Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Political News
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NY Times Daschle Debate: Tax Dodge or Honest Mistake?
The New York Times Room for Debate asked various tax experts to weigh in on Tom Daschle's tax problem in A Tax Dodge or an Honest Mistake?: Should personal tax problems be grounds for disqualification from cabinet and other high-level government positions? Is there a line between dodging taxes and making a forgivable mistake? We asked…
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The Geithner-Daschle Lesson: Audit the B*******!
Jason Mazzone (Brooklyn), Audit Them All: In the world of tax compliance, perceptions matter a good deal. A well-known experiment for the Minnesota Department of Revenue showed that people who believe that tax compliance is high report their own income accurately and pay in full. In other words, people pay what they owe if they…
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A Daschle Tax Roundup
Senator Dashcle's Feb. 1, 2009 Letter to Senate Finance Committee: Thank you for the work you and the Committee are doing to move forward on my nomination by President Obama to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. I know that despite the heavy workload from both the Economic Recovery Act and SCHIP, as well…
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Daschle’s Nomination for HHS Secretary Threatened by Failure to Pay $140k Taxes on Free Use of Limo and Chauffeur
Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle has an even bigger tax problem than Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner: Daschle paid more than $140,000 in taxes and interest on January 2, 2009 for three tax mistakes he made on his 2005-2007 tax returns comprising over $350,000 of omitted income and overstated deductions that were uncovered in the…
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Baird: Why I Hired Obama
Check out this eight-minute video of Douglas Baird (Chicago) on CNBC, explaining why he hired Barack Obama as a Senior Lecturer at Chicago. (Hat Tip: Legal Pad.) Update: See also Obama: The Teacher President (The Washingtonian.)
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More Fallout From Geithner’s Tax Troubles
L.A. Times editorial: Timothy Geithner, the tax Code's Poster Boy: The complex rules that trip up financial sophisticates such as Geithner are a minefield for the honest and a gold mine for cheats. It's long past time for Washington to whittle down the tax laws, stripping the layers of incentives and disincentives in favor of…
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Lessons From Geithner’s Tax Troubles
My post on Treasury Secretary Nominee Geithner's Tax Problems has attracted a lot of attention, especially my observation that "[p]erhaps most surprising is that Mr. Geithner prepared his own tax returns in four of the years in question." James Taranto notes in the Wall Street Journal, Too Taxing: The Lesson of Geithner's IRS Troubles: We're tempted…
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Treasury Secretary Nominee Geithner’s Tax Problems
The Senate Finance Committee this afternoon released thirty pages of documents relating to various adjustments to Treasury Secretary nominee Timothy F. Geithner's tax returns for 2001-2006. The principal issue is his failure to pay self-employment taxes when he worked for the International Monetary Fund, as well as the immigration status of a housekeeper. Perhaps most surprising…
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Profs Debate Obama’s Selection of Rick Warren to Deliver the Invocation at the Inauguration
Tax Prof Neil H. Buchanan (George Washington) calls Barack Obama's selection of Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inauguration "appalling and stupid" (Obama's Betrayal). Gregory C. Sisk (University of St. Thomas) calls it an "inspired" choice (A Sign of Respect and Civility: President-Elect Obama’s Selection of Pastor Rick Warren to Deliver the Invocation…
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Tax Prof: Sarah Palin Is Not Trig’s Mother
Tax Prof Jack Bogdanski (Lewis & Clark) has attracted a lot of attention in the blogosphere this week with his post, Sarah Palin's Fake Pregnancy Belly: The bloggers who have set out to prove that Sarah Palin did not give birth to Trig Palin have broken their latest find, and they were right — it's…
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Activists Seek Revocation of Tax Exempt Status of Churches That Supported Prop 8
San Francisco Chronicle: Tax-Exempt Benefit Disputed in Prop. 8 Campaign, by Matthai Kuruvila: In the wake of Proposition 8's passage, opponents are railing that churches that supported the ballot measure violated their tax-exempt status. It's a common accusation at the now-weekly protests, gaining enough traction that Geoff Kors, a member of the No on 8 executive committee,…
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There Goes My Job in the Obama Administration
Check out the seven-page, 63-item questionnaire that the Obama transition team is requiring prospective cabinet members and other high-level officials to fill out. Item 10 is quite a problem for bloggers: 10. Writings: Please list and, if readily available, provide a copy of each book, article, column or publication (including but not limited to any posts…
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Deloitte Releases Report on Obama’s Tax Plan
