TaxProf Blog

TPC Hosts Program Today on 100 Years of the Federal Income Tax

The Tax Policy Center hosts a lunch time program today (12:00-1:30 p.m. EST) on Happy Anniversary? 100 Years of the Federal Income Tax (webcast here):

One hundred years ago this month, the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving Congress the “power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” And for 100 years, the income tax has been both soap box and whipping post for innumerable debates over the role and resources of government, the relationship of the electorate to the elected, and fairness, favor, and confusion in the tax code.

• Howard Gleckman (Urban Institute; Editor TaxVox blog) (moderator)
• Nina Olson (National Taxpayer Advocate, IRS)
• Eugene Steuerle (Urban Institute; author, Contemporary U.S. Tax Policy)
• Joseph Thorndike (Director, Tax History Project; author, Their Fair Share: Taxing the Rich in the Age of FDR)
• Eric Toder (Co-Director, Tax Policy Center)

Graetz: Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration

Michael J. Graetz (Columbia), Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration, 138 Tax Notes 631 (Feb. 4, 2013):

Graetz delivered this speech January 18 as the keynote address at a conference cosponsored by Pepperdine Law School and Tax Analysts.

All Tax Analysts content is available through the LexisNexis® services.

Using the Estate Tax to Curb Inequality and Spur Economic Growth

Amy S. Elliott, Raising the Estate Tax Will Spur Economic Growth, Caron Argue, 138 Tax Notes 552 (Feb. 4, 2013):

Paul L. Caron, Pepperdine University visiting law professor and author of the TaxProf blog, said he has a proposal that will please right-leaning deficit hawks and left-leaning redistributionists, all while spurring economic growth. He suggests raising the federal estate tax.

Presented January 30 as the luncheon keynote address to tax practitioners attending estate planning sessions at the University of Southern California's annual tax institute in Los Angeles, the proposal was not roundly embraced. But its foundation -- that inequality hinders economic growth -- is intriguing.

The proposal is outlined in a paper by James Repetti of Boston College and Caron that was first presented at a January 18 symposium cosponsored by Pepperdine and Tax Analysts on tax advice for the second Obama administration. (Prior coverage here. The paper -- Occupy the Tax Code: Using the Estate Tax to Reduce Inequality -- is available here.)

In the paper, Caron and Repetti review 36 studies examining the relationship between concentrations of income and economic performance. Nineteen of the empirical studies examined a period of at least 15 years. All were published between 1992 and 2012. Thirty of the studies and all of the 19 long-term studies found a negative correlation between inequality and economic growth. In one study of 16 industrialized countries, the two countries with the highest inequality in 1980 (Australia and the United States) were also the two countries with the lowest labor productivity growth in the ensuing decade.

"We're hopeful that we can somehow get the left and the right to agree that it's in both of their interests to decrease inequality," Caron said. Doing so would not only reduce adverse health and social consequences such as low life expectancy, illiteracy, homicides, imprisonment, mental illness, and obesity, but would also contribute to economic growth, he said, adding that more tax revenue could help decrease the nation's debt. "Using the tax law -- especially the estate tax -- is the least painful way to achieve that," Caron said.

The paper cites a study suggesting that as inherited wealth (as opposed to self-made wealth) constitutes a larger fraction of a country's GDP, per capita GDP grows more slowly. Using IRS Statistics of Income data, it provides evidence suggesting that the estate tax significantly reduces the size of the nation's largest estates and therefore their ability to pass down that wealth to heirs. U.S. estates exceeding a value of $20 million transferred more than 13 percent of their gross values to the federal government in 2010.

The paper debunks the commonly held notion that the estate tax discourages savings, saying it isn't supported by either economic theory or empirical evidence. And it provides estimates by Massachusetts Institute of Technology economics professor James Poterba showing that the effective impact of the federal estate tax is very low -- between 0.1 and 0.5 percent -- during the period when a person is likely to create most of his wealth (under age 70).

While the paper does not specify how to raise the estate tax, Caron told practitioners that the most effective reforms would be those that are "grand and ambitious" -- like taxing capital gains at death and repealing section 1014 to eliminate stepped-up basis at death.

"Recent evidence would suggest that the time isn't right for that kind of a big deal," Caron said. "So a more modest approach would instead deploy what we already have with the estate tax and just go back to 2009, where the exemption was $3.5 million and the top rate was 45 percent."

Caron said that while that "more modest and perhaps more doable" approach would raise only about $125 billion over 10 years, "that's at least a start on both the revenue front and also the equality front."

All Tax Analysts content is available through the LexisNexis® services.

USC Tax Institute

The USC Gould School of Law Tax Institute concludes today with its Estate Planning session.  I am honored to deliver the keynote address on  Occupy the Tax Code: Using the Estate Tax to Reduce Inequality, 40 Pepp. L. Rev. ___ (2013) (with James R. Repetti (Boston College)):

Inequality has been increasing in the United States. We should care about this increase because inequality contributes to a variety of adverse social consequences that persist across generations. There is also substantial empirical evidence that inequality has a long-term negative impact on economic growth.

For many decades, federal tax policy has played an important role in reducing inequality, although the impact of federal taxes on inequality has waxed and waned depending on the focus of elected officials. We argue that the estate tax is a particularly apt vehicle to reduce inequality because inheritances are a major source of wealth among the rich, and studies suggest that inherited wealth has a more deleterious impact on economic growth than inequality caused by self-made wealth. Although there are loopholes in the estate tax, it is still effective in moderating the amount of wealth that is passed within a family from generation to generation.

The major criticism about the estate tax—that it discourages savings—is inaccurate. Standard tax theory cannot predict the impact of the estate tax on savings and the empirical evidence is mixed. Moreover, the estate tax has a less harmful impact on savings than the income tax for two reasons. First, the event that triggers estate tax liability—death—is ignored by taxpayers during the period of life in which they are likely to be most productive. Second, the expected value of the estate tax’s effective rate is quite low during the period of life in which most taxpayers create wealth.

Other speakers today include:

• Ronald D. Aucutt (McGuireWoods, Tysons Corner, VA)
• M. Katharine Davidson (Holland & Knight, Los Angeles)
• Jeffrey N. Pennell (Emory University School of Law)
• Scott S. Small (Wells Fargo, Philadelphia)
• Diana S.C. Zeydel (Greenberg Traurig, Miami)

USC Tax Institute

The USC Gould School of Law Tax Institute continues today with its Partnerships, Individual, and Ethics session. Kathryn Keneally (Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice) delivers the keynote address on Tax Issues of Interest to the Department of Justice. Among the other speakers today are:

• Michael D. Fernhoff (Proskauer, New York)
• David L. Friedline (Ernst & Young, New York)
• David B. Goldman (Munger, Tolles & Olson, Los Angeles)
• James M. Lowy (Ernst & Young, San Francisco)
• Blake D. Rubin (McDermott Will & Emery, Washington, D.C.)
• Robert D. Schachat (Ernst & Young, Washington, D.C.)
• Raj Tanden (Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo, Los Angeles)
• Larry Varellas (Deloitte Tax, San Francisco)
• Thomas S. Wisialowski (Paul Hastings, Palo Alto)

Goulder: The Pepperdine Papers: International Tax Advice for Obama's Second Term

Robert Goulder (Tax Analysts), The Pepperdine Papers: Advice for Obama's Second Term:

Last week, the Pepperdine Law Review hosted a unique policy forum: Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration. The event was organized by Professor Paul Caron and cosponsored by Tax Analysts. Three of the featured papers addressed international reforms and are highlighted below. You can read a synopsis of the Pepperdine conference on Professor Caron's web site, TaxProfBlog and view the video here [list of papers here].

Professor Reuven Avi-Yonah (University of Michigan) segmented his advice chronologically [Corporate and International Tax Reform: Proposals for the Second Obama Administration]. ...  Avi-Yonah claims his recommendations (even the minimum tax on foreign profits) do not necessarily conflict with the business sector's demand for a territorial system. It's possible, he says, to achieve territoriality via an inbound dividend exemption — but only after (i) some minimum level of tax has been paid on foreign profits, and (ii) transfer pricing leakage has been fixed. What's most thought-provoking about his paper is the notion that those two reforms might actually enable a shift to a territorial system.

