TaxProf Blog

Saturday, July 2, 2022

Following up on my previous posts (links below):

Law.com, 'This Is a Life Decision': Will Abortion Bans Affect Law School Applications?:

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has prospective law school students questioning whether applications might decrease at schools located in states with abortion bans.

Over the weekend, Reddit user Successful_End7981 posed the question: “Do you think law schools applications to southern law schools will drop due to the recent decision regarding Roe v. Wade?”

Many who replied said they now plan to avoid law schools in states where abortion is illegal or soon to be banned.

Law.com, Reflections on the US Supreme Court's Ruling Overturning 'Roe v. Wade':

This week, we’re exploring legal academia’s reaction to Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court opinion overturning two landmark precedents protecting abortion as a constitutional right. ...

July 2, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

Avi-Yonah Posts International Tax Papers On SSRN

By Paul Caron

Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan; Google Scholar) has posted these international tax papers on SSRN:

Why the United States Needs the Global Minimum Tax (June 21, 2022)
The Benefits Principle (June 2, 2022)
Preface to Andrea Musselli, Tax Transfer Pricing under the Arm’s Length and the Sale Country Principles (June 2, 2022)
The Single Tax Principle (June 1, 2022)

July 2, 2022 in Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

Students, Alumni Push Back Against George Washington's Refusal To Cancel Justice Thomas's Con Law Seminar

By Paul Caron

Following up on my previous posts:

Washington Post, GW Defends Thomas Appointment Amid Calls For Removal From Law School:

George Washington University rejected calls to remove Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas from its law school faculty by students and others frustrated over the judge’s vote to overturn Roe v. Wade and his urging to reconsider other landmark civil rights cases. ...

The school’s stance, however, has left many students unsatisfied, said Jon Kay, a rising junior who started a petition demanding Thomas’s termination. The petition amassed nearly 9,000 signatures, including from people not from GW, in less than a week, and organizers are considering other ways to pressure administrators into changing course. ...

Jordan Michel, a recent law school graduate and former president of the GW Law Student Bar Association, said he took Thomas’s constitutional law seminar last fall. ... Now he backs calls to remove Thomas from the faculty.

“There’s agreement among law students that having diverse perspectives is important,” said Michel, 36. “But when somebody who’s supposed to be educating us fails to subscribe to or uphold the ethical, legal, moral obligations that we are here trying to abide by, it becomes problematic for us.”

July 2, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

Friday, July 1, 2022

Weekly SSRN Tax Article Review And Roundup: Elkins Reviews Hemel's The Passthrough Entity Tax Scandal

By Paul Caron

This week, David Elkins (Netanya, visiting NYU 2021-2023; Google Scholar) reviews a new paper by Daniel J. Hemel (NYU; Google Scholar), The Passthrough Entity Tax Scandal (2022).

One of the more fascinating aspects of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act concerns the limitation on deducting state and local income taxes. Prior to the enactment of the TCJA, state and local income taxes were fully deductible when computing federal tax liability. The TCJA capped that deduction for individuals at $10,000. In itself the cap was not particularly remarkable. There are innumerable sections in the Code that cap deductions at some arbitrary amount. What was fascinating about the SALT cap was the politics involved. The TCJA cap primarily strikes at the wealthiest taxpayers: the vast majority of individuals pay much less than $10,000 in state and local income taxes. One might therefore expect that, were there to be any political bickering on the issue, it would be the Democrats who would fully support the cap and the Republicans who would resist. It did not play out that way. The highly contentious measure was proposed by the Republicans and fiercely denounced by the Democrats. The reason for this seeming reversal of the usual political positions was pure partisan politics: blue states tend to have higher income taxes than red states (the only states with top marginal rates higher than 10% are California, New York, and New Jersey).

In this week’s feature article, Professor Daniel Hemel describes how states have attempted to bypass the SALT cap by enacting pass-through entity taxes (PETs).

July 1, 2022 in Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship, Weekly SSRN Roundup | Permalink

John Anderson — Interim Dean, Mississippi College
From Faculty, Mississippi College
Succeeds Patricia Bennett, Dean since December 1, 2016
Lonnie Brown, Jr. — Dean, Tennessee
From Associate Dean and Faculty, Georgia
Succeeds Douglas Blaze, Interim Dean since July 1, 2020
Camille Carey — Dean, New Mexico
From Vice Dean and Faculty, New Mexico
Succeeds Sergio Pareja, Dean since August 1, 2015
Robert Chesney — Dean, Texas
From Associate Dean and Faculty, Texas
Succeeds Ward Farnsworth, Dean since June 1, 2012
Beth Cohen — Interim Dean, Western New England
From Faculty and Director, LRW Program
Succeeds Sudha Setty, Dean since July 1, 2018
Leah Chan Grinvald — Dean, UNLV
From Associate Dean and Faculty, Suffolk
Succeeds Sara Gordon, Interim Dean since July 1, 2021
Blake Hudson — Dean, Cumberland
From Faculty, Florida
Succeeds Henry Strickland, Dean since July 1, 2014
Melanie Jacobs — Dean, Louisville
From Interim Dean and Faculty, Michigan State
Succeeds Lars Smith, Interim Dean since April 30, 2021
Thoma Mayo — Interim Dean, SMU
From Senior Associate Dean and Faculty, SMU
Succeeds Jennifer Collins, Dean since July 1, 2014
Christiana Ochoa — Interim Dean, Indiana-Bloomington
From Associate Dean and Faculty, Indiana-Bloomington
Succeeds Austen Parrish, Dean since January 1, 2014
Cynthia Nance — Dean, Arkansas-Fayetteville
From Faculty (and Former Dean), Arkansas-Fayetteville
Succeeds Alena Allen, Interim Dean since January 1, 2012
Brian Pappas — Dean, North Dakota
From Associate Provost, Eastern Michigan
Succeeds Michael McGinniss, Dean since July 1, 2019
Sudha Setty — Dean, CUNY
From Dean, Western New England
Succeeds Eduardo Capulong, Interim Dean since April 1, 2021
Rodney Smolla — Dean, Vermont
From Dean, Widener-Delaware
Succeeds Beth McCormack, Interim Dean since January 23, 2021
Anthony Varona — Dean, Seattle
From Dean and Faculty, Miami
Succeeds Annette Clark, Dean since July 1, 2013

July 1, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

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By Paul Caron

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July 1, 2022 in About This Blog, Legal Education, Tax | Permalink

The International Law Association's Project On International Tax Law—Phase 1

By Paul Caron

Juliane Kokott (Court of Justice, European Union), Pasquale Pistone (Vienna) & Robin Miller (Court of Justice, European Union), Public International Law and Tax Law: Taxpayers' Rights: The International Law Association's Project on International Tax Law—Phase 1, 52 Geo. J. Int'l L. 381 (2021):

Public international law recognizes rights to non-state actors. In tax matters, these include taxpayers and other private persons involved in the levying of tax. Their fundamental rights are human rights, which must be effectively protected even when there is a general interest of the community to the collection of tax. This Article contains a comprehensive worldwide analysis of such rights and addresses the different issues that arise—in national and cross-border situations—in connection with tax procedures and sanctions.

