Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Tax Analysts
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Thorndike: Why Liberals Should Like Tax Reform
Joseph J. Thorndike (Tax Analysts) has published Why Liberals Should Like Tax Reform (Dec. 14, 2010): The smart money bets against tax reform — always and everywhere. But every once in a while — usually a long while — the smart money is wrong. In recent weeks, we've seen a few stray signals that this
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Johnston: Whistleblower Accuses SC Johnson of Tax Fraud
David Cay Johnston has published Can Loopholes Blow the Whistle on Whistleblowers?,129 Tax Notes 1141 (Dec. 6, 2010): In an unusual move, the Seventh Circuit on its own motion appointed a lawyer to represent an accountant accusing household products maker S.C. Johnson & Son Inc. of tax fraud and racketeering. The author looks at the court cases that
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Jackel & Ellis: Transfers of the Use of Property Under § 721
Monte A. Jackel & Audrey Ellis (both of PricewaterhouseCoopers, Washington, D.C.) have published Transfer of the Use of Property: Time for Clarification, 129 Tax Notes 1011 (Nov. 29, 2010): In this article, the authors review the current law for transfers of the use of property under § 721 and discuss a proposal to treat a transfer of all substantial
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Sullivan: Cisco Shifts Profits Overseas to Lower its Effective Tax Rate
Martin A. Sullivan (Tax Analysts) has published Cisco CEO Seeks Relief for Profits Shifted Overseas, 129 Tax Notes 951 (Nov. 29, 2010): Cisco’s limited ability to make shareholders happy with dividends may stem from its efforts to make shareholders happy with higher earnings per share. It has become routine for America’s largest corporations to improve their
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Johnson: The Fiscal Commission Has Forgotten Its Role
Calvin H. Johnson (Texas) has published The Fiscal Commission Has Forgotten Its Role, 129 Tax Notes 921 (Nov. 22, 2010): The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is tasked with reducing the deficit to avoid an impending budget catastrophe. Instead it is proposing lower corporate tax rates and a wasteful research and development program at a time
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Johnston: Call the Republicans’ Tax Bluff, Mr. President
David Cay Johnston has published Call Their Bluff, Mr. President,129 Tax Notes 933 (Nov. 22, 2010): President Obama should call the Republicans on their bluff that they will force income tax increases on everyone unless top-income Americans continue to benefit from Bush-era tax cuts. All Tax Analysts content is available through the LexisNexis® services.
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Sullivan: Tax Reform Fantasy
Martin A. Sullivan (Tax Analysts) has published Tax Reform Fantasy, 129 Tax Notes 859 (Nov. 22, 2010): Martin A. Sullivan criticizes the proposal by President Obama’s fiscal reform commission and recommends that tax reform and deficit reduction be considered separate issues. All Tax Analysts content is available through the LexisNexis® services.
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Pollack: Revenge of the 80th Congress
Sheldon D. Pollack (University of Delaware, Lerner College of Business) has published Revenge of the 80th Congress, 129 Tax Notes 819 (Nov. 15, 2010): Prof. Pollack puts the debate over the expiring Bush tax cuts in a broader historical context. The current battle over marginal income tax rates is the continuation of a long war that started after
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Jackel: Regulatory Antiabuse Rules and the Supreme Court
Monte A. Jackel (PricewaterhouseCoopers, Washington, D.C.) has published Regulatory Antiabuse Rules and U.S. Supreme Court Precedent, 129 Tax Notes 835 (Nov. 15, 2010): This column examines a recent application by the IRS [ILM 201044003] of a regulatory antiabuse rule that is seemingly contrary to binding U.S. Supreme Court precedent in Moline Properties[, Inc. v. Commissioner, 319 U.S. 436 (1943)]. All
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Johnston: The Child Care Credit Is Not Parent Friendly
David Cay Johnston has published Is the Child-Care Credit Parent Friendly?,129 Tax Notes 735 (Nov. 8, 2010): Johnston writes that Alan D. Viard’s argument in support of the child-care tax credit [The Child Care Tax Credit: Not Just Another Middle-Income Tax Break, 128 Tax Notes 1397 (Sept. 27, 2010)] favors complexity, is anti-family, and overlooks or ignores the
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Sullivan: The Coming Fiscal Catastrophe in the United States
Martin A. Sullivan (Tax Analysts) has published Fiscal Crisis, Part 2: Catastrophe, 129 Tax Notes 647 (Nov. 8, 2010): Last week we talked about the first stage of the U.S. fiscal crisis: the slow erosion of long-term growth because of mounting government debt. [Fiscal Crisis, Part 1: The Slow Descent to Second-Class Status, 129 Tax Notes
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Jones: Partners’ Interest in the P’ship
Darryll K. Jones (Florida A&M) has published Partners’ Interest in the P’ship: An Existentialist’s View, 129 Tax Notes 603 (Nov. 1, 2010): Jones argues that the partners’ interest in the partnership standard is not an unknowable concept and that those who assert otherwise are engaging in jurisprudential existentialism. All Tax Analysts content is available through the LexisNexis® services.
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Sullivan: America’s Slow Descent to Second-Class Status
Martin A. Sullivan (Tax Analysts) has published Fiscal Crisis, Part 1: The Slow Descent to Second-Class Status, 129 Tax Notes 499 (Nov. 1, 2010): It is undeniable that we are on the path to fiscal collapse. This decline will occur in two stages. First there is the decay as the swelling national debt wears away the economy’s
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Crawford: Steinbrenner to Estate Tax — Who’s Boss?