Professor Susan Morse (UC Hastings College of Law) placed the spotlight on aggressive transfer pricing [The Transfer Pricing Regs Need a Good Edit]. She says the task of allocating income and deductions among the foreign affiliates of a large multinational will remain problematic regardless of whether Congress adopts a territorial system. She warns that pressure on current transfer pricing rules will intensify under a territorial regime. ...

Finally, Professor Allison Christians (McGill University) spoke of recent seismic shifts in international taxation [Putting the Reign Back in Sovereign: Advice for the Second Obama Administration ]. As she sees it, the onset of FATCA (the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) and EITI (the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) reflect the mercenary tendencies of the nation state to assert jurisdiction in ways formerly thought untenable. Christians embraces the notion of information exchange, in theory, but questions whether the compliance burdens are reasonable. Reciprocity remains a legitimate issue. It can be argued that dual-resident Canadian nationals are hard done by FATCA. Personally, I consider her discussion of EITI as the revelation of the conference. Few tax professionals are even aware of the regime's existence. Bravo to Professor Christians for highlighting the issue and framing the issue in such an insightful manner. 

USC Tax Institute

The three-day USC Gould School of Law Tax Institute kicks off today with its Business Tax Planning session.  Pamela F. Olson (Former Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy, U.S. Department of Treasury; U.S. Deputy Tax Leader and Washington National Tax Services Leader, PricewaterhouseCoppers, Washington, D.C.) delivers the keynote address on The Impact of Transparency on Corporate Taxes, Tax Administration, and Prospects for Tax Reform. Among the other speakers today are:

• William D. Alexander (Associate Chief Counsel, IRS)
• Michael Beinus (Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York)
• Grace M.L. Chen (Latham & Watkins, San Francisco)
• James L. Dahlberg (Deloitte Tax, Washington, D.C.)
• Deborah L. Paul (Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York)
• David M. Rievman (Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York)
• Mark J. Silverman (Steptoe & Johnson, Washington, D.C.)
• Dale A. Spiegel, Jr. (Ernst & Young, Washington, D.C.)
• Lewis Steinberg (Credit Suisse, New York)
• J. Leonard Teti II (Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York)

ABA Tax Section Midyear Meeting

The ABA Tax Section midyear meeting concluded yesterday in Orlando. The full program is here. Tax Profs with speaking roles included:

• Diversity:  Lily Kahng (Seattle)
• Employee Benefits:  Kathryn Kennedy (John Marshall)
• Foreign Activities of U.S. Taxpayers:  Robert Peroni (Texas)
• Individual & Family Taxation and Pro Bono & Tax Clinics:  Stephen Black (Texas Tech), Keith Fogg (Villanova), Francine Lipman (UNLV), Beth Lyon (Villanova), David Rice (California Polytechnic), Kathryn Sedo (Minnesota), Carlton Smith (Cardozo)
• Sales, Exchanges & Basis:  Bradley Borden (Brooklyn), Erik Jensen (Case Western), Steve Johnson (Florida State), Chris Pietruszkiewicz (Stetson)
• Standards of Tax Practice and Tax Practice Management:  Patricia Cain (Santa Clara), Linda Galler (Hofstra), Michael Lang (Chapman), David Rice (California Polytechnic)
• Teaching Taxation:  Adam Chodorow (Arizona State), Elaine Hightower Gagliardi (Montana), Tracy Kaye (Seton Hall), Roberta Mann (Oregon), Henry Ordower (St. Louis), Martin McMahon (Florida), Ira Shepard (Houston)

More on the Pepperdine/Tax Analysts Symposium: Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration

William Hoffman, Globalization Poses New Challenges for Tax Reform, 2013 TNT 15-9 (Jan. 23, 2013):

The effects of globalization and international competition on the U.S. economy and the government's fiscal condition will require any tax reform effort made in the coming months to be much different from past efforts, panelists said January 18 during a conference cosponsored by Pepperdine University and Tax Analysts.

"There is no pot of gold from which to finance tax reform," Columbia Law School professor Michael Graetz said at the Malibu, Calif., conference, titled Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration. Drafters of the 1986 reforms helped finance lower individual tax rates by repealing tax benefits for plants and equipment, limiting tax shelters, and equalizing rates for capital gains and income, Graetz said. That won't be possible this time. "Given internationalization of economic activity and increased competition from abroad, repeating the 1986 act's reliance on increased taxation of corporate income is not, in my view, possible," Graetz said. "Given the size of the national debt and projected increases in that debt for the near and long-term future, it seems essential for tax reform to be capable of producing additional revenues going forward." ...

Tax professors and professionals presented research and offered their take on business and international tax matters, estate and gift taxes, income and wealth inequality, and the balance between fairness and growth during a one-day symposium organized by Pepperdine University law professor Paul Caron, author of TaxProf blog, and Tax Analysts. Most participants agreed that if there is any big reform coming, high- and middle-income earners will likely see their taxes rise -- although the former will have more opportunities than the latter to escape the burden. ...

"The 800-pound gorilla in the room is wealth," said Edward McCaffery of the University of Southern California Gould School of Law. [Distracted from Distraction by Distraction: Reimagining Estate Tax Reform ] "I think we have to go after wealth. I don't think any major tax reform in America has gone after wealth. What we're doing is shoring up the income tax as a wage tax, or maybe making it more progressive, but we're not getting at wealth at all. And I think we have to do something." ...

Several speakers took aim at the $5 million estate tax exemption and the section 1014 rule regarding stepped-up basis on death. "The $5 million exemption for estate and gift [taxes], and especially for generation-skipping transfer taxes, makes no sense at all," said Grayson M.P. McCouch of the University of San Diego School of Law. [Who Killed the Rule Against Perpetuities?] "By opening a $5 million exemption, coupled with unlimited basis stepped up at death, we have basically just opened up a huge giveaway to not even the middle class but to more than 99% of decedents to just escape the basic income tax . . . and we've pulled away what used to be a substantial countervailing tax that offset the benefit of that step. And that, I think, is hard to defend." One possible reform would be to prospectively curtail the $5 million exemption, at least for long-term trusts, McCouch said.

McCaffery called for repeal of the stepped-up basis rule. In 2010, he said, taxpayers had the option of either no estate tax and a carryover basis or a $5-million-per-person exemption and a stepped-up basis. "The overwhelming majority of decedents chose the latter," he said. "Stepped-up basis is very big, very important, [and] it's always been linked to the estate tax."

Joseph J. Thorndike, director of Tax Analysts' Tax History Project and a contributing editor of Tax Notes, said the estate tax might be "irrelevant" for revenue and progressivity purposes (as Caron argued in a paper coauthored with James Repetti of Boston College [Occupy the Tax Code: Using the Estate Tax to Reduce Inequality]), but it's likely not yet dead politically. The estate tax addresses wealth inequality indirectly, while "efforts to address inequality head on -- as in 'these people are just too damn rich and other people are too damn poor' -- are historically not successful in the United States," he said. 

All Tax Analysts content is available through the LexisNexis® services.

Kleinbard Presents Why Tax Revenues Must Rise at Today's NYSBA Tax Section Annual Meeting

Edward D. Kleinbard (USC) presents Why Tax Revenues Must Rise as the luncheon speaker at today's New York State Bar Association Tax Section Annual Meeting:

This PowerPoint presentation reviews the fiscal picture of the United States in light of the resolution of the "fiscal cliff" controversy. The presentation argues that, while long-term trends in mandatory spending (entitlements programs) must be addressed directly, any meaningful modifications of these programs of necessity will be phased in very slowly, and in the meantime the large deficits that the United States will incur must be financed. The presentation demonstrates that over a 10-year horizon (the standard Congressional budget window), further government spending cuts are unrealistic, and tax revenues must rise to finance government operations. If one rules out new taxes (VAT, carbon tax), then the most efficient sources of additional tax revenues are tax expenditures -- in particular, personal itemized deductions.

