Taxation & Estate Planning

Forbes: Sales Taxes Now Top Property Taxes and Personal Income Taxes as State Revenue Source

Posted on March 10, 2010
Forbes, U.S. Sales Tax Rates Hit Record High: While President Obama's push to raise federal income taxes for the wealthy gets lots of attention, the continuing upward creep in the sales tax rates imposed by state and local governments has gotten less notice...

Prominent NY Attorney Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud

Posted on March 10, 2010
Bonnie Strunk, a prominent New York attorney active in defending women's and gay rights, pleaded guilty on Monday to tax fraud charge that will result in her disbarment. New York Law Journal Syracuse Post-Standard

1L 'Gunner' at Chicago

Posted on March 10, 2010

Spring 2010 Law Review Article Submission Guide

Posted on March 10, 2010
Nancy Levit (UMKC) & Allen Rostron (UMKC) have updated their incredibly useful document, which contains two charts for Spring 2010 submission season covering 195 law reviews. The first chart (pp. 2-76) contains information gathered from the journals? websites on: Methods for submitting an article (such as by e-mail, ExpressO, or...

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House Allows 2009 Charitable Deduction for 2010 Contributions for Chile and Haiti Earthquake Relief

Posted on March 10, 2010
The House today passed by voice vote H.R. 4783, which allows charitable donations made through April 15, 2010 for victims of the Chile and Haiti earthquakes to be deductible on 2009 tax returns. Joint Committee on Taxation, Technical Explanation of H...

Bishop: 50-State L3C & B Corporation Legislation Table

Posted on March 10, 2010
Carter G. Bishop (Suffolk) has posted Fifty State Series: L3C & B Corporation Legislation Table on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This table reflects the L3C and B Corporation language of every adopting state. In all cases, all links are live to Westlaw...

Camp Presents Protecting Trust Assets from the Federal Tax Lien Today at ACTEC

Posted on March 10, 2010
Bryan T. Camp (Texas Tech) presents Protecting Trust Assets from the Federal Tax Lien, 1 Est. Plan. & Community Prop. L.J. 295 (2009), at the American College of Trusts & Estates Counsel (ACTEC) annual meeting today in Bonita Springs, Florida. Here is the abstract: One common issue facing those who...

The Efficacy of State Shaming Campaigns on Taxpayer Compliance and Ideas for the Future

Posted on March 10, 2010
Darren Azman (J.D. 2010, Georgetown) has posted Comment, Don?t Tell Mom I Didn?t Pay My Taxes!: The Efficacy of State Shaming Campaigns on Taxpayer Compliance and Ideas for the Future on SSRN. Here is the abstract: At least 25 states and regions across the country have engaged in some form...

National Jurist: Law School Faculties 40% Larger Than 10 Years Ago

Posted on March 10, 2010
National Jurist, Law School Faculties 40% Larger Than 10 Years Ago: The average law school increased its faculty size by 40% over the past 10 years, according to a study by The National Jurist to be released in late March. This increase in staffing accounts for 48% of the tuition...

CBPP: 33 States Have Raised Taxes by $32 Billion/Year

Posted on March 09, 2010
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has published State Tax Changes in Response to the Recession: The national recession has had such a devastating effect on state finances that states took in $87 billion less in tax revenue from October 2008 through September 2009 than they collected in the...

Forbes: The World's Most Beautiful College Campuses (Including the University of Cincinnati)

Posted on March 09, 2010
Forbes, The World's Most Beautiful College Campuses: Forbes asked a panel of architects and campus designers to nominate their picks for the best-looking campuses in the world. Here are their top choices. Of the 14 colleges and universities on the list, ten are in the United States...

Business Lobbyists Push to Revive Estate Tax They Tried to Kill

Posted on March 09, 2010
Bloomberg, Business Lobbyists Push to Revive Estate Tax They Tried to Kill: Lobbyists for small businesses, construction companies, manufacturers and other trade groups are racing the clock to convince Congress to reinstate the federal estate tax they?ve fought for years to abolish...

Why Do Students Choose to Attend a Particular Elite College?

Posted on March 09, 2010
Peter Nurnberg (Williams Project on the Economics of Higher Education), Morton Schapiro (President, Northwestern University) & David Zimmerman (Williams College, Department of Economics),have posted Students Choosing Colleges: Understanding the Matriculation Decision at a Highly Selective Private Institution on NBER...

Joint Tax Committee Scores Tax Provisions of President Obama's Budget

Posted on March 09, 2010
The Joint Committee on Taxation yesterday released Estimated Revenue Effects of the Revenue Provisions Contained in the President?s Fiscal Year 2011 Budget (JCX-7-10), with a score of $2.7 trillion from 2010-2020, composed of: Indexing the AMT for inflation: -$583...

IRS Designates Chile Earthquake a 'Qualified Disaster' for Tax Purposes

Posted on March 09, 2010
The IRS today issued Notice 2010-26, 2010-14 I.R.B. ___ (Apr. 5, 2010), designating the Chile earthquake as a qualified disaster for purposes of § 139. As a result, individuals who receive qualified disaster relief payments can exclude those payments from income on their tax returns...