Bridget Crawford (Pace) has published Steinbrenner to Estate Tax: Who’s Boss?, 129 Tax Notes 477 (Oct. 25, 2010): In this article, Prof. Crawford describes some of the tax problems that may be facing the estate of George Steinbrenner, the late owner of the New York Yankees. All Tax Analysts content is available through the LexisNexis® services.
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Johnston: Scary New Wage Data
David Cay Johnston has published Scary New Wage Data, 129 Tax Notes 481 (Oct. 25, 2010): Now for some really scary breaking news from the latest payroll tax data. … Total wages, median wages, and average wages all declined, but at the very top, salaries grew more than fivefold. … The new data hold important lessons for economic
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Some in GOP Seek Estate Tax Middle Ground
Sam Goldfarb, Some in GOP Look for Middle Ground on the Estate Tax, 2010 TNT 201-1 (Oct. 19, 2010): With the estate tax scheduled to return with a vengeance in January, some Senate Republicans may be open to significant compromises to arrive at a permanent estate tax “fix,” according to people with knowledge of discussions among senators
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Sullivan: Microsoft Moving Profits, Not Jobs, Out of the U.S.
Martin A. Sullivan (Tax Analysts) has published Microsoft Moving Profits, Not Jobs, Out of the U.S., 129 Tax Notes 271 (Oct. 18, 2010): Figure 4 shows that from 2002 through 2007, the profitability (measured as a percentage of sales) of foreign and U.S. operations was about equal. Given the greater value added in the United States, this
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Johnston: American Attitudes Toward Taxes and Wealth Distribution
David Cay Johnston has published United in Our Delusion, 129 Tax Notes 251 (Oct. 11, 2010): A clever survey of 5,522 Americans by two behavioral scientists reveals remarkable, near-unanimous agreement on an issue central to our tax debate. [Building a Better America – One Wealth Quintile at a Time, by Michael I. Norton (Harvard Business School) & Dan
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Wood & Hollingworth: SILOs and LILOs Demystified
Robert W. Wood & Steven E. Hollingworth (both of Wood & Porter, San Francisco) have published DSILOs and LILOs Demystified, 129 Tax Notes 195 (Oct. 12, 2010): SILOs and LILOs are large and complicated leveraged lease transactions, often involving domestic and foreign infrastructure, in which U.S. investors seek tax benefits from otherwise tax-exempt assets. In this report, Wood and Hollingworth
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Johnson: Don’t Let Capital Accounts Go Negative
Calvin H. Johnson (Texas) has published Don't Let Capital Accounts Go Negative, 129 Tax Notes 127 (Oct. 4, 2010): Calvin H. Johnson proposes a method that would prevent negative capital accounts — that is, when the adjusted basis in partnership assets is less than the outstanding debt of the partnership — as a remedy to prevent tax shelters.
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Cavanagh: Targeted Allocations Hit the Spot
William G. Cavanagh (Chadbourne & Parke, New York) has published Targeted Allocations Hit the Spot, 129 Tax Notes 89 (Oct. 4, 2010). Here is the abstract: Cavanagh analyzes the economic effect prong of the substantial economic effect test applicable to partnership allocations and discusses traditional allocations as well as targeted and tracking allocations. He describes the function
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Smith: Gaps in the 7th Circuit’s Innocent Spouse Opinion in Lantz
Following up on last week's post, Tax Court Refuses to Follow 7th Circuit, Again Invalidates Innocent Spouse Reg (Sept. 23, 2010): Patrick J. Smith (Ivins, Phillips & Barker, Washington, D.C.), Gaps in the Seventh Circuit's Reasoning in Lantz, 128 Tax Notes 1375 (Sept. 27, 2010): Last year the Tax Court invalidated an IRS regulation [Reg. § 1.6015-5(b)(1)] that
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Johnston: The Failure of the Bush Tax Cuts
David Cay Johnston has published So How Did the Bush Tax Cuts Work Out for the Economy?, 128 Tax Notes 1409(Sept. 27, 2010): Analyzing the latest tax data, Johnston finds that average incomes are down since 2000, the number of high-income nontaxpayers is rapidly rising, and the numbers show that the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts failed
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Avi-Yonah: The Redemption Puzzle Redux
Following up on my prior posts: Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan), The Redemption Puzzle, 128 Tax Notes 853 (Aug. 23, 2010) Jeffrey M. Trinklein & David A. Siffert (both of Gibson Dunn, New York), Letter to the Editor, 128 Tax Notes 1082 (Sept. 6, 2010) Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan), Redemption Puzzle Redux: Avi-Yonah Responds, 128 Tax Notes
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Practitioners Blast Economic Substance Guidance as ‘Profoundly Disappointing’
Amy S. Elliott, Practitioners Blast Economic Substance Guidance With No Angel List, 2010 TNT 177-1 (Sept. 14, 2010): Practitioners panned long-awaited guidance on the codified economic substance doctrine that the IRS released September 13, criticizing it as “profoundly disappointing.” “It basically says ‘we’re not providing guidance,’” said Mark Silverman, a partner at Steptoe & Johnson