Pepperdine/Tax Analysts Symposium Wrap-Up: Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration

Thanks to everyone who participated in Friday's Pepperdine/Tax Analysts Symposium on Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration. By any measure, it was spectacular success. We smashed attendance records, as Pepperdine had to open two overflow rooms to handle the crowds. Over 600 people have watched the video of the event:

Each and every one of our tax academics, practitioners, journalists, and authors did a first-rate job:

• Keynote Address:  Michael Graetz (Columbia)
• Papers:  Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan), Steve Bank (UCLA), Dorothy Brown (Emory), Karen Burke (San Diego/Florida), Paul Caron (Cincinnati/Pepperdine), Allison Christians (McGill), Francine Lipman (UNLV), Ed McCaffery (USC), Grayson McCouch (San Diego/Florida), Susan Morse (UC-Hastings), Jim Repetti (Boston College), Kirk Stark (UCLA), Marty Sullivan (Tax Analysts), Eric Zolt (UCLA)
• Commentators:  Bruce Bartlett (former Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary for Economic Policy), Bob Goulder (Tax Analysts), David Miller (Cadwalader), Michael Schler (Cravath), Joe Thorndike (Tax Analysts)
• Moderators:  Tom Bost (Pepperdine), David Brunori (Tax Analysts), Paul Caron (Cincinnati/Pepperdine), Khrista Johnson (Pepperdine)
• Luncheon and Closing Addresses:  David Cay Johnston (author and journalist)

The papers will be published in the Pepperdine Law Review (Volume 40, Issue 5 (May 2013)), and I will of course post the links on TaxProf Blog as soon as they are available. In the meantime, seven of the papers are available in draft form on SSRN.

My special thanks to Deanell Tacha (Dean of Pepperdine Law School) and Chris Bergin (President of Tax Analysts) who agreed to co-sponsor the symposium. As Dean Tacha pointed out at Friday's dinner, the challenges facing legal education demand that we find creative ways to partner with other organizations. I believe that this symposium is a wonderful example of the benefits possible with such partnerships.

This is the third symposium I have organized, and I have participated in many others. I join the many speakers who began their remarks by praising the Pepperdine Law Review students for pulling off the best-run symposium that any of us have ever attended.  Many, many students provided tireless and cheerful service, but I want to give particular shout-outs to Editor in Chief Margot Parmenter and Symposium Editor Michael Wood.

It goes without saying that the gorgeous Pepperdine campus and Malibu weather provided a wonderful setting, but I knew it would be the people of this special law school who would make this a truly memorable experience for our guests. My lasting memory from the symposium will be the two "after-parties" my wife and I hosted at our home, where these leading lights of the tax world shared food, drink, conversation, and true community -- an unfortunately all too rare event in our hectic lives.

Free Live Webcast Today: Pepperdine/Tax Analysts Symposium: Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration

Check out the free live webcast of the symposium on Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration beginning at 8:45 a.m. PST. And follow live tweets using the #ObamaTaxAdvice hashtag via @SoCalTaxProf, @PeppLawReview, and @TaxAnalysts. Questions for speakers can be tweeted to @PeppLawReview. 

Introduction and Welcome

• Deanell Tacha (Dean, Pepperdine)
• Chris Bergin (President, Tax Analysts)

Keynote Address:  Michael Graetz (Columbia)

Occupy the Tax Code:  The Buffett Rule, the 1%, and the Fairness/Growth Divide

Moderator:      David Brunori (Tax Analysts)

Papers:           Dorothy Brown (Emory), The 535 Report: A Pathway to Fundamental Tax Reform
                         Francine Lipman (UNLV), Access to Tax InJustice
                         Kirk Stark (UCLA) (with Eric Zolt (UCLA)), Tax Reform and the American Middle Class

Commentary:  Bruce Bartlett (New York Times), David Miller (Cadwalader, New York)

Estate and Gift Tax

Moderator:      Paul Caron (Cincinnati/Pepperdine)

Papers:           Ed McCaffery (USC), Distracted from Distraction by Distraction: Reimagining Estate Tax Reform
                         Grayson McCouch (San Diego), Who Killed the Rule Against Perpetuities?
                         Jim Repetti (BC) (with Paul Caron), Occupy the Tax Code: Using the Estate Tax to Reduce Inequality

Commentary:  Joe Thorndike (Tax Analysts)

Luncheon Address:   David Cay Johnston (author/journalist)

Business/International Tax #1

Moderator:     Tom Bost (Pepperdine)

Papers:          Steve Bank (UCLA), The Globalization of Corporate Tax Reform
                         Karen Burke (San Diego), Passthrough Entities: The Missing Link in Business Tax Reform
                         Martin Sullivan (Tax Analysts)

Commentary:  Michael Schler (Cravath, New York)

Business/International Tax #2

Moderator:     Khrista McCarden (Pepperdine)

Papers:          Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan), Corporate and International Tax Reform: Proposals for the Second Obama Administration
                        Allison Christians (McGill), Putting the Reign Back in Sovereign: Advice for the Second Obama Administration
                        Susan Morse (UC-Hastings), The Transfer Pricing Regs Need a Good Edit

Commentary:  Robert Goulder (Tax Analysts)

Closing Remarks:  What Have We Learned Today?:   David Cay Johnston (author/journalist)

Cato Hosts Book Forum Today on Tamanaha's Failing Law Schools

The Cato Institute hosts a Book Forum today at noon EST (free live webcast here) on Brian Tamanaha (Washington U.), Failing Law Schools (University of Chicago Press, 2012)):

For decades, American law schools enjoyed one of the world’s great winning streaks. Amid swelling enrollments and what seemed an insatiable demand for new lawyers, they went on a spree of expansion; even as tuitions soared, the schools basked in an air of public-interest rectitude symbolized by Yale law dean Harold Koh’s description of his institution as a “Republic of Conscience.” Then came the Great Recession—and a great reckoning. New graduates were unable to find decently paying legal jobs even as they staggered under enormous debt burdens; it became impossible to ignore long-standing complaints from the world of legal practice that the law curriculum does not train students well in much of what lawyers do; and creative efforts to reduce the cost of law school were stymied by an accreditation process that closely constrains the format of legal education. In Failing Law Schools, one of the most talked-of books in years about higher education, Brian Tamanaha of Washington University has written a devastating critique of what went wrong with the American law school and what can be done to fix it. None of the key contributors to the problem—faculty self-interest, university administrators’ myopia, cartel-like accreditation—escape unscathed in his analysis.

Also appearing with author Brian Tamanaha:

• Paul Campos (Colorado; author, Don’t Go To Law School (Unless))
• Neal McCluskey (Cato Institute)
• Walter Olson (Cato Institute; author, Schools for Misrule: Legal Academia and an Overlawyered America)

Other reviews of Failing Law Schools:

• Jennifer Bard (Texas Tech)
• Ray Campbell (Peking University School of Transnational Law)
• Jim Chen (Former Dean, Louisville)
• Chronicle of Higher Education
• Ronald Den Otter (California Polytechnic State)
• Stanley Fish (Florida International)
• David Fontana (George Washington)
• Scott Greenfield (here and here)
• Bill Henderson (Indiana)
• Paul Horwitz (Alabama)
• Orin Kerr (George Washington)
• Brian Leiter (Chicago)
• Deborah Jones Merritt (Ohio State)
• Andy Morriss (Alabama)
• National Law Journal
• Philip Schrag (Georgetown)
• Robert Steinbuch (Arkansas-Little Rock)
• Washington Post

Free Live Webcast: Pepperdine/Tax Analysts Symposium -- Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration

For those unable to join us in Malibu this Friday (Jan. 18) for our symposium on Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration: please check out the free live webcast beginning at 8:45 a.m. PST:

Introduction and Welcome

• Deanell Tacha (Dean, Pepperdine)
• Chris Bergin (President, Tax Analysts)

Keynote Address:  Michael Graetz (Columbia)

Occupy the Tax Code:  The Buffett Rule, the 1%, and the Fairness/Growth Divide

Moderator:      David Brunori (Tax Analysts)

Papers:           Dorothy Brown (Emory), The 535 Report: A Pathway to Fundamental Tax Reform
                         Francine Lipman (UNLV), Access to Tax InJustice
                         Kirk Stark (UCLA) (with Eric Zolt (UCLA)), Tax Reform and the American Middle Class

Commentary:  Bruce Bartlett (New York Times), David Miller (Cadwalader, New York)

Estate and Gift Tax

Moderator:      Paul Caron (Cincinnati/Pepperdine)

Papers:           Ed McCaffery (USC), Distracted from Distraction by Distraction: Reimagining Estate Tax Reform
                         Grayson McCouch (San Diego), Who Killed the Rule Against Perpetuities?
                         Jim Repetti (BC) (with Paul Caron), Occupy the Tax Code: Using the Estate Tax to Reduce Inequality

Commentary:  Joe Thorndike (Tax Analysts)

