS Agent With $100 Starbucks Gift Card
Kim Oahn Thi Tran (Jennifer Kim Tran) has been charged in the U.S. District Court in San Franciscowith trying to bribe IRS agent Imad Hararah with $2,000 and a $100 Starbucks gift card after an IRS audit indicated that she owed over $13,000 in taxes on unreported income in 2006 and 2007. Associated Press Going Concern Web CPA
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Sweet Sixteen of Tough Graders
"A" The Hard Way, 2010: GradeInflation.com's Sweet Sixteen of Tough Graders: March Madness is upon us. Last year at this time, GradeInflation.com came up with a Sweet Sixteen of grade inflaters. As the graph above shows, grade inflation is pervasive in academia. It's present at almost every school that's part of a major athletic conference.
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9th Circuit Reverses Itself, Affirms Tax Court in Xilinx Transfer Pricing Case
The 9th Circuit yesterday reversed itself and affirmed the Tax Court in the Xilinx transfer pricing case. Xilinx v. Commissioner, No. 06-74246 (9th Cir. Mar. 22, 2010). From Susan Morse (Santa Clara): The Xilinx litigation deals with the treatment of stock option costs in cost sharing arrangements before those regs were amended to explicitly require the