July 1, 2022 in Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

Support TaxProf Blog By Shopping On Amazon

By Paul Caron

TaxProf Blog participates in the amazon.com affiliate program. You can help support TaxProf Blog at no cost to you by making purchases through Amazon links on the blog and through the search box in the right column of the blog:

July 1, 2022 in About This Blog, Legal Education, Tax | Permalink

Columbia Will Not Submit Data To U.S. News This Year After Math Professor Questioned Its #2 Ranking

By Paul Caron

Following up on my previous posts:

Michael Thaddeus (Professor of Mathematics, Columbia), An Investigation of the Facts Behind Columbia’s U.S. News Ranking (Mar. 8, 2022)
New York Times, U.S. News Ranked Columbia No. 2, But A Math Professor Has His Doubts (Mar. 21, 2022)

Columbia University Provost Mary Boyce, Statement Regarding U.S. News and World Report’s Undergraduate Survey:

A few months ago, a member of our faculty, Professor Michael Thaddeus, raised questions regarding the accuracy of some of the data the University submitted to U.S. News and World Report for its annual ranking of undergraduate universities. Columbia leaders take these questions seriously, and we immediately embarked on a review of our data collection and submissions process.

In light of the work underway, we will refrain from submitting to U.S. News and World Report this year. The deadline for that submission is July 1. Given the extensive analysis required to review the data and ensure it complies with U.S. News methodologies, we cannot complete our work with the appropriate care within that timeframe.

July 1, 2022 in Legal Ed Rankings, Legal Education | Permalink

Thursday, June 30, 2022

Insider Giving

By Paul Caron

Sureyya Burcu Avci (Sabanci University; Google Scholar), Cindy A. Schipani (Michigan; Google Scholar), H. Nejat Seyhun (Michigan; Google Scholar) & Andrew Verstein (UCLA; Google Scholar), Insider Giving, 71 Duke L.J. 619 (2021):

Corporate insiders can avoid losses if they dispose of their stock while in possession of material nonpublic information. One means of disposal, selling the stock, is illegal and subject to prompt mandatory reporting. A second strategy is almost as effective, yet it faces lax reporting requirements and enforcement. That second method is to donate the stock to a charity and take a charitable tax deduction at the inflated stock price. This “insider giving” is a potent substitute for insider trading. We show that insider giving is far more widespread than previously believed. In particular, we show that insider giving is not limited to officers and directors. Large investors appear to regularly receive material nonpublic information and use it to avoid losses.

June 30, 2022 in Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

Get Out: Structural Racism In The Legal Academy And Academic Terror

By Paul Caron

Renee Nicole Allen (St. John's; Google Scholar), Get Out: Structural Racism and Academic Terror, 29 Wm. & Mary J. Women & L. __ (2023):

Released in 2017, Jordan Peele’s critically acclaimed film Get Out explores the horrors of racism. The film’s plot involves the murder and appropriation of Black bodies for the benefit of wealthy, white people. After luring Black people to their country home, a white family uses hypnosis to paralyze victims and send them to the Sunken Place where screams go unheard. Black bodies are auctioned off to the highest bidder; the winner’s brain is transplanted into the prized Black body. Black victims are rendered passengers in their own bodies so that white inhabitants can obtain physical advantages and immortality.

Like Get Out, this article reveals academic horrors that are far too familiar to people of color. In the legal academy, structural racism is the monster, and under the guise of academic freedom, faculty members inflict terror on marginalized people. Black bodies are objectified and colonized in the name of diversity and antiracism. No matter how loud we scream, it remains a Sunken Place. Only time will tell if the antiracism proclamations of 2020 are a beginning or a killer ending.

This article explores the relationship between structural racism and academic terror in the legal academy and articulates an effective framework for analyzing academic terrorism.

June 30, 2022 in Legal Ed Scholarship, Legal Education, Scholarship | Permalink

Haneman: Tax Incentives For Green Burial

By Paul Caron

Victoria J. Haneman (Creighton; Google Scholar), Tax Incentives for Green Burial, 21 Nev. L.J. 491 (2021):

Every living being is doomed to decay and die and decay some more. Death is inevitable, and the disposal of our dead is a fundamental global activity with the potential to have significant environmental impact. In the United States, the environmental toxicity of “traditional” modern burial is stark. A cosmeticized body is pumped with three gallons of embalming fluid (containing chemicals such as formaldehyde) that eventually leaches through metal and wood and into the ground. An estimated 5.3 million gallons of embalming chemicals are buried annually in what are essentially luxury landfill-slash-golf-courses, with landscaping and grass to maintain and mow, in coffins that are typically constructed of nonbiodegradable chipboard. And while cremation is a more environmentally friendly alternative, incineration cremation falls short of being labeled “green.” Fire-based cremation utilizes significant resources and energy, attributable to the substantial quantity of fossil fuel required to burn human remains at 1,562° F (850° C) to reduce a corpse to ash. Pollutants are generated in doing so, including an average of 250,000 tons per year of carbon emissions and an estimated 320 to 6,000 pounds of mercury (from incineration of dental fillings) per year.

June 30, 2022 in Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

Free Speech And Cancel Culture: A Tale Of Two Law Schools

By Paul Caron

Following up on my previous posts:

David Lat, Free Speech And Cancel Culture: A Tale Of Two Law Schools:

In the wake of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, last Friday’s big abortion ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, Washington has become a leading battlefield in the culture wars. ... The nation’s capital is also the latest front in the law-school culture wars. Two law schools in D.C., American University Washington College of Law and the George Washington University Law School, have experienced free speech and cancel culture controversies in the past week. ...

June 30, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

Blockchain And Tax Administration: A Critical Assessment

By Paul Caron

Eliza Mik (Chinese University of Hong Kong; Google Scholar) & Noam Noked (Chinese University of Hong Kong; Google Scholar), Blockchain and Tax Administration: A Critical Assessment, 50 Australian L. Rev. 180 (2021):

Recent publications argue that blockchains could substantially improve tax administration. This article critically evaluates these claims and examines several proposed use cases. It argues that many of the problems that blockchains purportedly solve exist off-chain, in the real world, and cannot be addressed by a blockchain. Blockchains can facilitate the storage and sharing of tax information. They cannot, however, streamline reporting requirements or enhance cooperation between tax authorities. This article also claims that the main benefit from several use cases derives from digitalization in general, not from the deployment of any specific type of database. It remains to be determined whether blockchains are in fact superior to other digitalized systems that perform comparable functions in tax administration.