Luncheon Address:   David Cay Johnston (author/journalist)

Business/International Tax #1

Moderator:     Tom Bost (Pepperdine)

Papers:          Steve Bank (UCLA), The Globalization of Corporate Tax Reform
                         Karen Burke (San Diego), Passthrough Entities: The Missing Link in Business Tax Reform
                         Martin Sullivan (Tax Analysts)

Commentary:  Michael Schler (Cravath, New York)

Business/International Tax #2

Moderator:     Khrista McCarden (Pepperdine)

Papers:          Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan), Corporate and International Tax Reform: Proposals for the Second Obama Administration
                        Allison Christians (McGill), Putting the Reign Back in Sovereign: Advice for the Second Obama Administration
                        Susan Morse (UC-Hastings), The Transfer Pricing Regs Need a Good Edit

Commentary:  Robert Goulder (Tax Analysts)

Closing Remarks:  What Have We Learned Today?:   David Cay Johnston (author/journalist)

Call for Tax Papers: Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum

Harvard, Stanford, and Yale Law Schools have issued a call for tax papers for the fourteenth annual Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum to be held at Yale Law School on June 14-15, 2013:

The Forum’s objective is to encourage the work of young scholars by providing experience in the pursuit of scholarship and the nature of the scholarly exchange. Meetings are held each spring, rotating at Yale, Stanford, and Harvard. Ten to twelve scholars (with one to seven years in teaching) will be chosen on a blind basis from among those submitting papers to present. One or more senior scholars, not necessarily from Yale, Stanford, or Harvard, will comment on each paper. The audience will include the invited young scholars, faculty from the host institutions, and invited guests. The goal is discourse on both the merits of particular papers and on appropriate methodologies for doing work in that genre. We hope that comment and discussion will communicate what counts as good work among successful senior scholars and will also challenge and improve the standards that now obtain. The Forum also hopes to increase the sense of community among American legal scholars generally, particularly among new and veteran professors.

Each year the Forum invites submissions on selected topics in public and private law, legal philosophy, and gender and race theory, alternating loosely between public law and humanities subjects in one year, and private and dispute resolution law in the next. For the upcoming 2013 meeting, the topics will cover these areas of the law [including tax]. ...

A jury of accomplished scholars, again not necessarily from Yale, Stanford or Harvard, with expertise in the particular topic, will choose the papers to be presented. There is no publication commitment, nor is published work eligible. Yale, Stanford, or Harvard will pay presenters’ and commentators’ travel expenses.

There is no limit on the number of submissions by any individual author. To be eligible, an author must be teaching at a U.S. law school in a tenured or tenure-track position and must not have been teaching at either of those ranks for a total of more than 7 years. We accept co-authored submissions, but each of the coauthors must be individually eligible to participate in the JFF.

Electronic submissions should be sent to Marguerite Camera. The deadline for submissions is Friday, March 15, 2013. ... Inquiries concerning the Forum should be sent to Ian Ayres at Yale Law School, Joseph Bankman at Stanford Law School, or Adriaan Lani at Harvard law School.

Registration Closes Today for Pepperdine/Tax Analysts Symposium: Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration

Today is the final day to register to attend our symposium next Friday (Jan. 18) on Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration in Malibu. (So far, over 100 folks have registered for the symposium.)

Introduction and Welcome

• Deanell Tacha (Dean, Pepperdine)
• Chris Bergin (President, Tax Analysts)

Keynote Address:  Michael Graetz (Columbia)

Occupy the Tax Code:  The Buffett Rule, the 1%, and the Fairness/Growth Divide

Moderator:       David Brunori (Tax Analysts)

Papers:            Dorothy Brown (Emory), Francine Lipman (UNLV), Kirk Stark (UCLA) (with Eric Zolt (UCLA))

Commentary:  Bruce Bartlett (New York Times), David Miller (Cadwalader, New York)

Estate and Gift Tax

Moderator:       Paul Caron (Cincinnati/Pepperdine)

Papers:            Ed McCaffery (USC), Grayson McCouch (San Diego), Jim Repetti (BC) (with Paul Caron)

Commentary:  Joe Thorndike (Tax Analysts)

Luncheon Address:   David Cay Johnston (author/journalist)

Business/International Tax #1

Moderator:       Tom Bost (Pepperdine)

Papers:            Steve Bank (UCLA), Karen Burke (San Diego), Martin Sullivan (Tax Analysts)

Commentary:  Michael Schler (Cravath, New York)

Business/International Tax #2

Moderator:       Khrista McCarden (Pepperdine)

Papers:            Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan), Allison Christians (McGill), Susan Morse (UC-Hastings)

Commentary:  Robert Goulder (Tax Analysts)

Closing Remarks:  What Have We Learned Today?:   David Cay Johnston (author/journalist)

AALS Annual Meeting Wrap-Up

I spent my final two days at the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans at two board meetings:  the LexisNexis Law School Publishing Advisory Board and the Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) Board of Directors.   I was struck by the many initiatives being undertaken by these for-profit and non-profit groups to address the serious cost issue facing legal education, which I previously discussed in The Law School Crisis: What Would Jimmy McMillan Do? (more here). I plan to blog these initiatives as they are rolled out in the coming months.

Today's AALS Annual Meeting Highlights

Today's highlights at the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans:

Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) Breakfast and Annual Members Meeting (7:15-8:30 a.m.) (Hilton, River Room, 2nd Floor)

Section on Taxation:  Does the U.S. Need a VAT? (2:00-3:45 p.m.) (Hilton, Rosedown, 3rd Floor):

• Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan) (moderator)
• Itai Grinberg (Georgetown)
• Calvin H. Johnson (Texas)
• Victor Thuronyi (Senior Counsel, International Monetary Fund)

The United States faces a looming fiscal crisis that threatens to undermine its ability to sustain the social safety net (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid). This session will feature a debate on whether the U.S. can deal with its budget deficit without enacting a VAT, as every other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and most other countries have done. Professor Johnson will argue that the deficit can be closed by raising more revenue from the existing income tax. Professor Grinberg will argue that a VAT is a necessary part of the solution, especially if it can be used to replace part of the existing income tax.

Today's AALS Annual Meeting Highlights

Today's highlights at the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans:

Hot Topic Program: Transparency Revisited: New Data, New Directions (8:30 a.m.-10:15 a.m.) (Hilton, Grand Ballroom D, First Floor):

• Ben Trachtenberg (Missouri) (moderator)
• Deborah J. Merritt (Ohio State)
• Scott F. Norberg (Deputy Consultant, ABA Section on Legal Education and Admission to the Bar)
• Jerome M. Organ (U. St. Thomas)
• Jeffrey E. Stake (Indiana)

Over the last two years, pressure has mounted for law schools to disclose more detailed employment statistics. High-profile incidents also generated concern about inaccurate - and even intentionally falsified - admissions data released by law schools. These events led most law schools to embrace a new era of transparency, one in which they attempt to publish more accurate and extensive statistics.

Recent events, however, have demonstrated that transparency creates as many issues as it resolves. Should the ABA audit statistics published by law schools? How should new ABA rules be interpreted and enforced? Should the AALS publish best practices for schools to follow? Does (or should) publishing misleading data violate legal ethics rules? Do law schools have an obligation to move beyond existing data and gather longitudinal information about the success of their graduates? As schools attempt to tap new applicant pools (such as foreign students, second-career, and dual-degree candidates), what information should they provide to those prospective students? What information should accompany scholarship offers? Should NALP, the ABA, or individual law schools publish job outcomes differentiated by race, gender, age, and/or disability status? And how might new disclosures actually affect the behavior of prospective law students—what information matters to applicants? 

