Paul L. Caron
Dean
Pepperdine Caruso
School of Law
Monday, May 10, 2004
The IRS is questioning two small Florida towns that have floated over $2 billion in tax-exempt bonds for projects like casinos built by Baltimore-based Cordish Co. for the Seminole Tribe of Florida, as well as to form bond pools. The state of Florida alleges that only 10-12% of the proceeds in these pools were actually used by borrowers. For more details, see this Baltimore Sun story. Thanks to reader Ben Cunningham for the tip.
Sunday, May 9, 2004
This week’s list of the Top 5 Tax Paper Downloads on SSRN represents the most dramatic change to date, with 2 new papers cracking the Top 5:
1. Corporations, Society and the State: A Defense of the Corporate Tax, by Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan)
2. The Dividend Divide in Anglo-American Corporate Taxation, by Steven Bank (UCLA)
3. Evidence of Differing Market Responses to Meeting or Beating Targets Through Tax Expense Management, by Cristi Gleason (Iowa – Dep’t of Accounting) & Lillian Mills (Arizona – College of Business & Public Administration)
4. Masking Redistribution (or its Absence) by Jonathan Baron (Penn – Wharton) & Edward McCaffery (USC)
5. The Progressive Consumption Tax Revisited, by Steven Bank (UCLA)
Sunday, May 9, 2004
Tax Prof Colleen Medill is moving from Tennessee to Nebraska, effective Fall 2004. For a complete list of 2004-05 Tax Prof moves, see here.
Sunday, May 9, 2004
Yariv Brauner (Northwestern) has published A Good Old Habit, or Just an Old One? Preferential Tax Treatment for Reorganizations, 2004 B.Y.U. L. Rev. 1 (2004). A prior version is available on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
This article proposes to repeal the preferential tax treatment of certain merger and acquisition transactions known as “reorganizations,” and tax them like all other sales or exchanges. In the last 80 years this preference has been a cornerstone of our tax system. It is also one of the most stable rules in the tax code. Nevertheless, its normative justification is weak, and has never been rigorously debated in the legal literature. This article rejects the stated rationale for this rules – that such transactions trigger insufficient realization and therefore it is both unfair and impractical to currently tax them. It further demonstrates that the preferential tax treatment of reorganizations cannot be supported on efficiency grounds, applying the formerly unexploited (at least in the tax literature) wisdom available in the economic, business and corporate law literature. The latter conclusion is the primary contribution of this article.
Saturday, May 8, 2004
After serving five years as Dean of Texas Wesleyan University School of Law, Tax Prof Richard Gershon is the inaugural Dean of the new Charleston School of Law, which will open its doors in Fall 2004. Charleston is well on the way to meeting its goal of 125 full-time and 40 part-time evening students. Dean Gershon reports that the entering class is quite strong, with an LSAT median of 153. Here’s a description of the school from its web site:
The Charleston School of Law offers students the unique opportunity to study the time-honored practice of law amid the beauty and grace of one of the South’s oldest and most prestigious cities, Charleston, South Carolina.
Tracing its origins to the 1825 formation of The Forensic Club, the Charleston School of Law is reinvigorating the study of law in Charleston by offering a rich, comprehensive three-year program rooted in excellence. Not only will students be able to take advantage of mentoring programs offered in conjunction with Charleston’s collegial, professional Bar, they will get a firsthand look at the study of law in a city anchored by an area known as the Four Corners of Law.
Dean Gershon is the author of the popular Student’s Guide to the Internal Revenue Code (LexisNexis, 4th ed. 1999). He reports that Charleston “will be adding tax courses [in 2005] as our students enter the second year. That’s when we will feel like a real law school.” Spoken like a true tax professor!
Each Saturday, TaxProf Blog will shine the spotlight on one of the 700+ tax professors in America’s law schools. We hope to help bring the many individual stories of scholarly achievements, teaching innovations, public service impact, and career moves within the tax professorate to the attention of the broader tax community. Please email me suggestions for future Tax Prof profiles.
Saturday, May 8, 2004
Tax Profs have prominent roles in the ABA Tax Section meeting today at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, D.C. For the complete program schedule, see here. Tax Profs speaking today include:
7:00am – 8:30am: Low-Income Taxpayers (Leslie Book (Villanova) & Diana Leyden (Connecticut))
8:00am – 11:45am: Sales, Exchanges & Basis (Erik Jensen (Case Western))
8:30am – 11:30am: Value Added Taxes and Other Concumption Taxes (Alan Schenk (Wayne State))
9:00am – 11:30am: Individual Income Tax (Linda Beale (Illinois), Mona Hymel (Arizona), Roberta Mann (Widener) & Gail Richmond (Nova))
2:00pm – 5:00pm: Standards of Tax Practice (Linda Galler (Hofstra) & Mike Lang (Chapman))
Readers attending today’s ABA Tax Section meeting are invited to email me with content about these or other panels to be posted on TaxProf Blog. The content can be as short or as long as you want. Guest Bloggers will be be identified or remain anonymous (your choice).
Saturday, May 8, 2004
Alan Kennard (Ungaretti & Harris) has posted The Hedge Fund Versus the Mutual Fund on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
In determining whether to create, or invest in, a collective investment vehicle providing a risk arbitrage or other type of investment strategy, it is imperative that the major differences between a mutual fund and a hedge fund be understood. This article is a general summary of some of these major differences, with an emphasis on federal income taxation.
Friday, May 7, 2004
There was an interesting discussion today on the TaxProf Discussion Group about the tax issues raised in the NBC television show “Friends” finale last night. (OK, it is Friday and we will do anything to avoid having to grade another exam!). Ted Seto (Loyola-L.A.) flagged the most tax issues regarding Chandler, Joey, Monica, Phoebe, Rachel, and Ross:
1. Deductibility of Chandler and Monica’s surrogacy and adoption expenses.
2. Deductibility of Chandler’s and Monica’s moving expenses.
3. Deductibility of Rachel’s plane ticket as a moving or business expense, given that she ultimately decides not to take the new job in Paris.
4. Deductibility of loss due to destruction of Foosball table to rescue baby duck and chicken.
Cheyanna Jaffke (Western State) offers this additional thought: Monica and Chandler adopted twins. Prior to the birth of the twins, they supported the mother. So there is an issue of whether or not the mother can be a dependent. I don’t think that they would win that one, but could make for a nice discussion of what is a dependent.
Did TaxProf Blog readers notice other tax issues? Please email them in and we will expand this list as needed.
Friday, May 7, 2004
The IRS has released Individual Income Tax Return Data by ZIP Code:
Number of Returns (total and by income bracket)
Exemptions
AGI
Salary & Wage Income
Investment Income
Earned Income Tax Credit
Tax Liability
Schedule C Income
Schedule F Income
Schedule A Deductions
So you can check to see, for example, how your town’s average AGI stacks up with Beverly Hills 90210 ($301,734).
Friday, May 7, 2004
Victor Thuronyi (International Monetary Fund; Adjunct Professor at Georgetown) has posted What Can We Learn from Comparative Tax Law? on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Noting that most American tax lawyers have spent little time learning about other countries’ tax systems, this special report argues that they would benefit from doing so and sketches out how comparative tax law might be studied. A few examples of insights that can be derived from such study are provided.
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