June 30, 2022 in Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

Gender Pay Disparities In The Legal Academy

By Paul Caron

Christopher J. Ryan (Louisville; Google Scholar) & Meghan Dawe (American Bar Foundation; Google Scholar), Mind the Gap: Gender Pay Disparities in the Legal Academy, 34 Geo. J. Legal Ethics 567 (2021):

Differences in pay between women and men in the same jobs have captured the public's attention in recent years. However, public interest in and press coverage of salary differences on the basis of gender—or any other ascriptive class—in the learned professions are wanting. Moreover, few studies have spoken directly on the gender pay disparities in the legal academy, despite emerging evidence of its existence at multiple law schools. In this Article, we use a unique dataset, drawn from the only nationally representative survey to date of tenured law professors in the United States, to track how gender and race are tied to salary outcomes. But we look beyond the raw differences in salary, probing the mechanisms that undergird gendered pay inequities.

June 30, 2022 in Legal Ed Scholarship, Legal Education | Permalink

Wednesday, June 29, 2022

A Fresh Perspective On The Valuation Of Conservation Easements

By Paul Caron

Alan Feld (Boston University), Jacob Nielsen (J.D. 2021, Boston University) & Theodore S. Sims (Boston University), Green, or Greed? A Fresh Perspective on the Valuation of Conservation Easements, 76 Tax L. Rev. __ (2022):

Charitable contributions of "conservation easements" have since 1980 allowed high-income taxpayers to shelter income from taxation through overvalued deductions. Overvaluation has increased dramatically in the past 20 years: a 2016 study of all easement decisions since 1980 reported that while overvaluation had averaged by a factor of two before 1994, it averaged by a factor of ten for decisions between 1994 and 2016. SOI data disclose that aggregate easement contributions deducted on Schedule A grew from $2.26 billion in 2015 to $6.5 billion in 2018 (the most recent year available). A recent report by supporters of conservation easements acknowledges that "neither the [IRS] nor the courts have sufficient resources to effectively police valuation abuse."

Most of the concern has been with "syndicated conservation easements" ("SCEs"), and most proposed remedies to easement overvaluation focus on SCEs. We show, however, that exactly the same traits that produce overvalued SCEs — allowing charitable deductions based on "fair market" value, which sanctions deducting unrealized appreciation without taxing the corresponding gain, combined with the unavoidable need to value contributed easements through as manipulable a process as appraisal -— have facilitated abusive overvaluation of non-syndicated easements too.

June 29, 2022 in Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

Ohio State Festschrift In Honor Of Deborah Jones Merritt

By Paul Caron

Festschrift in Honor of Deborah Jones Merritt, 82 Ohio St. L.J. 879-951 (2021):

Gregory M. Travalio (Isaac Wiles, Columbus; former Associate Dean & Director of Clinical Programs, Ohio State), Festschrift in Honor of Deborah Jones Merritt: An Introduction, 82 Ohio St. L.J. 879 (2021)
Jessica Kim (DOJ), Dave Twombly (USAO), Christopher Gawronski (Ohio Attorney General's Office), David Roper (Taft, Stettinius & Hollister, Kaela King (Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit), Praise from Past Editors in Chief, 82 Ohio St. L.J. 881 (2021)
Carol L. Chomsky (Minnesota), Andrea A. Curcio (Georgia State) & Eileen Kaufman (Touro), A Merritt-orious Path for Lawyer Licensing, 82 Ohio St. L.J. 883 (2021)
Claudia Angelos (NYU), Mary Lu Bilek (Former Dean, CUNY, Massachusetts) & Joan W. Howarth (UNLV; Dean Emerita, Michigan State; Google Scholar), The Deborah Jones Merritt Center for the Advancement of Justice, 82 Ohio St. L.J. 911 (2021)

June 29, 2022 in Legal Ed Scholarship, Legal Education | Permalink

Congress Takes Its War On Cash To Digital Assets: Understanding Tax Code Section 6050I

By Paul Caron

Abraham Sutherland (Virginia; Google Scholar), Congress Takes Its War on Cash to Digital Assets: Understanding Tax Code Section 6050I:

The United States government really does not like Americans to make large cash transactions. Now, due to a new law, it really, really does not want Americans to use “digital assets,” either. My goal is to convince you that the first claim is true. The second claim will then be self-evident.

Of course, no one cares about cash anymore, except criminals. We’ve always known something better: bank accounts, paper checks, and wire transfers. Cash has been obsolete for meaningful commerce for a long time, and since 1984 we’ve had a law in place to make sure it stays that way. Cash, as a tool for large, non-criminal transactions in the modern economy, is dead. Cash is a relic.

June 29, 2022 in Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

George Washington Refuses To Fire Justice Thomas, Who Has Co-Taught A Course For A Decade; His Views 'Do Not Represent Those Of The University Or Its Law School'

By Paul Caron

George Washington Hatchet, Supreme Court Justice to Remain at GW Law After Thousands Call For His Removal:

Officials announced GW Law will not fire Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas after more than 6,000 people signed a petition calling for his termination after he voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and end federal abortion protections.

Provost Christopher Bracey and GW Law Dean Dayna Bowen Matthew said in an email Tuesday that employing Thomas will allow students to exchange ideas and that debate is essential to the University’s educational mission to train students to address the world’s problems. Rising junior Jon Kay started a petition calling on officials to remove Thomas from his teaching role at GW on Sunday, and it has since amassed more than 6,000 signatures.

“Because debate is an essential part of our University’s academic and educational mission to train future leaders who are prepared to address the world’s most urgent problems, the University will neither terminate Justice Thomas’ employment nor cancel his class,” Bracey and Matthew said in the email.

Thomas has lectured at GW Law since 2011, co-teaching a constitutional law seminar with his former clerk Gregory Maggs, and is set to teach that course again in the Fall 2022 semester, according to GW Law’s course catalog. ...

The email states while Thomas’ views “do not represent” the views of GW Law or the University as a whole, Thomas has “academic freedom and freedom of expression and inquiry” like all other faculty members. GW’s academic freedom guidelines, which officials quoted in the email, state it is not the University’s responsibility to “shield” individuals from opinions they may find offensive.

Christopher Alan Bracey (Provost) & Dayna Bowen Matthew (Dean), Email:

Dear Members of the George Washington University Community,

Since the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, we have heard from members of our community who have expressed feelings of deep disagreement with this decision.

June 29, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

NY Times: 300,000 High Income Residents Fled New York City During The Pandemic

By Paul Caron

New York Times, The Flight of New York City’s Wealthy Was a Once-in-a-Century Shock:

When roughly 300,000 New York City residents left during the early part of the pandemic, officials described the exodus as a once-in-a-century shock to the city’s population.

