Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Osofsky Reviews Thomas' Presumptive Collection
Leigh Osofsky (Miami), Presumptive Collection: An Innovative Proposal for a Notoriously Difficult Problem (Jotwell), reviewing Kathleen DeLaney Thomas (North Carolina), Presumptive Collection: A Prospect Theory Approach to Increasing Small Business Tax Compliance, 67 Tax L. Rev. __ (2013):
In Presumptive Collection: A Prospect Theory Approach to Increasing Small Business Tax Compliance, Kathleen DeLaney Thomas tackles the extensive, and notoriously difficult to address, problem of small business tax evasion. She does so by proposing a novel solution to the problem: presumptive collection of tax liability. Her solution is elegant, balanced, and a great example of how tax law professors can integrate scholarship from other disciplines with their detailed knowledge about tax law and compliance, in order to produce valuable real-world proposals.
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2013/10/osofsky-.html
So the wonderful real world proposal is to have the small business pay a presumptive (non-actual) tax based on income that someone (dare we say government) will impute to the business. Since the business owner will now get a refund like many employees, he/she will be happy and report the current income for the business. Or if the business isn’t doing so well this year, the cash flow drain will drive them into bankruptcy all the quicker.
Forget Orwell (an idea to stupid except for intellectuals) – this is truly Through the Looking Glass. I should have remembered that Professor Caron (Mama don’t let your babies grow up to be tax lawyers) had such a strong sense of the absurd.
Posted by: air65cav | Oct 29, 2013 2:16:43 PM