Taxation & Estate Planning

Sasha Obama's Tax Problem

Posted on April 16, 2009
The Onion: 2008 Tax Records Reveal Sasha Obama Made $136 In Allowance Money: Sasha Obama testified before the Senate Committee on Finance this week after it was revealed that the second-grader had collected more than $136 in undisclosed allowance payments...

TPC Hosts Panel Discussion Today on Kids, Families, and Tax Policy

Posted on April 16, 2009
The Tax Policy Center hosts a panel discussion today on Kids, Families, and Tax Policy: Best Friends Forever? at the Katharine Graham Conference Center, Urban Institute 2100 M Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. at 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. A webcast...

IRS Oversight Board Releases Annual Report to Congress

Posted on April 16, 2009
The IRS Oversight Board yesterday released its 2008 Annual Report to Congress: This report has a dual focus: it evaluates the IRS? performance during the past year, but it also looks at the IRS? ability to meet its strategic goals...

L.A. Times: Geithner's Tax Problems Haunt April 15

Posted on April 16, 2009
L.A.Times: At Tax Time, Cases Like Geithner's Raise Pointed Questions: Some taxpayers -- and even some in the IRS -- resent what appears to be a double standard that favors powerful people like Cabinet nominees. (Hat Tip: Ann Murphy.)

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Dueling Tax Opinion Surveys

Posted on April 16, 2009
Gallup: Views of Income Taxes Among Most Positive Since 1956: See also Citizens for Tax Justice, Anti-Tax Sentiment Is Even Weaker than the Polls Suggest; Some Gallup Poll Respondents Saying Income Taxes Are Too High Will Pay No Income Taxes...

Great April 15th Cartoon

Posted on April 16, 2009
Here. (Hat Tip: Ann Murphy.)

Kane Presents Taxation and Global Cap and Trade Today at NYU

Posted on April 16, 2009
Mitchell Kane (NYU) presents Taxation and Global Cap and Trade at NYU today as part of its Colloquium Series on Tax Policy and Public Finance. The co-convenors are Daniel Shaviro (NYU) & Alan Auerbach (UC-Berkeley, Department of Economics).

Mason Presents Tax Expenditures and Global Labor Mobility Today at Northwestern

Posted on April 16, 2009
Ruth Mason (UConn) presents Tax Expenditures and Global Labor Mobility at Northwestern today as part of its Advanced Topics in Taxation Series organized by Tom Brennan and Charlotte Crane. Here is the abstract: Governments often deliver social welfare benefits through...

Ventry Presents Ownership as the Basis of Family Taxation Today at Indiana

Posted on April 16, 2009
Dennis J. Ventry, Jr. (UC-Davis) presents Saving Seaborn: Ownership as the Basis of Family Taxation at Indiana today as part of its Tax Policy Coloquium Series hosted by Leandra Lederman. Here is the abstract: This Article examines the historical and...

Two Law Profs Sue West for Putting Their Names on a "Sham" Supplement to Their Treatise

Posted on April 16, 2009
David Rudovsky (Penn) and Leonard N. Sosnov (Widener) are suing West, claiming that they were falsely identified as the authors of a poorly researched ?sham? supplement to their treatise, Pennsylvania Practice: Criminal Procedure Law, Commentary and Forms...

Cain Presents DOMA and the Internal Revenue Code Today at UCLA

Posted on April 16, 2009
Patricia Cain (Santa Clara) presents DOMA and the Internal Revenue Code at UCLA today as part of its Tax Policy and Public Finance Colloquium Series moderated by Kirk J. Stark and Eric M. Zolt. Here is the Conclusion: My purpose...

Valuing Permanently Reinvested Foreign Earnings

Posted on April 16, 2009
Lisa Bryant?Kutcher (Colorado State University, College of Business), Lisa Eiler (California State University-Fullerton, Mihaylo College of Business and Economics) & David A. Guenther(University of Oregon, Lundquist College of Business) have published Taxes and Financial Assets: Valuing Permanently Reinvested Foreign Earnings,...

Law Prof Blog Rankings

Posted on April 15, 2009
Below are the updated quarterly traffic rankings (visitors and page views) of the Top 35 blogs edited by law professors with publicly available SiteMeters for the most recent 12-month period (April 1, 2008 - March 31, 2009) [click on chart...

Tax Day Tea Party Locations

Posted on April 15, 2009
For a state-by-state list of the more than 750 Tax Day Tea Party locations, see here. Press and blogosphere coverage: Atlanta Journal Constitution (Dick Armey, Karl Frisch) Forbes (Ira Stoll) Fox News Los Angeles Times (Marc Cooper) Wall Street Journal...

Income Tax Burden on Median-Income Families

Posted on April 15, 2009
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has published Federal Tax Burdens for Most Near Their Lowest Levels in Decades: Americans may be surprised to learn that federal tax burdens for most income groups, particularly middle-income households, are near their...