Joint Program of Sections on Aging and the Law and Trusts and Estates:  Trusts and Estates, and an Aging Population: What We Need to Know and Teach (10:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m.) (Hilton, Belle Chasse, Third Floor):

• Susan E. Cancelosi (Wayne State) (co-moderator)
• Nina A. Kohn (Syracuse) (co-moderator)
• Barry Kozak (John Marshall) (co-moderator)
• William P. LaPiana (New York Law School) (co-moderaor)
• Lenore S. Davis (Law Offices of Lenore S. Davis, New York)
• Lawrence A. Frolik (Pittsburgh)
• Richard L. Kaplan (Illinois)
• Katherine C. Pearson (Penn State)
• Michael L. Perlin (New York Law School)
• Mary F. Radford (Georgia State)
• Robert Whitman (Connecticut) (speaker from Call for Papers)

While many aspects of an estate and trust practice harmonize with an elder law practice, the fit is not always perfect: there are some distinct legal, practical, and ethical issues about which attorneys from the two disciplines often have conflicting views. In many law schools, where classes in both areas are offered as electives, the professors who teach one of the topics never talks to the professors who teach the other, and students are often left wondering how to reconcile the different planning, litigation, and counseling strategies taught in each class. This joint session is designed to help teachers in one area better understand the other so that all of us can improve our syllabi, forms of instruction, selection of guest instructors, and methods of assessment to better reflect the skill set needed by future attorneys. The first panel will look at mental capacity issues and conflicts between typical provisions of estate and trust documents and elder law documents. The second panel will explore conflicts of interest faced by family members who are beneficiaries named in trust and estate documents and are also agents, guardians or conservators under documents such as durable powers of attorney and as court appointed fiduciaries. The third panel will highlight some emerging conflicts with trust protector clauses in trust and estate documents with the needs of the grantor while still alive and possibly in need of expensive long term care management.

Today at AALS: Tax and Wine

I am off to the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Today's tax highlight is the Section on Socio-Economics program on Socio-Economic Strategies for Economic Prosperity:

Concurrent Session:  Socio-Economic Perspectives on Tax Policy (3:30-4:20 p.m) (Hilton, Belle Chasse, 3rd Floor):

• I. Richard Gershon (Mississippi)
• David Cay Johnston (Columnist and Author)
• Thomas Murphy (Director, Derivatives & Risk Analytics Practice, Berkeley Research Group)
• Shu-Yi Oei (Tulane)

Concluding Plenary Session:  Changing the Economic Debate (4:30-5:15 p.m) (Hilton, Belle Chasse, 3rd Floor):  David Cay Johnston

Today's social highlight is the Tour de California Wine Tasting Reception hosted by Pepperdine (6:00-8:30 p.m) (Westin, Magnolia II, 3rd Floor).  I hope to see you there!

AHA Panel: Taxation and American Politics

The American Historical Association is holding its 127th Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Here is this afternoon's tax panel:  Taxation and American Politics: A Roundtable to Commemorate the One-Hundredth Anniversary of the Income Tax in America:

The year 2013 marks the 100^th anniversary of the ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment, which gave Congress the power to create a federal income tax and forever altered how the federal government raises revenue.  As anniversaries go, this one will likely pass without much notice, swamped as it will be by commemorations of the Battle of Gettysburg and the Emancipation Proclamation.  Yet the nation’s politics are increasingly shaped by the partisan politics of taxation.  The purpose of this roundtable session, which gathers together a distinguished group of political and economic historians, is to use this anniversary to consider the historical importance of taxation to American politics and to provide historical perspective on our current taxation debates.  Panelists will draw from their research on taxation and American slavery, the Progressive era origins of income taxation, the postwar politics of taxation, and the relationship between tax policy and America’s second Gilded Age to discuss the history of taxation, its role in American state-building, and its contemporary valences in the immediate wake of the 2012 national election.

Chair:  Alan Brinkley (Columbia)

Panel:

Robin Einhorn (UC-Berkeley)
Ajay K. Mehrotra (Indiana)
Alice M. O'Connor (UC-Santa Barbara)
Julian Zelizer (Princeton)

Call for Papers: Critical Tax Theory Conference

UC-Hastings has issued a call for papers for the 16th Critical Tax Theory Conference on April 12-13, 2013:

Critical tax scholars ask why the tax laws are the way they are and what impact tax laws have on historically disempowered groups, such as people of color; women; lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered individuals; low-income and poor individuals; the disabled; and nontraditional families. Critical tax scholarship shares the following goals: (1) to uncover bias in the tax laws; (2) to explore and expose how the tax laws both reflect and construct social meaning; and (3) to educate nontax scholars and lawyers about the interconnectedness of taxation, social justice, and progressive political movements. Critical tax scholars employ a variety of methods to achieve these goals such as bringing “outsider” perspectives to the study of tax law; using historical material, contemporary case studies, and personal or fictional narratives to illustrate the practical impact of the tax laws on individuals and groups; interpreting social science and economic data to show how the tax laws impact groups differently; and exploring the interconnectedness of tax laws with economic forces such as the labor market  and international financial and political development.

If you are interested in presenting a paper, please email Leo Martinez and Roz Foy.

• 2012 Critical Tax Theory Conference (Seton Hall)
• 2011 Critical Tax Theory Conference (Santa Clara)
• 2010 Critical Tax Theory Conference (St. Louis)
• 2009 Critical Tax Theory Conference (Indiana-Bloomington)
• 2008 Critical Tax Theory Conference (Florida State)
• 2007 Critical Tax Theory Conference (UCLA)
• 2005 Critical Tax Theory Conference (Seattle)
• 2004 Critical Tax Theory Conference (Rutgers-Newark)

Sholk: A Guide to Election Year Activities of § 501(c)(3) Organizations

Continuing a TaxProf Blog tradition, Steven H. Sholk (Gibbons, Newark, NJ) has made available to readers his wonderful 271-page A Guide to Election Year Activities of Section 501(c)(3) Organizations in Tax Strategies for Corporate Acquisitions, Dispositions, Spin-Offs, Joint Ventures, Financings, Reorganizations & Restructurings (PLI 2013).

Tax Analysts Hosts Conference Today on State 'Fiscal Cliffs' and State Taxes

Tax Analysts hosts a roundtable discussion on State "Fiscal Cliffs" and State Taxes at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. today at 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. EST:

• Christopher E. Bergin (President and Publisher, Tax Analysts) (moderator)
• Donald J. Boyd (Co-Executive Director, Task Force on the State Budget Crisis)
• Cara Griffith (Legal Editor, State Tax Notes)
• Joseph Henchman (Vice President for Legal & State Projects, Tax Foundation)
• Nicholas Johnson (Vice President for State Fiscal Policy, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities)

Valparaiso Hosts Tax Roundtable Today in Chicago

Valparaiso University Law School is hosting a Tax Roundtable today at its Hyde Park, Chicago location:

Presentation #1:  Emily Cauble (Michigan State), Did Blackstone’s Initial Public Offering Really Work? A Case Study in Rules and Standards in Tax Law
Commentator:  Samuel Brunson (Loyola-Chicago)

Presentation #2:  Jennifer Bird-Pollan (Kentucky), Nozick, Libertarianism and the Estate Tax
Commentator:  David Herzig (Valparaiso)

Presentation #3:  Susannah Camic Tahk (Wisconsin), Making Impossible Tax Reform Possible
Commentator:  Emily Cauble (Michigan State)

Presentation #4:  Samuel Brunson (Loyola-Chicago), Quid Custodiet Ipso Custodes? Or Protecting the Tax System From IRS Abuse
Commentator:  Del Wright Jr. (Valparaiso)

Presentation #5:  Del Wright Jr. (Valparaiso), Financial Alchemy: How Tax Shelter Promoters Use Financial Products to Bedevil the IRS (And How the IRS Helps Them)
Commentator:  Jennifer Bird-Pollan (Kentucky)

Presentation #6:  Tracy Roberts (Louisville), Brackets: Taking a Historical Perspective
Commentator:  Susannah Camic Tahk (Wisconsin)

25th Annual George Washington International Tax Institute

The 25th Annual George Washington Institute on Current Issues in International Taxation concluded yesterday. Tax Prof speakers included:

• Linda A Galler (Hofstra)
• Robert J. Peroni (Texas)
• Diane M. Ring (Boston College)

Santa Clara Hosts Northern California Tax Roundtable Today

Santa Clara hosts the Fall 2012 Northern California Tax Roundtable today with these papers:

Paper: Heather Field (UC-Hastings), What’s the Real Problem with Carried Interests?
Commenter: Sarah Lawsky (UC-Irvine)

Paper:  David Gamage (UC-Berkeley) (with Amy Monahan (Minnesota)), Will Obamacare Deliver? A Story of Health Care and Taxes
Commenter:  David Hasen (Santa Clara)

Paper:  Mark Gergen (UC-Berkeley), Harnessing Conflict and Distrust as Drivers of Tax Compliance
Commenter:  Susan Morse (UC-Hastings)

Paper: Susan Morse (UC-Hastings), Startup Ltd.: Tax Planning and Initial Incorporation
Commenter:  Mark Gergen (UC-Berkeley)

Paper:  Darien Shanske (UC-Hastings), A Proposal for a New Property Tax Infrastructure
Commenter:  Annette Nellen (San Jose State College of Business)

NYU Hosts Program Today on Federal Payroll Taxes

The NYU Graduate Tax Program hosts a panel discussion today on Federal Payroll Taxes: Why Should We Care? What Should Be Done?:

Federal payroll taxes affect nearly all U.S. taxpayers. They constitute an enormous portion of the tax revenue that the federal government collects each year. Despite their fiscal importance, payroll taxes have received relatively little attention. This program will provide an overview of federal payroll taxes, consider distortions that these taxes encourage under current law and examine the changes that payroll taxes may soon face as a result of the enactment of the 2010 health care legislation and the approaching fiscal cliff. It will also feature several reform proposals, including recently-proposed legislation and the integration of federal payroll taxes and the personal income tax.