Now, new data from the Internal Revenue Service shows that the residents who moved to other states by the time they filed their 2019 taxes collectively reported $21 billion in total income, substantially more than those who departed in any prior year on record. The IRS said the data captured filings received in 2020 and as late as July 2021.

June 29, 2022 in Tax, Tax News | Permalink

Supreme Court Refuses To Consider Race, Sex Bias Claims Against NYU Law Review

By Paul Caron

Following up on my previous post, Lawsuits Against Harvard, NYU Law Reviews Claim Racial, Gender Preferences: Law.com, Justices Won't Consider Race, Sex Bias Claims Against NYU Law Review:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a sex and race discrimination challenge to the way in which New York University’s law review selects articles.

The justices denied review without comment in the petition, Faculty, Alumni and Students Opposed to Racial Preferences v. New York University.

The petition was filed by conservative litigator Jonathan Mitchell of Austin, Texas, known as the author of the Texas law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy and requiring enforcement of the law by private citizens.

June 29, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

QOZs Illustrate How Critical Tax Theory May Bolster Tax Policy Analysis

By Paul Caron

Islame Hosny (Pryor Cashman, New York), QOZs Illustrate How Critical Tax Theory May Bolster Tax Policy Analysis, Yale J. on Reg.: Notice & Comment (June 25, 2022):

June 30, 2022, is the last day on which certain taxpayers who had capital gains in 2021 can defer paying tax on those gains until 2026 by investing them in Qualified Opportunity Funds (QOFs)—investment vehicles used to invest in Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZs). According to the IRS, the purpose of the QOZ program is to “spur economic development and job creation in distressed communities by providing tax benefits to investors.”

One such tax benefit is that an investor who holds a QOF investment for 10 years receives a 100% exclusion from federal tax on appreciation on the investment. That is a 0% effective tax rate on a potentially unlimited amount of gain. But how does the 0% tax rate compare to that of a QOZ resident?

Today, there are 8,764 QOZs in the United States. One of those QOZs is Central Harlem, where 29% of residents are below the federal poverty level, 77.2% of households do not include children, and the median household income is $57,720. The federal income tax liability for a single filer with no children, with income of $57,720, and who takes the standard deduction ($12,550) and, thus, has taxable income of $45,170, is $5,687. This results in an effective federal tax rate of 12.59% for a typical resident in Central Harlem. ...

June 28, 2022 in Legal Education, Tax, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

2021-22 LSAT Registrants Down 21%; 33% Drop In June 2022 LSAT-Takers

By Paul Caron

Law.com, LSAT Test Takers Down Approximately 21% for 2021-22 Cycle:

The 2021-22 cycle of Law School Admission Test administrations concluded with the June test, and shows that the number of people who registered to take the LSAT is down more than 21% compared with the previous cycle. ... [LSAC's] most recent figures show an 11.2% year-over-year decline in applicants and a 10.3% decline in applications.

Dave Killoran, CEO of PowerScore, and Spivey Consulting both tweeted last week that 15,500 took the June LSAT.

Spivey Consulting posted on Twitter that June 2022 registrants were down 23% as compared with June 2021, “but final test-takers ended up being down 33% (lots of no-shows).”

Killoran posted that “[l]ast June there were 23,085 LSAT takers. This June there were about 15,500. That’s a drop of about 1/3 from test to test. Great news if you are applying to law school this coming Fall!” ...

June 28, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

Job Opportunities In The U.S. Treasury Department's Office Of Tax Policy ($126,233 - $176,300)

By Paul Caron

Following up on last week's post: Job Opportunities in the Office of Tax Policy:

The Office of Tax Policy is looking to hire attorney-advisors in the Office of Tax Legislative Counsel (TLC), the Office of International Tax Counsel (ITC), and the Office of Benefits Tax Counsel (BTC), as well as a Deputy International Tax Counsel for Treaty Affairs. Our offices place a high value on diversity of experiences and perspectives and encourages applications from individuals from all ethnic and racial backgrounds, veterans, LGBTQ+ individuals, and persons with disabilities.

TLC is staffed by fewer than 20 lawyers and other advisors with specific subject matter expertise covering the spectrum of the U.S. domestic tax system, other than employee benefits and employment tax related tax matters. Attorney-advisors in the office shape policy and legal interpretations of the tax law through their work on regulatory and other administrative guidance projects and by providing technical assistance to congressional staff in drafting tax legislation. TLC is seeking attorneys with at least seven years of legal experience and significant experience in one of the following subject matter areas: taxation of individuals, estates, and trusts under federal income and transfer tax rules; rules related to charities and other exempt organizations, as well as state, local, or Indian tribal governments; taxation of partnerships, S corporations, or other pass-through business entities and their owners; and/or energy tax rules, especially with respect to renewable energy incentives.

June 28, 2022 in IRS News, Legal Education, Tax | Permalink

USC Is Sixth School To Offer Undergraduate Degree In Law

By Paul Caron

Reuters, Law Schools Are Offering Undergrad Degrees in Emerging Legal Education Trend:

Undergraduate degrees are catching on at U.S. law schools as universities seek new ways to give students a head start on legal careers and help them better understand the role of law in society.

The University of Southern California Gould School of Law said Tuesday that it will offer a Bachelor of Science in legal studies — making it at least the third law school in the country to grant degrees to undergraduate students and the first to do so among U.S. News & World Report’s top 20 highest rated schools.

June 28, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

SSRN Tax Professor Rankings

By Paul Caron

SSRN has updated its monthly ranking of 750 American and international law school faculties and 3,000 law professors by (among other things) the number of paper downloads from the SSRN database. Here is the new list (through June 1, 2022) of the Top 25 U.S. Tax Professors in two of the SSRN categories: all-time downloads and recent downloads (within the past 12 months):

