Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Scholarship
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Kinsler on Application of Tax Law by Circuit
Thursday, June 10, 2004 Jeffrey Kinsler (Appalachian) has published Circuit-Specific Application of the Internal Revenue Code: An Unconstitutional Tax, 81 Denv. U. L. Rev. 113 (2003). Here is the Conclusion: The Internal Revenue Code is interpreted by thirteen different circuit courts. The circuit courts’ interpretations are not always in accord, but they are usually final,…
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Gamage on Contribution Taxes in Campaign Finance
Wednesday, June 9, 2004 David Gamage has published Taxing Political Donations: The Case for Corrective Taxes in Campaign Finance, 113 Yale L.J. 1283 (2004). Here is part of the Conclusion: It is time for campaign finance scholars to consider incentive-based regulations. Contribution taxes might not be a panacea for all our campaign finance ills, but…
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Pratt Notes Scholarly Meat Behind “Fat Tax” Idea
Wednesday, June 9, 2004 In response to my post yesterday on blogosphere calls for a “Fat Tax” to combat America’s obesity, Katie Pratt (Loyola-L.A.) observes that there is far more scholarly meat here than is commonly known: Commentators from the fields of nutrition and public health (e.g. Yale prof Kelly Brownell and public health advocate…
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Marr on Estate Planning Implications of Same-Sex Marriage
Tuesday, June 8, 2004 Jeremy Marr has posted The Estate Planning Implications of Goodridge v. Department of Public Health for Massachusetts Same-Sex Couples on SSRN. Here is the abstract: In November 2003, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (the “SJC”) held in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health that the Massachusetts Constitution protects the right…
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Gale, Orszag & Shapiro on Distributional Effects of 2001 & 2003 Tax Cuts
Monday, June 7, 2004 William Gale, Peter Orszag & Isaac Shapiro have posted Distributional Effects of the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts and Their Financing on the Tax Policy Center web site. Here is the abstract: Tax cuts are not free; they must be financed with some combination of tax increases or spending cuts. The…
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Steuerle on the Shrinking Budget for Working Families
Friday, June 4, 2004 Eugene Steuerle has posted The Incredible Shrinking Budget for Working Families and Children on the Tax Policy Center web site. Here is the opening: Programs for working families and children are scheduled to shrink rapidly over the next few years, squeezed between rising expenditures on programs for the elderly and declines…
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Call for Papers: UCLA Law Review Symposium on “Taxation, Inequality & Redistribution”
Friday, June 4, 2004 The UCLA Law Review has issued a Call for Papers soliciting submissions for a symposium on “Taxation, Inequality & Redistribution.” The symposium editors seek to bring together leading scholars and policymakers interested in the role of tax policy in addressing inequality and redistribution. Relevant empirical, institutional and theoretical research will be…
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Risk on Qualified Settlement Funds
Thursday, June 3, 2004 Richard B. Risk, Jr. has published A Case for the Urgent Need to Clarify Tax Treatment of a Qualified Settlement Funb Created for a Single Claimant, 23 Va. Tax Rev. 639 (2004). Here is part of the Introduction: There is a pressing need for the Treasury–through the Internal Revenue Service (Service)–to…
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Murphy on the Role of Trust in Nurturing Compliance
Wednesday, June 2, 2004 Kristina Murphy (Australian National University) has posted The Role of Trust in Nurturing Compliance: A Study of Accused Tax Avoiders on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Why an institution’s rules and regulations are obeyed or disobeyed is an important question for regulatory agencies. This paper discusses the findings of an empirical…
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Bratton on The Dividend Puzzle
Tuesday, June 1, 2004 William Bratton (Georgetown) has posted The New Dividend Puzzle on SSRN. Here is part of the abstract: The dividend puzzle of economic theory asks why firms pay substantial dividends, given the classical tax rate preference for capital gains and deferral of capital gains taxation until realization. A new dividend puzzle arises…
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Gale & Kotlikoff on Effects of Fiscal Policies on Children
Thursday, May 27, 2004 William Gale (Brookings) & Laurence Kotlikoff (Boston University) have posted Effects on Recent Fiscal Policies on Today’s Children and Future Generations on the Brookings Institution web site. Here is the abstract: Recent and proposed fiscal policies—the tax cuts, proposals to make them permanent, and the medicare prescription drug bill—will hurt economic…
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Goolsbee on Taxes and the Information Economy
Austan Goolsbee has posted a research summary of Taxes, Competition, and the Information Economy on the NBER web site. Here is the Introduction: The growth of the information economy — the Internet, computers, media, and the like — has generated massive amounts of debate in popular and policy circles. More than that, though, it has…