• Willard Taylor (Sullivan & Cromwell, New York), author: Payroll Taxes — Why Should We Care? What Should Be Done?, 137 Tax Notes 983 (Nov. 26, 2012)
• Deborah Schenk (NYU)
• John Buckley (Georgetown)
• Joshua Blank (NYU) (moderator)

Florida State to Host Symposium on 100 Years of the Federal Income Tax

Florida State is hosting a symposium on One-Hundred Years of the Federal Income Tax on March 1-2, 2013:

1913 is the centennial of the modern U.S. income tax. Florida State will host a distinguished array of experts who will offer perspectives on what we have learned in 100 years and where we should go in the future.

• Steven Bank (UCLA)
• Joseph Bankman (Stanford)
• Joseph M. Dodge (Florida State)
• Brian Galle (Boston College)
• David Gamage (UC-Berkeley)
• James R. Hines, Jr. (Michigan)
• Steve R. Johnson (Florida State)
• Douglas A. Kahn (Michigan)
• Jeffrey H. Kahn (Florida State)
• Leandra Lederman (Indiana)
• Gregg D. Polsky (North Carolina)
• Chris William Sanchirico (Pennsylvania)
• Daniel N. Shaviro (NYU)
• Lawrence A. Zelenak (Duke)

Notre Dame Hosts Symposium Today on The American Congress: Legal Implications of Gridlock

Notre Dame hosts a symposium today on The American Congress: Legal Implications of Gridlock. Tax Prof presentations include:

• Rebecca Kysar (Brooklyn), Reconciling Congress
• George K. Yin (Virginia), Legislative Gridlock and Nonpartisan Staff

Wisconsin Hosts ClassCrits V Workshop

The ClassCrits V Workshop: From Madison to Zuccotti Park: Confronting Class and Reclaiming the American Dream kicks off today at Wisconsin. Tax Prof presentations include:

Political Failure in Tax Systems

• Francine Lipman (UNLV), Just a Matter of Fairness: Tax Consequences of the Service’s Revised Community Property Treatment of California Registered Domestic Partners (RDPs)
• Shu-Yi Oei (Tulanel), Collecting in the Shadow of the Bankruptcy Law: The Case of Tax Debts
• Phyllis C. Smith (Florida A&M), Exploding Wealth and Economic Inequality and the Failures of the Taxing System
• Camille Walsh (Washington), Hard Times: Taxation and Mass Protest from the Great Depression to the Great Recession

Empowering Local Communities in Global Markets: Cities, Credit, and Culture

• Sam Brunson (Loyola-Chicago), Mutual Funds, Fairness, and the Income Gap

State Action and the Concentration of Political Economic Power 

• Jordan Barry (San Diego), Political Free Riding

NTA Annual Conference on Taxation

The National Tax Association 105th Annual Conference on Taxation kicks off today. Tax Prof speakers include:

New Insights into Tax Compliance and Evasion

Organizer:  Leandra Lederman (Indiana)

Moderator:  Stephen Mazza (Kansas)

Presentations:

• James Alm (Tulane), Jeremy Clark (University of Canterbury) & Kara Leibel (IRS), Socio-economic Diversity, Social Capital, and Tax Filing Compliance in the United States
• Leandra Lederman (Indiana) & Ted Sichelman (San Diego), Measured Tax Enforcement
• Joshua Blank (NYU), Collateral Compliance
• Martin Besfamile (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella), Inspectors or Google Earth? Optimal Fiscal Policies under Uncertain Detection of Evaders

Discussants:

• Joel Slemrod (Michigan)
• Peggy Hite (Indiana University, Kelley School of Business)
• John Hasseldine (University of New Hampshire)

Quantitative Studies of Charitable Giving: Behavior of Donors and Firms

Organizer/Moderator: Brian Galle (Boston College)

Presentations:

• Brian Galle (Boston College) & Austin Nichols (Urban Institute), Are Existing Price-Elasticity of Giving Results Misleading for Policy Makers?: Evidence from the Price-Elasticity of Nonprofit Fund Raising
• Abigail Payne (McMaster University) & James Andreoni (UC-San Diego), Crowding-Out Charitable Contributions in Canada: New Knowledge from the North
• Joseph Rosenberg (Urban Institute) & Joseph Cordes (George Washington), Evaluating Options for Reforming the Charitable Income Tax Deduction
• Yair Listokin (Yale) & Jacob Goldin (Princeton), Tax Expenditure Salience

Discussants:

• Bradley Heim (Indiana)
• C. Eugene Steuerle (Urban Institute)

Pepperdine/Tax Analysts Symposium: Tax Advice for the Second Obama Administration

Registration is now open for our January 18, 2013 symposium on Tax Advice for the Second Obana Administration in Malibu:

Introduction and Welcome

• Deanell Tacha (Dean, Pepperdine)
• Chris Bergin (President, Tax Analysts)

Keynote Address:  Michael Graetz (Columbia)

Occupy the Tax Code:  The Buffett Rule, the 1%, and the Fairness/Growth Divide

Moderator:       David Brunori (Tax Analysts)

Papers:            Dorothy Brown (Emory), Francine Lipman (UNLV), Kirk Stark (UCLA) (with Eric Zolt (UCLA))

Commentary:  David Miller (Cadwalader, New York), Bruce Bartlett (New York Times) 

Estate and Gift Tax

Moderator:       Paul Caron (Pepperdine)

Papers:            Ed McCaffery (USC), Grayson McCouch (San Diego), Jim Repetti (BC) (with Paul Caron (Pepperdine))

Commentary:  Joe Thorndike (Tax Analysts)

Luncheon Address:   David Cay Johnston (author/journalist)

Business/International Tax #1

Moderator:       Tom Bost (Pepperdine)

Papers:            Steve Bank (UCLA), Karen Burke (San Diego), Martin Sullivan (Tax Analysts)

Commentary:  Michael Schler (Cravath, New York)

Business/International Tax #2

Moderator:       Khrista McCarden (Pepperdine)

Papers:            Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan), Allison Christians (McGill), Susan Morse (UC-Hastings)

Commentary:  Robert Goulder (Tax Analysts)

Closing Remarks:  What Have We Learned Today?:   David Cay Johnston (author/journalist)   

I agree with my Pepperdine colleague Michael Helfand's post at PrawfsBlawg:

The line up for the conference is fantastic so if you can make it to Malibu (and everyone should at some point make it to Malibu), I strongly recommend attendance.  Hope to see you there!

Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship Workshop

From Andrew Martin (Washington University):

Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship Workshop, May 22-24, 2013

On Wednesday, May 22, 2013 through Friday, May 24, 2013, Lee Epstein and Andrew Martin will be teaching their annual Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship workshop. This workshop will be held in Los Angeles, and is co-sponsored by USC Gould School of Law and Washington University Law.

The Conducting Empirical Legal Scholarship workshop is for law school and social science faculty interested in learning about empirical research. The instructors provide the formal training necessary to design, conduct, and assess empirical studies, and to use statistical software (Stata) to analyze and manage data. Participants need no background or knowledge of statistics to enroll in the workshop. Topics to be covered include research design, sampling, measurement, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and linear regression.