		All-Time			Recent
1	Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan)	209,682	1	Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan)	9,738
2	Daniel Hemel (NYU)	125,718	2	Daniel Hemel (NYU)	5,526
3	Dan Shaviro (NYU)	124,944	3	Bridget Crawford (Pace)	4,157
4	Lily Batchelder (NYU)	124,498	4	Edward McCaffery (USC)	3,462
5	David Gamage (Indiana-Bloom.)	121,781	5	D. Dharmapala (Chicago)	2,931
6	Darien Shanske (UC-Davis)	114,774	6	Zachary Liscow (Yale)	2,898
7	David Kamin (NYU)	112,036	7	Lily Batchelder (NYU)	2,869
8	Cliff Fleming (BYU)	107,028	8	Ruth Mason (Virginia)	2,804
9	Manoj Viswanathan (UC-Hastings)	103,776	9	David Gamage (Indiana-Bloom.)	2,754
10	Rebecca Kysar (Fordham)	102,888	10	Darien Shanske (UC-Davis)	2,639
11	Ari Glogower (Ohio State)	102,674	11	Robert Sitkoff (Harvard)	2,637
12	D. Dharmapala (Chicago)	47,503	12	Kim Clausing (UCLA)	2,599
13	Michael Simkovic (USC)	46,794	13	David Kamin (NYU)	2,571
14	Paul Caron (Pepperdine)	39,579	14	Richard Ainsworth (Boston Univ.)	2,524
15	Louis Kaplow (Harvard)	37,015	15	Kyle Rozema (Washington University)	2,193
16	Richard Ainsworth (Boston Univ.)	35,171	16	Dan Shaviro (NYU)	2,040
17	Bridget Crawford (Pace)	32,107	17	Margaret Ryznar (Indiana-Indy)	1,983
18	Robert Sitkoff (Harvard)	29,200	18	Ari Glogower (Ohio State)	1,828
19	Ed Kleinbard (USC)	28,593	19	Louis Kaplow (Harvard)	1,797
20	Vic Fleischer (UC-Irvine)	28,508	20	Brad Borden (Brooklyn)	1,718
21	Brad Borden (Brooklyn)	28,126	21	Francine Lipman (UNLV)	1,630
22	Jim Hines (Michigan)	26,637	22	Hugh Ault (Boston College)	1,579
23	Ruth Mason (Virginia)	26,433	22	Vic Fleischer (UC-Irvine)	1,536
24	Ted Seto (Loyola-L.A.)	25,596	24	Yariv Brauner (Florida)	1,521
25	Katie Pratt (Loyola-L.A.)	25,472	25	Gregg Polsky (Georgia)	1,466

June 28, 2022 in Legal Education, Scholarship, Tax, Tax Prof Rankings, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

CUNY Group Files ABA Complaint Over Law School Faculty's Unanimous Adoption Of BDS Resolution Against Israel

By Paul Caron

Yesterday, Students and Faculty for Equality at CUNY (S.A.F.E. CUNY) filed a complaint with the ABA Council on Legal Education alleging that the CUNY Law School faculty's unanimous adoption of a Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions resolution against Israel is discriminatory, infringes upon academic freedom, and violates accreditation standards 105 (Acquiescence For Substantive Change in Program or Structure), 205 (Non-Discrimination and Equality of Opportunity), 206 (Diversity and Inclusion), and 405 (Professional Environment):

We write on behalf of Jewish Zionists, Israelis, and other students and faculty members across the City University of New York (CUNY), including at CUNY School of Law ("CUNY Law"), who are deeply concerned with the law school's recent unanimous faculty adoption of a formal BDS policy that vulgarly and blatantly discriminates against students, prospective students, faculty and employees, and prospective faculty and employees on the basis of ethnicity, religion, and nationality. We believe that the adopted BDS policy also violates well-established principles of academic freedom. As detailed below, we submit that CUNY School of Law's newly adopted BDS policy is discriminatory and blatantly flouts the accreditation requirements set forth in the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools. We urge the ABA Council on Legal Education (the "Council") to take immediate action to bring the law school into compliance or to revoke its accreditation. ...

June 28, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

Monday, June 27, 2022

Shaviro: Stanley Surrey And The Public Intellectual Practice Of Tax Policy

By Paul Caron

Following up on my previous post, A Half-Century with the Internal Revenue Code: The Memoirs of Stanley S. Surrey (Lawrence Zelenak (Duke) & Ajay Mehrotra (Northwestern; Google Scholar) eds. Carolina Academic Press 2022) (reviewed by Tracey Roberts (Cumberland; Google Scholar) here): Daniel Shaviro (NYU), 'Moralist' Versus 'Scientist': Stanley Surrey and the Public Intellectual Practice of Tax Policy:

Nearly forty years after his untimely death, Stanley Surrey, the renowned Harvard law professor (and Treasury official), remains perhaps the most important and influential tax law scholar in American history. The recent publication of his highly illuminating memoirs offers a convenient occasion for reassessing his work.

In offering such a reassessment, this essay takes its title from William F. Buckley’s 1974 observation that, while Surrey claimed to analyze tax policy issues with “scientific detachment,” in fact he was a tax “moralist,” whose policy recommendations were “based on a highly articulated set of personal value principles.” Largely agreeing with Buckley as a descriptive matter, the essay considers what Surrey’s work both gained and lost intellectually by hewing so strongly to a set of career-long, deeply held beliefs. Along the way, the essay contrasts Surrey’s moral and intellectual certainty with the skepticism and resistance to grand system-building of Boris Bittker of Yale Law School, Surrey’s only mid-century rival for intellectual leadership of the tax legal academy. ...

June 27, 2022 in Book Club, Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

Legal Ed News Roundup

By Paul Caron

ABA Journal Op-Ed (John Villasenor, (UCLA)), Why Law Professors Should Co-author Academic Articles With Law Students
ABA Journal, Think You Won't Pass the July Bar Exam? So Did Many Others, But They Did, Say Lawyers
Boston Globe, Black Women Law Deans and Professors Sound Off on What Overturning the Constitutionally Protected Right to Abortion Means
CNBC, Rutgers Law School Co-Dean: Roe v. Wade Decision Appears As 'Disastrous' As We Expected
David Faigman (Chancellor & Dean, UC-Hastings), Roe v. Wade
The Hill Op-Ed (Helen Alvaré (Associate Dean, George Mason), Dobbs Decision Shows U.S. Can Be Both Powerful and Humane
KTLA, Loyola Law School’s Jessica Levinson Explains Legal Impact of Roe v. Wade Reversal

June 27, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

ProPublica: Ten Ways Billionaires Avoid Taxes On An Epic Scale

By Paul Caron

ProPublica, Ten Ways Billionaires Avoid Taxes on an Epic Scale:

Last June, drawing on the largest trove of confidential American tax data that’s ever been obtained, ProPublica launched a series of stories documenting the key ways the ultrawealthy avoid taxes, strategies that are largely unavailable to most taxpayers. To mark the first anniversary of the launch, we decided to assemble a quick summary of the techniques — all of which can generate tax savings on a massive scale — revealed in the series.

June 27, 2022 in Tax, Tax News | Permalink

American Launches Title IX Investigation Of 8 Law Students Who Criticized A Student's Pro-Dobbs Views In Group Chat

By Paul Caron

Chronicle of Higher Education, A University Is Investigating 8 Law-School Students Who Criticized a Peer After ‘Roe’ Leak:

Eight law-school students at American University texted in a group chat, criticizing both a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade as well as people who backed the planned reversal of the landmark abortion ruling. Three weeks later, the students were notified they were being investigated for harassment.