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Block on Congress and Accounting Scandals
Tuesday, May 25, 2004 Cheryl Block (George Washington) has published Congress and Accounting Scandals: Is the Pot Calling the Kettle Black?, 82 Neb. L. Rev. 365 (2003). Here is a flavor from the Introduction: Congress itself has been guilty of using accounting devices remarkably similar to those used by Enron, WorldCom and others to “cook…
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Johnson on Desirability of Corporate Form
Monday, May 24, 2004 Calvin Johnson (Texas) has posted The Incredible Shrinking Domain of Corporate Stock on SSRN. Here is the abstract: Twenty-five years ago, the best tax vehicle for a business enterprise was clearly growth stock, in which the corporation accumulated its earnings. The growth stock strategy was so advantageous that shareholders could tolerate…
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Hubbard on Tax Policy & International Competitiveness
Sunday, May 23, 2004 R. Glenn Hubbard (Columbia Business School) has posted Tax Policy and International Competitiveness on SSRN. Here is part of the abstract: This article discusses the role of tax policy in improving the international competitiveness in improving the international competitiveness of U.S. industries. The existing U.S. tax law governing the activities of…
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Harvard Law Review on Corporate Tax Shelters
Saturday, May 22, 2004 The Harvard Law Review has published Governmental Attempts to Stem the Rising Tide of Corporate Tax Shelters, 117 Harv. L. Rev. 2249 (2004), as part of its Developments in the Law — Corporations and Society. Here is part of the Conclusion: The impossibility of reaching a definition of tax shelters that…
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Lavoie on Judiciary’s Role in Fostering Unethical Behavior: Tax Shelters
Friday, May 21, 2004 Richard Lavoie (Northwestern) has published Subverting the Rule of Law: The Judiciary’s Role in Fostering Unethical Behavior, 75 U. Col. L. Rev. 115 (2004). Here is part of the Introduction: …Enron’s unethical behavior was seemingly promoted by a legal system that the company perceived to be constrained to a literal interpretation…
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Schizer on Loss Sales Rules
Thursday, May 20, 2004 David Schizer (Columbia) has posted Scrubbing the Wash Sale Rules on SSRN. Here is part of the abstract: ….The wash sale regime of Section 1091 is one of our system’s most important brakes on the timing option. In broad outline, this regime defers a taxpayer’s deduction when she sells a position…
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Cook on Politically Active Churches
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 Of particular interest following yesterday’s discussion of whether the Catholic Church’s criticism of Sen. Kerry will result in the loss of its tax exemption: Douglas Cook (Regent) has published The Politically Active Church, 35 Loy. U. Chi. L. Rev. 457 (2004). Here is part of the Introduction: The title of this…
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Tax Prof’s Views on Law School Rankings (and Baseball)
Wednesday, May 19, 2004 Forgive the shameless plug, but my latest article, What Law Schools Can Learn from Billy Beane and the Oakland Athletics, 82 Texas L. Rev. 1483 (2004), is out now in hard copy. The article argues that law schools should heed the lessons from Michael Lewis’s best-selling book Moneyball and embrace rankings…
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Stark on Fiscal Federalism and Tax Progressivity
Tuesday, May 18, 2004 Kirk Stark (UCLA) has posted Fiscal Federalism and Tax Progressivity: Should the Federal Income Tax Encourage State and Local Redistribution? on SSRN. Here is the abstract: One of the central tenets of fiscal federalism is that redistributive policies should be undertaken by the most central level of government rather than state…
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Kahng on New Innocent Spouse Rules
Monday, May 17, 2004 Lily Kahng (Seattle) has published Innocent Spouses: A Critique of the New Tax Laws Governing Joint and Several Tax Liability, 49 Vill. L. Rev. 263 (2004). Here is the conclusion: The principal tax rationale for joint and several liability–marital unity–is little more than a fiction adopted by lawmakers and scholars in…
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Georgetown Guide to Tax Research
Monday, May 17, 2004 The Edward Bennett Williams Library at Georgetown University Law Center has an extraordinarily helpful on-line Federal Tax Research Guide, as well as a handy Federal Tax Reference Chart and State & Local Tax Research Guide. After a detailed Introduction, the Federal Tax Research Guide provides listings of tax sources in these…
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Paine on Tax Treatment of International Philanthropy
Monday, May 17, 2004 Robert Paine has published The Tax Treatment of International Philanthropy and Public Policy, 19 Akron Tax J. 1 (2004). Here is part of the introduction: Despite the changes in the landscape of international philanthropy and the revelations regarding its abuse, the U.S. tax system continues to impose an archaic and inconsistent…
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ATPI Grant Requests Due Today
Saturday, May 15, 2004 Requests for research grants from the American Tax Policy Institute are due today for consideration at ATPI’s July meeting. For a list of prior ATPI grant recipients, see here.