NYU Tax Law Review Publishes New Issue

The Tax Law Review has published a new issue (Vol. 65, No. 3 (Spring 2012)), Symposium on International Taxation and Competitiveness:

• Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan) & Nicola Sartori (University of Milan), Foreword: Symposium on International Taxation and Competitiveness, 65 Tax L. Rev. 313 (2012)
• Jane C. Gravell (Congressional Research Service), Does the Concept of Competitiveness Have Meaning in Formulating Corporate Tax Policy?, 65 Tax L. Rev. 323 (2012)
• Michael S. Knoll (Pennsylvania), The Connection Between Competitiveness and International Taxation, 65 Tax L. Rev. 349 (2012)
• Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan) & Yaron Lahav (Ben Gurion), The Effective Tax Rates of the Largest U.S. and EU Multinationals, 65 Tax L. Rev.  375 (2012)
• Melissa Costa (IRS) & Jennifer Gravelle (Congressional Budget Office), Taxing Multinational Corporations: Average Tax Rates, 65 Tax L. Rev.  391 (2012)
• Kevin S. Markle (Waterloo) & Douglas A. Shackleford (North Carolina), Cross-Country Comparisons of the Effects of Leverage, Intangible Assets, and Tax Havens on Corporate Income Taxes, 65 Tax L. Rev.  415 (2012)
• Kimberly A. Clausing (Reed College), In Search of Corporate Tax Incidence, 65 Tax L. Rev.  433 (2012)
• Brian J. Arnold (Canadian Tax Foundation), A Comparative Perspective on the U.S. Controlled Foreign Corporation Rules, 65 Tax L. Rev.  473 (2012)
• Eric Toder (Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center), International Competitiveness: Who Competes Against Whom and for What?, 65 Tax L. Rev.  505 (2012)
• Bret Wells (Houston) & Cym Lowell (McDermott Will & Emery, Dallas), Tax Base Erosion aand Homeless Income: Collection at Source Is the Linchpin, 65 Tax L. Rev. 535  (2012)

23d Annual Philadelphia Tax Conference

The two-day 23rd Annual Philadelphia Tax Conference kicks off today:

The Philadelphia Tax Conference is a 23-year old section 501(c)(3) organization established to foster education and to heighten awareness of fair and appropriate tax policy.

For a list of speakers and their topics, see here. Tax Prof presentations include:

• Alice Abreu (Temple), Federal Legislative Update
• J. Richard (Dick) Harvey, Jr. (Villanova), Controversies -- Uncertain Tax Positions

Bloomberg BNA Tax Policy & Practice Summit

The two-day Bloomberg BNA Tax Policy & Practice Summit kicks off today. The keynote speakers are Thomas A. Barthold (Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation) and William Wilkins (Chief Counsel, Internal Revenue Service).  The list of speakers and their topics is here.

Update:  Bloomberg, Barthold Says Short Tax-Rate Extension Would Be Difficult

Conference Today on The Economics of Carbon Taxes

The America Enterprise Institute, Brookings Institution, International Monetary Fund, and Resources for the Future are hosting a conference today on The Economics of Carbon Taxes.

The pros and cons of introducing a carbon tax in the U.S. are the topic of many spirited debates, yet discussion of the consequences from alternative tax designs remains largely confined to academia. In an effort to shed more light on this topic and its budgetary impact, AEI, the Climate and Energy Economics Project at the Brookings Institution, the International Monetary Fund, and Resources for the Future are cohosting a conference to discuss ideas for US carbon tax design and options for the potential use of carbon tax revenues. The conference will feature four panels with presentations of policy briefs by leading experts, each of which will tackle a particular design or implementation issue. Speakers will take audience questions following their remarks.

(Hat Tip: Jon Forman.)

7th Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies at Stanford

The 7th Annual Conference on Empirical Legal Studies kicks off today at Stanford. Here are the Tax Prof paper presentations:

Joshua Blank (NYU) & Nancy Staudt (USC), Corporate Shams, 87 N.Y.U. L. Rev. ___ (2012)
Discussant: Joseph Bankman (Stanford)

Jacob Goldin (Princeton) & Yair Listokin (Yale), Tax Expenditure Salience
Discussant: Nancy Staudt (USC)

Andrew Hayashi (NYU), Legal Salience: An Empirical Analysis of the Decision to Seek Administrative Relief
Discussant: Yun-chien Chang (NYU)

Pepperdine/Tax Analysts Symposium: Tax Advice for the Incoming Administration

Please join us in Malibu, California on January 18, 2013 for this symposium:

Introduction and Welcome

• Deanell Tacha (Dean, Pepperdine)
• Chris Bergin (President, Tax Analysts)

Keynote Address:  Michael Graetz (Columbia)

Occupy the Tax Code:  The Buffett Rule, the 1%, and the Fairness/Growth Divide

Moderator:       David Brunori (Tax Analysts)

Papers:            Dorothy Brown (Emory), Francine Lipman (UNLV), Kirk Stark (UCLA) (with Eric Zolt (UCLA))

Commentary:  David Miller (Cadwalader, New York), Bruce Bartlett (New York Times) 

Estate and Gift Tax

Moderator:       Paul Caron (Pepperdine)

Papers:            Ed McCaffery (USC), Grayson McCouch (San Diego), Jim Repetti (BC) (with Paul Caron (Pepperdine))

Commentary:  Joe Thorndike (Tax Analysts)

Luncheon Address:   David Cay Johnston (Reuters; 2001 Pulitzer-Prize Winner)

Business/International Tax #1

Moderator:       Tom Bost (Pepperdine)

Papers:            Steve Bank (UCLA), Karen Burke (San Diego), Martin Sullivan (Tax Analysts)

Commentary:  Michael Schler (Cravath, New York)

Business/International Tax #2

Moderator:       Khrista McCarden (Pepperdine)

Papers:            Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan), Allison Christians (McGill), Susan Morse (UC-Hastings)

Commentary:  Robert Goulder (Tax Analysts)

Closing Remarks:  What Have We Learned Today?:   David Cay Johnston (Reuters)   

If you need further inducement to join us, check out the typical weather in Malibu on January 18.

Call for Tax Papers and Panels: Law & Society Annual Meeting

Neil H. Buchanan (George Washington) has issued his annual call for tax papers and panels for next year's annual meeting of the Law & Society Association in Boston (May 30-June 2, 2013):

For the ninth consecutive year, I will organize sessions for the Law, Society, and Taxation group (Collaborative Research Network 31).

The official call for papers is here. Please remember that you are not bound by the official theme of the conference. As it says in the official call for papers: "Papers and panels need not be centered on the conference theme." Therefore, I will give full consideration to proposals in any area of tax law, tax policy, distributive justice, interdisciplinary approaches to tax issues, and so on.

As always, I will accept proposals for individual papers as well as complete paper panels, roundtables, and author-meets-reader sessions. For individual paper submissions, I will organize papers with common themes into full sessions. I will then submit those sessions to the Law & Society program committee. In order to do that, I need to receive your submissions one week before the official deadline for submissions.

Therefore, please submit proposals to me by Tuesday, November 27, 2012.

Please, send me a title and a very short description (one or two sentences) of your proposed paper. No abstracts needed, nor desired. Your paper need not yet be written, and the only requirement is that you have at least something (an outline, a first draft, etc.) that can be sent to your session chair by about 30 days before the meetings (early May).

Note also that each participant is limited to ONE participation as a Paper Presenter OR a Roundtable Participant. (You will also be able to act as a chair and/or discussant in two sessions, which I will determine later.)

Please do NOT yet sign up for the conference through the Law & Society website. It works much better when we submit the sessions all at the same time. Therefore, I will send you instructions for signing up for your particular session in early December.