On May 25, American’s Equity & Title IX Office sent an email to the students saying their messages might have violated the university’s Discrimination and Non-Title IX Sexual Misconduct policy. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, known as FIRE, published the email on Friday with identifying information redacted [American University Launches Bogus Harassment Investigation Into Students Who Criticized Leaked Supreme Court Abortion Ruling in Private Group Chat] — the same day that the Supreme Court issued its anticipated ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

June 27, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

Lesson From The Tax Court: A Reasonable Basis For Deducting Scrubs?

By Bryan Camp

My students—especially those with accounting backgrounds—come to class expecting that tax law is all about bright line rules and lots of calculations. They are either disappointed, frustrated, or relieved to find that tax law is like other law: it’s words, words that are generally complex, often opaque, and frequently mysterious. That’s why taxpayers need competent tax practitioners to advise them!

Some tax practitioners are more aggressive and some are more cautious. Today’s lesson is for the more aggressive ones. In Raul Romana and Maria Corazon Romana v. Commissioner, T.C. Sum. Op. 2022-9 (June 16, 2022), Judge Carluzzo generously allowed a taxpayer to deduct the cost of a her “scrublike clothing.”

Those of us who are more cautious will disregard this decision. It’s an outlier and, no, I certainly would not advise my client to start deducting the cost of this type of clothing! At the same time, however, the opinion may well provide aggressive taxpayers and their advisors protections from penalties if and when they try this trick at home. The substantive tax lesson is short and sweet. The penalty lesson is more complex, opaque, and mysterious.

Details below the fold.

June 27, 2022 in Bryan Camp, New Cases, Scholarship, Tax, Tax Practice And Procedure, Tax Scholarship | Permalink | Comments (1)

Florida Gov. DeSantis Signs Markel Act, Giving Grandparents Right To Visit Their Grandchildren Where Living Parent Killed Other Parent

By Paul Caron

Following up on my previous post: Justice for Dan (Facebook, Twitter) Press Release, Gov. DeSantis Signs Bill on Grandparent Visitation, Inspired by Story of Dan Markel:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed HB 1119, referred to by advocates as the ‘Markel Act’ — referring to the tragic 2014 murder-for-hire of FSU law professor Dan Markel who was locked in ongoing divorce disputes with his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, the mother of his two sons. Specifically, just prior to the murder, Wendi had petitioned the court to relocate to Miami where her family was living, but was denied. After authorities implicated members of the Adelson family the murder, Wendi cut off contact between Markel’s parents and the children.

Even after Wendi, her mother, and her brother (now incarcerated) were named as “co-conspirators” in the crime, Florida law left no opening for Markel’s parents to seek visitation with the children. This prompted allies to seek changes to Florida law, to make it easier for grandparents in these situations to petition courts for visitation.

In order to ensure parental rights were protected, the bill language applies only to cases where the living parent was found responsible for the other parent’s death by a civil or criminal court. While this has not occurred in Markel’s case, the existence of this law may give living parents good reason to permit visitation with grandparents rather than enduring the ordeal of lawsuits. It may also lead others to avoid planning the murder of a co-parent altogether.

Statement from Ruth Markel on behalf of their family

June 27, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

TaxProf Blog Weekend Roundup

By Paul Caron

Saturday:

Sunday:

June 27, 2022 in Legal Education, Tax, Weekend Roundup | Permalink

Sunday, June 26, 2022

NY Times Op-Ed: I Prayed And Protested To End Roe. What Comes Next?

By Paul Caron

New York Times Op-Ed: I Prayed and Protested to End Roe. What Comes Next?, by Karen Swallow Prior (Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary):

Roe v. Wade’s reversal has elicited cries of anger and despair from those who feel a sense of dread for the future of women and the future of America.

I understand that feeling of dread.

As a pro-life advocate, I lament with those who feel they have lost a basic human right, as well as moral agency and hope for the future. But for me it is Roe that brought these losses.

Roe stripped from the prenatal child the right to continue to live and grow, safe and free from intentional harm. If you believe, as I do, that abortion unjustly ends the life of a being that is fully human, a life that exists independently of the will of the mother, is self-organizing and unique, developing yet complete in itself, then you will understand Roe not as a ruling that liberates but as one that dehumanizes, first the fetus, then the rest of us.

Further, Roe elevated radical autonomy over moral agency. Roe struck down the hope that is inherent in every human life, whether new or old, for as long as life remains.

Roe was an unjust ruling. I have always believed it would be overturned, as other unjust decisions by the court were, although I thought it would take longer. I rejoice that it did not. But of course it will take longer for abortion to become unthinkable, which is the real goal of the pro-life movement. ...

[I]n a recent Times Opinion essay, Patrick T. Brown acknowledged the need for “a broader vision of policy than just prohibiting access to abortion.” A post-Roe world, he wrote, “is one that compels a greater claim on public resources to support expectant mothers” and demands that we “take seriously the challenges that women and families experience not only during and immediately after pregnancy but also in the years that follow.”

June 26, 2022 in Faith, Legal Education | Permalink

They Cite the Same Bible And Evoke The Same Jesus. But These Two Christians Are On Opposite Sides Of The Abortion Debate

By Paul Caron

CNN, They Cite the Same Bible and Evoke the Same Jesus. But These Two Christians Are on Opposite Sides of the Abortion Debate:

Both cite the same Bible. Both follow the same Jesus. And both talk about the sanctity of life.

And yet both stand on opposite sides of the contentious debate over abortion.

Trent Horn, an author, speaker and podcaster, is a Roman Catholic and an opponent of abortion rights. Laura Ellis supports legal abortion rights and is project manager at Baptist Women in Ministry, a Baptist group that advocates for women in ministry.

Both personify the divisions over abortion in the church — and show how complex the issue can be when two smart and well-informed people cite scripture to support their point of view. ...

While much of the debate around abortion has been filtered through angry protests and shouted slogans, CNN chose to interview these two Christians because each has penned thoughtful public essays on the issue.

Horn, author of "Persuasive Pro-life," wrote a recent essay, "Catholics Can't Be Pro-Choice," in which he argued that all "reasonable" people should oppose legal abortion because it is the taking of a life. "If the unborn are not human beings, then abortion is harmless surgery. But if the unborn are growing, they must be alive," he wrote.

Ellis is author of a recent essay, "Why I'm a pro-choice Christian and believe you should be too." One of her biggest criticisms of abortion rights opponents is that "often these activists fail to support other political causes that preserve the life of the child after being born."

We asked both Ellis and Horn the same four questions and received dramatically different responses. Their answers were edited for brevity.