Deloitte has released Tax Policy Decisions Ahead: President-Elect Obama's Call for Change: [The report] summarizes the broad tax proposals made by President-elect Obama on the campaign trail, and the challenges of moving his agenda through Congress. It then analyzes proposed tax changes more closely and offers insight on how corporate and individual taxpayers can prepare for changes…
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Voters Shun Both Tax Cuts and Hikes on State Ballots
Dow Jones: Voters Shun Both Tax Cuts and Hikes on State Ballots, by Martin Vaughan: Bracing for an uncertain economy, voters in several states showed reluctance to either raise or cut taxes, as they rejected key state ballot initiatives on Tuesday. For a detailed listing of the results of the 31 state tax-related ballot initiatives,…
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Private Equity, Offshore Insurers Are Likely Obama Tax Targets
Dow Jones: Private Equity, Reinsurance Seen As Obama Tax Targets, by Martin Vaughan: Private equity funds and offshore insurers are among industries that could see their taxes increased under a Barack Obama White House and strengthened congressional Democratic majorities. … Near the top of the list of likely targets is a proposal, backed by House…
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More Obama Tax Coverage
Associated Press: MLB Agents Ponder beating Potential Tax Increases, by Ronald Blum Dow Jones: Major Shift in Tax Burdens Possible Under Obama, by Martin Vaughn Kiplinger: How Obama's Tax Plan Could Affect You, by Mary Beth Franklin Mauled Again: Tax Lies Don't Work, by Jim Maule Roth & Co.: Tax Planning Ahead of the Obama…
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Tax Policy in the Obama-Biden Administration
Fifteen Tax Profs offer their thoughts on tax policy in the new Obama-Biden Administration: Alice G. Abreu (Temple) Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan) Neil Buchanan (George Washington) Patricia A. Cain (Santa Clara) Bridget J. Crawford (Pace) Steven A. Dean (Brooklyn) David Gamage (UC-Berkeley) Michael J. Graetz (Yale) Steve Johnson (UNLV) Michael Knoll (Pennsylvania) James Maule (Villanova) James…
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Caron Beats McCain!
As further evidence of the rough night John McCain had: I edged McCain 7.1% to 6.9% in The Official Leiter's Law School Reports Presidential Poll.(as of 5:00 a.m. this morning)! I came in 4th in the 18-person field, after Barack Obama (27.7%), Richard Posner (11.8%), and Stephen Colbert (8.6%),
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ABA Journal: Tax Law to the Rescue
From the November issue of the ABA Journal: Tax Law to the Rescue: Those Big Bailouts Don't Really Help Homeowners, But There's Relief to Be Had From (Gasp!) the IRS, by Samuel L. Braunstein & Carol F. Burger: [P]erhaps the most telling measure of the economic crisis has been the escalating involvement of the federal government in…
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Caron For President?
I am currently tied for last (with Ann Althouse and Robert Morse of U.S. News) in The Official Leiter's Law School Reports Presidential Poll.
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Hedging Against a Tax Rate Increase in an Obama Administration
The latest Real Clear Politics national poll gives Obama a 7.8 lead, and Greg Mankiw (Harvard University, Department of Economics) questions why the current Intrade market places a two-thirds probability on an increase in marginal tax rates in 2009: This surprises me. Even assuming an Obama victory, I would put the probability much lower. As an economic matter,…
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NY Times: Professors’ Liberalism Does Not Influence Students
New York Times: Professors’ Liberalism Contagious? Maybe Not, by Patricia Cohen: An article of faith among conservative critics of American universities has been that liberal professors politically indoctrinate their students. This conviction not only fueled the culture wars but has also led state lawmakers to consider requiring colleges to submit reports to the government detailing their…
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CNN: Your Tax Bill on the Line in Today’s Vote
CNN: Your Tax Bill on the Line, by Jeanne Sahadi: How successful the next president will be in making any or all of his tax proposals a reality turns on several factors: the state of the economy, how willing foreigners are to buy the country's debt given its growing deficit, and how supportive Congress will be.…
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Gale & Harris: Taxes Under Obama and McCain
William G. Gale & Benjamin Harris (both of the Brookings Institution) have published Taxes Under Obama and McCain, The Economists' Voice, Vol. 5 : Iss. 6, Article 7 (2008). Here is the abstract: The bottom line on the tax plans of Obama and McCain are that Obama has bigger tax cuts for middle income families and modest…
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WSJ: NFL Teams Rush to Avoid Obama’s Tax Increase
Wall Street Journal editorial: Taxing the Dolphins: Another NFL Team Faces Obama's Tax Rush: Don't think tax rates matter to business decisions? Ask H. Wayne Huizenga, the owner of the Miami Dolphins, who declared earlier this week that he intends to sell up to half his ownership in the NFL franchise before next year. Why? Because…