60th Annual Montana Tax Institute

The 60th Annual Montana Tax Institute kicks off today. Tax Profs with speaking roles include:

• Sam Donaldson (Georgia State), Annual Income Tax Update
• Elaine Gagliardi (Montana), Annual Wealth Transfer Tax Update
• Kristen Juras (Montana) & Julie Sirrs (Montana), Property Taxation Issues Arising in Montana
• Martin J. McMahon (Florida) & Daniel L. Simmons (UC-Davis), When Subchapter S Meets Subchapter C
• James R. Repetti (Boston College), Capital Shifts in Partnerships
• Dennis Ventry (UC-Davis), Rendering Tax Advice in the Face of Uncertainty

Washington U. Hosts Symposium Today on The Law School in the New Legal Environment

Washington University hosts a symposium today on The Law School in the New Legal Environment:

Welcome and Introduction:  Kent D. Syverud (Dean, Washington University)

Plenary: Change and the New Legal Environment:

• Andrew F. Puzder (CEO, CKE Restaurants), Managing Change
• Lauren Robel (President, AALS; Interim Provost, Indiana-Bloomington), Change and Academic Mission
  
• Brian Tamanaha (Washington University), Failing Law Schools

Affordability and Access to Legal Education in the New Legal Environment:

• Chris Chapman (President & CEO, Access Group)
• Deborah Jones Merritt (Ohio State)
• Kyle McEntee (Executive Director, Law School Transparency)
• Jerry Organ (University of St. Thomas)
• Steve Willborn (Chair, Board of Trustees, Law School Admission Council; Former Dean, Nebraska)

The Future of Faculty in the New Legal Environment:

• Michael Fitts (Dean, Pennsylvania)
• Cynthia Nance (Arkansas)
• Michael A. Olivas (Houston)
• Ian Weinstein (Past President, Clinical Legal Education Association; Associate Dean, Fordham)

Preparation for Practice and Placement in the New Legal Environment:

• Mary Beth Beazley (Ohio State)
• Christine Durham (Chief Justice, Utah Supreme Court)
• William D. Henderson (Indiana-Bloomington)
• John F. O’Brien (Dean, New England)
• Roy Stuckey (South Carolina)

How Will Online Education Change Law Schools in the New Legal Environment:

• Chip Paucek (CEO, 2tor Inc.)
• Barry Currier (Interim Consultant on Legal Education, ABA)
• Leo P. Martinez (UC-Hastings)

Discussion of the Whole: Five Highest Priorities for Change:

• Daniel Bernstine (President, Law School Admission Council)
• Ruth McGregor (Retired Chief Justice, Arizona Supreme Court)

• National Law Journal, Big Guns Gathering to Discuss the Future of Law Schools

Florida Hosts 3rd Annual Ellen Bellet Gelberg Tax Policy Lecture

The University Florida hosts the Third Annual Ellen Bellet Gelberg Tax Policy Lecture today on the nation’s economic situation with:

• Lindy Paull (PricewaterhouseCoopers) (moderator) 
• Thomas Barthold (Chief of Staff, Joint Committee on Taxation)
• Lily Batchelder (Chief Tax Counsel, Senate Finance Committee)
• Mark Prater (Minority Chief Tax Counsel, Senate Finance Committee)

Tulane Hosts Conference Today on A Fiscal Trilemma?

The Murphy Institute of Tulane University hosts a conference today on A Fiscal Trilemma?:

• Leonard E. Burman (Syracuse University), Pathways to Tax Reform Revisited
• John W. Diamond & George R. Zodrow (both of Rice University), Promoting Growth, Maintaining Progressivity, and Dealing with the Debt: Lessons from CGE Models and Simulations of a Debt‐Reducing VAT
• William G. Gale & Samuel Brown (both of The Brookings Institution), Tax Reform for Growth, Equity, and Revenue
• James R. Hines, Jr. (University of Michigan), The Redistributive Potential of Wealth Transfer Taxes
• Rasmus Højbjerg Jacobsen, Søren Bo Nielsen & Anders Sørensen (all of Copenhagen Business School), The Fiscal Trilemma in a Danish Perspective
• Diane Lim Rogers (The Concord Coalition), Leaving the Bush Tax Cuts for Better Tax Policy
• Laurence Seidman (University of Delaware), Overcoming the Fiscal Trilemma with Two Progressive Consumption Tax Supplements
• Alan D. Viard (The American Enterprise Institute), Addressing the Fiscal Trilemma Through Progressive Consumption Taxation: The Choice of Tax Design

8th Annual USD-Procopio International Tax Law Institute

The 8th Annual USD School of Law-Procopio International Tax Law Institute kicks off today. Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan) delivers the keynote address on International Tax Current State of Play. Other tax Prof speakers include:

• J. Richard Harvey (Villanova University), FATCA's Impact on Local Financial Institutions in the Americas
• Mark Hoose (University of San Diego), U.S. International Tax: Regulatory & Legislative Update
• Narelle MacKenzie (San Diego State University), Complex FBAR Questions and Other Foreign Asset Reporting Pitfalls

NYU/Amsterdam Centre for Tax Law Conference Today on U.S. International Taxation

The NYU International Tax Program and the University of Amsterdam Centre for Tax Law are hosting a conference today in New York City on U.S. International Taxation:  Issues for the Years Ahead:

Panel #1:  FATCA and Tax Treaty Discrimination

• Dennis Weber (ACTL; Loyens & Loeff) (moderator)
• Jesse Eggert (U.S. Treasury Department), Update on FATCA (commentary by Tom Prevost (Credit Suisse))
• Bruno da Silva (ACTL), Non-discrimination Under Tax Treaties; EU Developments, Relevant for U.S. Treaties (commentary by Dennis Weber)

Panel #2:  Tax Policy and Tax Arbitrage

• David Rosenbloom (NYU; Caplin & Drysdale) (moderator)
• Michael Graetz (Columbia), International Tax Policy (commentary by Michiel van Kempen (Loyens & Loeff)
• David Rosenbloom, Tax Arbitrage (commentary by Peter Blessing (Shearman & Sterling)

Tax Policy Center Hosts Program Today on Federal Budget Politics and the Next President

The Tax Policy Center hosts a program today on Red Ink and Bad Blood: What Do Federal Budget Politics Mean for the Next President and You? (webcast here):

Fiscal cliff. Taxmaggedon. Debt default. The Great Recession. Political gridlock. Sequestration. The making -- or unmaking -- of the federal budget is at play with each of these. Making sense of it all is the focus of David Wessel’s new book, Red Ink: Inside the High Stakes Politics of the Federal Budget.

• David Wessel (Economics Editor, The Wall Street Journal)
• Alice Rivlin (Co-chair, Bipartisan Policy Center’s Debt Reduction Task Force)
• Joseph Minarik (Senior Vice-President, Committee for Economic Development)
• Eugene Steuerle (Co-founder, Tax Policy Center)

Tax Papers at Central States Law Schools Association Annual Conference

The Central States Law Schools Association 2012 Annual Conference concludes today at Cleveland State. Tax Prof papers include:

• Samuel Brunson (Loyola–Chicago), Form-Over-Substance, the IRS, and Commodity Mutual Funds
• Danshera Cords (Albany), Collaborative Spaces: What Tax Can Learn About Developing Regulations
• Brian Frye (Kentucky), Solving Charity Failures
• Debbie Kearns (Albany), For Treasury Charity Starts at Home: Treasury’s New Interpretation of the Fiduciary Income Tax Charitable Deductions

Pratt Presents A Critique of Anti-Obesity Soda Taxes and Food Taxes Today in New Zealand

Katherine Pratt (Loyola-L.A.) presents A Constructive Critique of Public Health Arguments for Anti-Obesity Soda Taxes and Food Taxes, 86 Tul. L. Rev. ___ (2012), today at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Obesity Society:

This Article constructively critiques the two arguments that public health advocates have made in support of anti-obesity soda taxes or junk food taxes. Part I discusses and critiques the first argument, an economic “externalities” argument that government should tax soda or junk food to internalize the disproportionately high health care costs of obesity. Part I also explores alternative economic “internalities” arguments for food or soda taxes, with a focus on incomplete information, bounded rationality, and bounded willpower. Part II discusses and critiques the second argument made by public health advocates, that government should adopt anti-obesity measures to improve population-wide health. This Part considers the appropriate scope of public health law interventions with respect to behavioral risk factors (e.g., diet), comments on empirical evidence offered by public health advocates to support proposed soda taxes, and cautions public health advocates to consider possible unintended consequences of anti-obesity proposals.

Obesity policy debates present a conflict of fundamental values, such as health, fairness, efficiency, and autonomy. Part III attempts to reconcile these values and responds to the “personal responsibility” objection to soda taxes and food taxes. Part IV considers various factors that would affect behavioral responses to proposed soda taxes and food taxes and addresses concerns that such taxes would be regressive and thus unfair to low-income consumers. This Part also explores the tax design implications of the literature on tax salience and on asymmetric paternalism and libertarian paternalism. Park V suggests the way forward for public health advocates, including a proposal to enact a tax on nutritionally poor foods and drinks, paired with a salient benefit. This Part also recommends enactment of a federal system of food classification, based on nutrient profiling methods, along with a federal system of “front-of-package” nutritional labeling.