June 26, 2022 in Faith, Legal Education | Permalink

NY Times Op-Ed: I Married The Wrong Person, And I’m So Glad I Did

By Paul Caron

New York Times Op-Ed: I Married the Wrong Person, and I’m So Glad I Did, by Tish Harrison Warren (Priest, Anglican Church; Author, Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep (2021) (Christianity Today's 2022 Book of the Year)):

HI truly believe that everyone marries the wrong person. But even by that standard, my husband’s and my match was particularly fraught. We got married young with no idea what we were getting into or how to decide who — or if — to marry. We both brought plenty of baggage into our relationship. We argued a lot, and didn’t handle conflict well. We had a vague sense that marriage was good and a mistaken idea that it was a necessary passage into adulthood. But even as I walked down the aisle, I harbored doubts about whether we should marry.

My husband is now also an Anglican priest and over the last two decades we’ve both presided over weddings and offered premarital counseling. We both admit that if a couple came to us with the doubts and issues we had when we got engaged we’d probably say, “maybe don’t do this,” which is what our premarital counselor told us at the time. He sensed that our life paths were pulling in different directions, that neither of us had a clear idea of who we were or what we wanted, and that I was romantically hung up on another guy. We didn’t listen to his advice.

Nearly two decades later, I’m glad we didn’t. But I can also say that he was right to warn us of trouble ahead.

The last 17 years have held long stretches when one or both of us were deeply unhappy. There have been times when contempt settled on our relationship, caked and hard as dried mud. We’ve both been unkind. We’ve both yelled curse words and stormed out the door. We both have felt we needed things that the other person simply could not give us. We have been to marriage counseling for long enough now that our favorite counselor feels like part of the family. We should probably include her photo in our annual Christmas card. At times, we stayed married sheerly as a matter of religious obedience and for the sake of our children. ...

June 26, 2022 in Faith, Legal Education | Permalink

The Top Five New Tax Papers

By Paul Caron

There is a bit of movement in this week's list of the Top 5 Recent Tax Paper Downloads, with a new #1 paper and a new papers joining the list at #3:

[401 Downloads] Tax Neutrality Regimes and GloBE, by Leopoldo Parada (Leeds; Google Scholar)
[289 Downloads] Tax Harmony: The Promise and Pitfalls of the Global Minimum Tax, by Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan; Google Scholar) & Young Ran (Christine) Kim (Utah; Google Scholar; moving to Cardozo)
[224 Downloads] Tax Administration and Technology: From Enhanced to No-Cooperation?, by João Félix Pinto Nogueira (International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation; Google Scholar)
[221 Downloads] Designing an Equitable Border Carbon Adjustment Mechanism, by Ivan Ozai (Osgoode Hall; Google Scholar)
[207 Downloads] Preventing Unacceptable Tax Treaty Overrides, by Craig Elliffe (Auckland; Google Scholar)

June 26, 2022 in Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship, Top 5 Downloads | Permalink

Saturday, June 25, 2022

This Week's Ten Most Popular TaxProf Blog Posts

By Paul Caron

Bryan Camp (Texas Tech), Lesson From The Tax Court: How To Tell When Land Is Held As A Capital Asset
Houston Chronicle, Texas Southern Law School Replaces Dean After Less Than Three Years Amidst Continued Bar Challenges, Fallout From Admissions Scandal
Missoulian, After Failed Search Following Resignation Of Dean Due To Mishandling Of Sexual Misconduct Allegations, Tax Prof Elaine Gagliardi Named Interim Dean At Montana Law School
Chronicle of Higher Education, Faculty Salaries Fall 5%, The Biggest One-Year Drop In History
Kay Bell (Don't Mess With Taxes), Juneteenth And Tax Law
Vermont Digger, Rebranded Vermont Law & Graduate School Aims To Increase Enrollment By 100 Students With Three New Master’s Degree Programs
Leigh Osofsky (North Carolina) & Kathleen DeLaney Thomas (North Carolina), Implicit Legislative Bias: The Case Of The Mortgage Interest Deduction
John Lande (Missouri), How Introverted Law Students Can Thrive: Become Tax Lawyers|Tax Professors (And Deans)
Wall Street Journal, The New HOTTER Malibu
Mike Kerrigan (Hunton Andrews Kurth, Charlotte, NC), Father's Day And The Prodigal Son

June 25, 2022 in About This Blog, Legal Education, Tax, Weekly Top 10 TaxProf Blog Posts | Permalink

'I Couldn’t Imagine Leading And Not Being Openly Gay': How LGBTQIA+ Pride Informs Law School Leadership

By Paul Caron

Law.com, 'I Couldn’t Imagine Leading and Not Being Openly Gay': How LGBTQIA+ Pride Informs Law School Leadership:

The decision to be open about one’s sexual orientation is deeply personal. But for many queer law deans, the decision’s potential impact on the people they lead is often a key part of the calculus.

“I feel it is important for me to be openly gay as a dean because representation matters,” Anthony Niedwiecki, president and dean of Mitchell Hamline School of Law, told Law.com.

“I’ve been given the gift of being able to be a dean, and I want to show other LGBTQ+ people that you can be your authentic self and still be in leadership positions,” Niedwiecki said. “I honestly believe I’m a much better leader because I’m openly gay and authentic. I couldn’t imagine leading and not being openly gay.”

“[A]s the first Black, female and gay law dean at Rutgers Law, I have an unwavering belief that representation matters,” Kimberly Mutcherson, dean and professor of law at Rutgers Law School in Camden told Law.com in an email, echoing Niedwiecki’s sentiment.

June 25, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

WSJ: Warren Buffett’s Estate Planning Sends Charities Scrambling; $100 Billion May Go To Pro-Abortion Family Foundation

By Paul Caron

Wall Street Journal, Warren Buffett’s Estate Planning Sends Charities Scrambling:

Warren Buffett has long held his cards close to the vest when it comes to his investing plans. Now, charities including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are racing to adjust to possible changes in his plans for charitable giving. The results could dramatically reshape the world of philanthropy.

In 2006, the Omaha billionaire made a pledge worth tens of billions of dollars: He would earmark 85% of his stock in his company, Berkshire Hathaway, for charity, with the bulk going to the Gates Foundation, a global philanthropy run by his longtime friends. He wrote to the couple that he was “irrevocably committing to make annual gifts of Berkshire Hathaway ‘B’ shares throughout my lifetime.”

Less clearly worded was what would happen to the undistributed shares after Mr. Buffett, who will turn 92 in August, dies.

For years, the Gates Foundation made preparations for that event. Staffers scrambled to find potential homes for an anticipated flood of funding, an endeavor they nicknamed “Project Lincoln,” former employees said. In 2010 Mr. Buffett said he planned ultimately to give away 99% of his wealth.

Now, similar preparations are under way at a different charity—a little-known Buffett family foundation that supports abortion rights. Officials at the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation have been hiring staff and making plans to spend a massive influx of money that the small organization expects to receive, according to current and former people within the foundations and documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

While Mr. Buffett hasn’t revealed publicly how his estate will be divided, officials at both foundations have discussed in internal meetings that the amount left to the Buffett family foundation could be as high as $70 billion to $100 billion, some of the people said and documents show. An endowment of that size would make the Buffett foundation one of the largest private philanthropies in the world, based on publicly available data.

