The Tenure Tax

Christopher Meskill (J.D. 2010, St. John's), Comment, The Tenure Tax: Social Security Withholdings on Academic Retirement After University of Pittsburgh v. United States, 25 J. Civ. Rts. & Econ. Dev. 937 (2011):

Part I of this Comment lays out the university‟s and the government‟s arguments, as stemming from the vagueness of the Internal Revenue Code and the conflicting revenue rulings that attempted to clarify that vagueness. To do this, Part I discusses the revenue rulings that supported the “wages” argument, as adopted by the Third and Sixth Circuits. Part I also discusses the revenue ruling that supported the “contractual purchase” argument, as adopted by the Eighth Circuit. Part II of this Comment introduces the controversy through the history and policy concerns related to the two interested parties. First, Part II provides the history of Social Security and FICA, the purposes served by Social Security, and the potential problems that face the system in the future. Then, Part II discusses the nature of academic employment in the university, the emphasis placed on tenured employment, the criticism of this system and the long-term status of tenure in American higher education.limit its scope to preclude university tenure purchase agreements based upon substance and policy concerns. Finally, Part III suggests that the IRS revise Revenue Ruling 2004-110 to limit its scope to preclude university tenure purchase agreements based upon substance and policy concerns.