WaPo on Banning Laptops in the Classroom

Posted on March 09, 2010
Washington Post, Wide Web of Diversions Gets Laptops Evicted From Lecture Halls: On a windy morning in downtown Washington, a hundred Georgetown Law students gathered in a hall for David Cole's lecture on democracy and coercion. The desks were cluttered with books, Thermoses and half-eaten muffins...

Tax Foundation: Amazon Taxes Lose Revenue, Deter Business

Posted on March 09, 2010
The Tax Foundation yesterday released "Amazon Tax" Laws Signal Business Unfriendliness And Will Worsen Short-Term Budget Problems. Here is the Executive Summary: Citing significant budget shortfalls and the inability to collect sales taxes on many Internet-based transactions, a number of states are considering the adoption of "Amazon taxes...

Burch: National Funding for the Arts and § 501(c)(3)

Posted on March 09, 2010
Micah Burch (University of Sydney, Faculty of Law) has posted National Funding for the Arts and Internal Revenue Code § 501(c)(3), 37 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. ___ (2010), on SSRN. Here is the abstract: For the large number of U.S. arts organizations whose existence depends on private charitable donations,...

Walker Presents Business Deductions in a Net Income Tax Today at Michigan

Posted on March 09, 2010
David I. Walker (Boston University) presents Suitable for Framing: Business Deductions in a Net Income Tax System at Michigan today as part of its Tax Policy Workshop Series coordinated by Reuven S. Avi-Yonah. Here is the abstract: The federal income tax code includes numerous provisions disallowing or curtailing income tax...

32.6% of Faculty (but only 8.3% of Administrators) Took a Pay Cut in 2009-10

Posted on March 08, 2010
The College and University Professional Association for Human Resources today released its annual report on faculty salaries for the 2009-10 academic year. Among the interesting findings: 32.6% of faculty had their salaries reduced, with a median decrease of 3% 21...

Demetri Martin on His Two Years at NYU Law School

Posted on March 08, 2010
Comedian Demetri Martin talks about his two years at NYU Law School:

More on Controversy Over $410k Bonus Payment to Former Maryland Dean

Posted on March 08, 2010
Following up on my prior posts: Former Maryland Dean Under Fire for Payments in Lieu of Sabbatical (Feb. 22, 2010) Former Maryland Dean Asked to Return $60k Paid for Summer Research; AG to Decide Propriety of $350k Paid for Untaken Sabbatical (Feb. 27, 2010) The Baltimore Sun yesterday published an...

Grade Inflation: Mean GPA Rises .1 Per Decade (From 2.5 in 1950s to 3.1 in 2000s)

Posted on March 08, 2010
Stuart Rojstaczer (Professor Emeritus, Duke University; owner, www.gradeinflation.com) & Christopher Healy (Professor of Computer Science, Furman University) have posted Grading in American Colleges and Universities on Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education...

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

Posted on March 08, 2010
Saturday: 3rd Circuit: IRS and H&R Block Cannot Be Sued Over E-Filing Fees A Law Student's Life Via Google Search District Court Rules on Government's Challenge to Expert Testimony of David Weisbach & Ethan Yale in Son of BOSS Tax Shelter Case Lawsky: Obama's Proposal to Limit Itemized Deductions to...

Ohio State to Demphasize Research in Tenure Standards

Posted on March 08, 2010
Following up on last month's post, Ohio State President: It's Time to Rethink Tenure: Inside Higher Ed, Different Paths to Full Professor: Ohio State is embarking on discussions on how to change the way professors are evaluated for promotion to full professor...

Zaring: Reasonable Agencies

Posted on March 08, 2010
David Zaring (Penn) has published Reasonable Agencies, 96 Va. L. Rev. 2317 (2010). Here is the abstract: This article argues that the complex doctrine of judicial review of administrative action -- containing no less than six separate tests depending on the sort of agency action to be reviewed -- both...

Presidential Reunion on Financial Reform

Posted on March 08, 2010
Funny or Die's Presidential Reunion from Will Ferrell President's Reunion Behind the Scenes - watch more funny videos Dana Carvey Dream Sequence: A Presidential Reunion Extended Scene from Dana Carvey

Washburn Seeks to Hire a Tax Visitor

Posted on March 08, 2010
Washburn University School of Law seeks to hire a tax visitor for the 2010-11 academic year. For more details or to apply, email Bill Rich.

Brown Presents Automatic Lifetime Income and Retirement Income Security Today at Northwestern

Posted on March 08, 2010
Jeffrey Brown (University of Illinois, College of Business) presents Automatic Lifetime Income as a Path to Retirement Income Security at Northwestern today as part of its Advanced Topics in Taxation Series organized by Tom Brennan and Charlotte Crane...

New House Ways & Means Chair Sander Levin's Tax Problem (Hint: The Same One as Former (1-Day) Chair Pete Stark)

Posted on March 07, 2010
Roll Call, Levin Repays Property Tax Credit: Newly anointed House Ways and Means Chairman Sander Levin (D-Mich.) repaid a Maryland property-tax credit Friday that he should not have received, his office confirmed. Levin, who owns a home in Chevy Chase, Md...

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