June 25, 2022 in Tax, Tax News | Permalink

The Ohio State University Trademarks 'The'

By Paul Caron

After being scoffed by their Michigan rivals and others, The Ohio State University received trademark protection for the word "the" from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday. New York Times, Ohio State University Trademarks ‘The’:

Ohio State University has received a trademark for one of the most common words in the English language, one that the school’s supporters often forcefully emphasize when uttering its name: “The.”

While athletes from other schools may simply say they went to Michigan or Penn State, a Buckeye rarely cuts corners: “The Ohio State University,” they’ll say, usually adding a dramatic pause after stressing the “the.” The school’s players, alumni and supporters often speak its name in that consistent cadence, as football fans who have watched N.F.L. starting lineups introduce themselves on Sundays or Monday nights have most likely heard

To Ohio State’s supporters, the tradition is cherished and sets the school apart from the rest. (To Ohio State’s rivals, it’s nauseatingly pompous. To each their own.)

The trademark, issued on Tuesday by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, won’t unleash heavy-handed lawyers in search of anyone using the word “the” — its protections are limited to a narrow set of circumstances that people are unlikely to cross unless they are selling knockoff Ohio State merchandise. But it gives the university some protection against unlicensed sellers, and adds to the school’s efforts to link itself to the very common word.

Ohio State Buckeyes Nike Youth Local T-Shirt - Scarlet Source: Fanatics.com

June 25, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

Friday, June 24, 2022

**Weekly SSRN Tax Article Review And Roundup: Saito Reviews Implicit Legislative Bias And The Mortgage Interest Deduction By Osofsky & Thomas**

By Blaine Saito

This week, Blaine Saito (Northeastern; Google Scholar) reviews a new work by Leigh Osofsky (North Carolina; Google Scholar) & Kathleen DeLaney Thomas (North Carolina; Google Scholar), Implicit Legislative Bias: The Case of the Mortgage Interest Deduction, 56 U.C. Davis L. Rev. ___ (2022).

Why do so many bad tax policies stick around for so long? The story told is often one of public choice theory and capture. Legislators optimize getting reelected and that leads toward catering to certain interest groups. To be sure, this account does have some explanatory force. But there is often more to the story. Using the mortgage interest deduction (MID) as an example, Leigh Osofsky and Kathleen DeLaney Thomas show that cognitive biases, including implicit racial assumptions and other heuristics, also play a role in keeping this problematic policy. These cognitive biases conspire to create a self-reinforcing system that perpetuates racial inequalities. The article is thus important to broader conversations on how to think about enacting tax policy and for the discussions of racial justice.

June 24, 2022 in Blaine Saito, Scholarship, Tax Scholarship, Weekly SSRN Roundup, Weekly Tax Roundup | Permalink

Weekly Legal Education Roundup

By Scott Fruehwald

Chronicle of Higher Education, Faculty-Pay Survey Records the Largest One-Year Drop Ever
Houston Chronicle, TSU Replaces Law School Dean After Continued Troubles, Low Bar Scores
John Lande (Missouri), Introversion, the Legal Profession, and Dispute Resolution
Law360, Strong Rebound In Post-Pandemic Law School Graduate Hiring
Law.com, So Far, Public Comments Largely Support ABA Proposal to Make Law School Admission Tests Optional
Ruth Markel, The Unveiling: A Mother's Reflection on Murder, Grief, and Trial Life (2022)
Missoulian, University of Montana Law School Names Interim Dean After Search Comes Up Short
Roundup, Legal Ed News

June 24, 2022 in Legal Education, Scott Fruehwald, Weekly Legal Ed Roundup | Permalink

Tax Policy In The Biden Administration

By Paul Caron

Bloomberg, SALT-Cap Issue Emerges as Potential Block to Biden Economic Bill
Common Dreams, Progressives Say Windfall Profits Tax a 'Better Solution' Than Biden's Gas Tax Holiday
Institute on Taxation & Economic Policy, Creating Racially and Economically Equitable Tax Policy in the South
Los Angeles Times, Allegations of a Getty Family Tax Dodge
Greg Mankiw (Harvard), Three Reasons Why a Gas Tax Holiday is a Bad Idea

June 24, 2022 in Tax Policy in the Biden Administration | Permalink

Strong Rebound In Post-Pandemic Law School Graduate Hiring

By Paul Caron

Law360, Law School Graduate Hiring Rebounds From Pandemic Slump:

Law firms are making up for the COVID-19-driven decline in law school graduate hiring, exceeding numbers in 2021 from the last pre-pandemic year, a report released Wednesday by legal services provider Leopard Solutions says.

The company's research, which tracks more than 1,000 law firms worldwide and nearly two dozen Fortune 500 companies, found that the top 200 firms hired 9,286 graduates in 2021, more than double the 4,093 hires in 2020 and a substantial increase from 2019's 6,296 hires.

Outside the top 200 firms, a little more than 4,000 hires were recorded in 2021, about 1,000 more than in 2020 and a slight increase from 2019's numbers. ...

Georgetown University Law Center, Harvard Law School and Columbia Law School led the pack in percentage of placements at top 200 firms, with more than 12% of new hires coming from those three schools. Other schools above 2% were New York University School of Law; University of California, Berkeley School of Law; Fordham University School of Law; and the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

The report found that a small number of firms were making a majority of hires from U.S. News and World Report Top 10 schools, with 58% going to 20 firms led by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP with 6.3%. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Latham & Watkins LLP were also among the firms hiring more than 3% of Top 10 graduates.

June 24, 2022 in Legal Ed News, Legal Education | Permalink

Hemel: The Passthrough Entity Tax Scandal

By Paul Caron

Daniel J. Hemel (NYU; Google Scholar), The Passthrough Entity Tax Scandal:

Twenty-seven states have enacted laws since 2018 that are designed to provide passthrough entity owners with an unlimited federal tax deduction for state and local business income taxes. These “passthrough entity tax” regimes respond to the December 2017 federal tax law, which imposed a $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction. The new state laws generally allow passthrough entities to opt into paying an entity-level state income tax in exchange for a dollar-for-dollar benefit on their owners’ state personal income tax returns. The optional tax has proven to be immensely popular among passthrough entity owners across the country.

But there is a problem with the passthrough entity tax concept: Under the plain text of the Internal Revenue Code, the workaround does not work. The December 2017 law clearly precludes passthrough entities and their owners from deducting state and local income taxes beyond the $10,000-per-individual cap. And the legislative history of the December 2017 law—read in context—aligns with the statutory text.

June 24, 2022 in Scholarship, Tax, Tax Scholarship | Permalink

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