Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Celebrity Tax Lore
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Warren Buffett Issues Tax Mea Culpa, Launches ‘Tax It Forward’ Movement
Warren Buffett today issued a mea culpa on the Buffett rule, acknowledging that it would have a trivial impact on his very low tax rate. Buffett admitted that the $8 billion of appreciation in his Berkshire Hathaway stock would continue to be untaxed under the Buffett rule. Instead, Buffett announced his support for the annual…
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NYU Hosts First Encounters with the Income Tax
The NYU Graduate Tax Program hosts its 3rd Annual Tax Movie Night tonight, First Encounters with the Income Tax: [W]e will screen three classic television episodes, spanning four decades, involving individuals’ first encounters with the U.S. income tax system. The episodes featured are from The Bill Dana Show (1963), Green Acres (1970) and 3rd Rock from…
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Grover Norquist on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Facebook Billionaires Used GRATs to Transfer More Than $200 Million Free of Gift Tax
Forbes, Facebook Billionaires Shifted More Than $200 Million Gift-Tax Free, by Deborah Jacobs: Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, the co-founders of Facebook and two of the world’s youngest billionaires, may seem too young to be thinking about estate planning. But in 2008, when they were both 24, they used an estate planning tool that is…
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Stephen Colbert on The Hill’s Tax Poll
Stephen Colbert responds to The Hill’s Poll: 70% of Likely Voters Support Lower Individual, Corporate Tax Rates: The Colbert Report (Hat Tip: Ann Murphy.)
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Grover Norquist on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (Hat Tip: Ann Murphy.)
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Taxing the Oscars
TaxProf Blog, Oscar Swag Bags to Result in $100k Income to Celebrity Presenters TaxProf Blog, The Tax Treatment of Oscars Forbes, Biggest Winner At Oscars? IRS, by Robert W. Wood
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Forbes: Estate Planning Issues in The Descendants
Forbes, George Clooney Makes Estate Planning Sexy, by Deborah Jacobs: Estate planning doesn’t often make it to the Academy Awards. But that’s happened this year, with The Descendants nominated for Oscars in five categories, including best picture, best actor (George Cloney) and best director (Alexander Payne). Based on the novel by Kaui Hart Hemmings (see…
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Anti-War Activist Cindy Sheehan Refuses to Pay Taxes
CNN, Anti-War Activist Cindy Sheehan Won’t Pay Back Taxes: Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, who is being sued in California by the federal government, said she has a duty to not pay taxes because her son died in what she called an “immoral” war. An IRS officer, in a federal filing Tuesday in Sacramento, said Sheehan…
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Ray Charles Foundation Demands Return of $3 Million Donation; University Says Gift was Unrestricted
Chronicle of Higher Education Nonprofit Law Prof Blog Washington Post
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Rick Santorum Releases Tax Returns
Rick Santorum yesterday released his 2007-2010 tax returns: 2010 Return 2009 Return 2008 Return 2007 Return Press and blogosphere coverage: Bloomberg CNN The Hill MSNBC New York Times Politico USA Today Wall Street Journal Washington Post
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Whitney Houston’s Estate Planning
Daily Star, Whitney Houston's Bid to Pay Tax E! Online, How Much Was Whitney Houston Worth When She Died? Forbes, Whitney Houston’s Death and Taxes Financial Planning Magazine, Broke or Not, Whitney Houston Now Understands Value of Estate Planning Trial & Heirs, Whitney Houston Denies She's Broke, Wins Lawsuit vs. Step-Mom Wills, Trusts & Estates…
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Did Taxes Force Lottery Ticket Buyer to Forgo $14 Million Prize?
Joe Kristan, Could Someone Have Tax Problems Big Enough to Walk Away From $14 Million?: That’s one explanation for a weird story where a New York lawyer acting on behalf of holder of a winning lottery ticket purchased at a Des Moines convenience store let the ticket expire rather than revealing the identity of the…
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Jon Stewart on Mitt Romney’s Tax Returns
The Daily Show with Jon StewartGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook
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Tax Court Rejects Buy.com Founder’s $45 Million OPIS Tax Shelter
Blum v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2012-16 (Jan. 17, 2012): This Court has not previously considered an Offshore Portfolio Investment Strategy (OPIS) transaction. The question before us is whether petitioners are entitled to deduct certain capital losses claimed from their participation in the OPIS transaction. We hold that they are not because the transaction lacks economic…
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From the Tax Notes Vault: Richard Nixon’s Charitable Deduction for the Donation of His Pre-Presidential Papers
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the publication of its inaugural issue, Tax Notes is re-publishing memorable articles from its archives. Here is a memorable 1973 exchange involving President Nixon's claimed charitable deduction from the transfer of his pre-presidential papers to the National Archives: Ira Tannenbaum, Income Tax Treatment of Donation of Nixon Pre-Presidential…
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Martin Luther King Jr. and Tax
In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day: reports on how some southern officials tried to use state tax laws to stop King and the nascent civil rights movement: "In Alabama, … Governor John Patterson in early 1960 directed state revenue authorities to charge Martin Luther King, Jr., with tax evasion and perjury in completing…
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Tony Blair and the £8Million Tax ‘Mystery’
The Sunday Telegraph, Tony Blair and the £8Million Tax 'Mystery': Former Prime Minister Tony Blair channelled millions of pounds through a complicated web of companies and paid just a fraction in tax. …Official accounts show a company set up by Mr Blair to manage his business affairs paid just £315,000 in tax last year on…
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WSJ: Are Green Bay Packers Shares Deductible as Worthless Stock?
Wall Street Journal, Are the Green Bay Packers the Worst Stock in America?, by Laura Saunders: It costs $250 a share, pays no dividends, benefits from no earnings, isn’t tradeable and has no securities-law protection. And buyers can’t get enough. Green Bay Packers stock is still selling like hotcakes. More than 250,000 shares have been…
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Lindsay Lohan Hit With $94,000 IRS Tax Lien
TMZ: Lindsay Lohan — IRS Cracking Down Over MASSIVE Tax Debt: Lindsay Lohan has a brand new $93,000 problem — because the federal government claims the actress never paid her 2009 income tax … and now Uncle Sam is finally out to collect. According to official documents filed in Los Angeles, the IRS has obtained…
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First Tim Tebow, Now the IRS: Kyle Orton Sues Law Firm After Tax Shelter Sacking
Bloomberg, NFL Quarterback Kyle Orton Sues Chicago Law Firm Over Tax Partnerships: Kyle Orton, the National Football League player, sued a Chicago law firm alleging he and other investors suffered millions of dollars of losses from partnerships that failed to provide anticipated tax benefits. Orton, in a complaint filed yesterday in state court in Chicago,…
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DOJ Sues Hal Steinbrenner for Return of ‘Erroneous’ $670k Tax Refund
Bloomberg, Yankees Co-Owner Harold Steinbrenner Target of U.S. Suit Over Tax Refund: New York Yankees co-owner and managing partner Harold Steinbrenner was sued by the U.S. Justice Department over an “erroneous” $670,494 tax refund he received in 2009. The complaint, filed Dec. 27 in Tampa, Florida federal court, seeks to reclaim the funds issued to…