Tax Day Chat With Len Burman

Posted on April 15, 2009
Len Burman, director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, hosts an online web tax chat today moderated by Politico Senior Editor Fred Barbash from 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST today. You can submit questions here.

Why Not Public Disclosure of Tax Returns?

Posted on April 15, 2009
Joseph J. Thorndike has published Show Us the Money on the Tax History Project website: In a few days, President Obama will release his tax returns. So will Vice President Joe Biden and a smattering of other politicians around the...

Five-Year Anniversary of TaxProf Blog

Posted on April 15, 2009
Today (April 15) marks the 5-year anniversary of TaxProf Blog (and the 14-year anniversary of the TaxProf Email Discussion Group). I hope the blog has at least partially succeeded in its mission (announced in my very first post here) to...

Deborah Schenk on NPR

Posted on April 15, 2009
Deborah Schenk (NYU) appeared on NPR's All Things Considered, Tax Expert Says Nearly Everyone Makes A Mistake (listen here): The U.S. tax code is so complex that almost no one can file a tax return without making a mistake, according...

State Tax Collections Fall 4.7% in 4Q 2008; Sales Tax Decline Is Worst in 50 Years

Posted on April 15, 2009
The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government has released Sales Tax Decline in Late 2008 Was the Worst in 50 Years; Early Data for 2009 Show Further, Sharp Drop in Tax Revenues for Most States: Overall state tax collections in...

Tax Credits for Do-It-Yourselfers

Posted on April 15, 2009
Popular Mechanics: How to Clean Up in 2009 With Tax Credits for the DIYer: As 2008 tax day passes, PM looks ahead to 2009, and some of the new tax credits available for homeowners who install efficiency-boosting upgrades this year....

Why Do Nonprofits Have Taxable Subsidiaries?

Posted on April 15, 2009
Michelle H. Yetman & Robert J. Yetman (both of University of California-Davis, Graduate School of Management) have published Why Do Nonprofits Have Taxable Subsidiaries?, 61 Nat'l Tax J. 675 (2008). Here is the abstract: Nonprofit organizations operate taxable activities in...

WSJ's Tom Herman Retires Today

Posted on April 15, 2009
Tom Herman, author of the Wall Street Journal's weekly Tax Report column for 16 years, announced his retirement today: [T]his will be my final Tax Report as a full-time staffer for The Wall Street Journal, which I joined after graduating...

Obama and Biden Release Tax Returns

Posted on April 15, 2009
President Obama and Vice-President Biden today released their 2008 tax returns: Obama: Press Release Federal Income Tax Return Federal Gift Tax Return Illinois Income Tax Return Biden: Press Release Federal Income Tax Return Delaware Income Tax Return Here are charts...

Galle Presents Hidden Taxes Today at Michigan

Posted on April 14, 2009
Brian D. Galle (Florida State) presents Hidden Taxes, 86 Wash. U. L. Rev. ___ (2009), today at Michigan as part of its Tax Policy Workshop Series hosted by Reuven S. Avi-Yonah. Here is the abstract: The idea of hidden taxes...

Ventry: Saving Seaborn: Ownership as the Basis of Family Taxation

Posted on April 14, 2009
Dennis J. Ventry, Jr. (UC-Davis) has posted Saving Seaborn: Ownership as the Basis of Family Taxation on SSRN. Here is the abstract: This Article examines the historical and jurisprudential development of the principle that ownership determines federal taxation of families...

Why Faculty Are Like AIG Executives

Posted on April 14, 2009
Today's Inside Higher Ed: Incentivizing Failure: AIG and the Academy, by Christoph Knoess (Founder, Engaged Minds): America is up in arms about bonuses for AIG executives who raked up astronomical losses that have (almost) brought our economy to its knees...

Citizens for Tax Justice Reports

Posted on April 14, 2009
Is "Tax Day" Too Burdensome for the Rich? The U.S. Tax System Is Not as Progressive as You Think (4/13/09) Answers to Your Tax Day Questions (4/13/09) Do the Rich Really Pay Over a Third of Their Income in Federal...

Thin Markets and Property Tax Inequities

Posted on April 14, 2009
Daniel P.McMillen (University of Illinois-Chicago, Department of Economics) & Rachel N. Weber (University of Illinois-Chicago, Department of Urban Planning and Policy) have published Thin Markets and Property Tax Inequities: A Multinomial Logit Approach, 61 Nat'l Tax J...

NYSSCPA Proposes SET Tax

Posted on April 14, 2009
The New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) yesterday unveiled a plan to overhaul and radically simplify the income tax: the Simplified Exact Transparent (SET) Tax is a reform proposal that replaces our current tax code with a...

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