Invoking allusions to Caligula and Roman tax law, the Sixth Circuit, in Summa Holdings, reversed the Tax Court and held that the Commissioner could not use the substance-over-form doctrine to prevent taxpayers from combining the tax savings effects of a domestic international sales corporation...

An exciting new way to fund social services has recently emerged. This new financing mechanism, called a social impact bond (SIB), has the potential to help us tackle some of our nation's most challenging social problems. Broadly speaking, a SIB is a type of “pay for success” contract where...

Individuals often fund charitable gifts with their savings or retirement benefits. However, such benefits, other than those from a Roth individual retirement arrangement, are generally included in the individual's gross income when received, and may not be deductible from the donor's income....

The subsidy provided by the earned income tax credit (EITC ) is of particular importance to individuals subjected to domestic abuse, given that such individuals are often impoverished, and the EITC can provide them with the financial resources necessary to improve, endure, or leave an abusive...

Federal spending on higher education has long been controversial, primarily because it has grown exponentially since the 1950s but it has produced a system which many regard as too expensive and grossly inefficient. The soaring costs are placing higher education beyond the reach of many...

Congress has continually struggled with allowing employees a deduction for unreimbursed home office expenses. Perceptions about the legitimacy and necessity of such a deduction have resulted in what many may now view as arbitrary and inequitable tax policy. As millions of employees have been...

Within the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("PPACA" or the "Act"), the individual health insurance mandate ("individual mandate") - the provision which dictates that in 2014 and beyond all citizens must either have a form of health insurance or pay a tax penalty - has already been...

This paper estimates the extent to which legal fees prevent liquidity-constrained households from declaring bankruptcy. To do so, it studies how the 2001 and 2008 income tax rebates affected consumer bankruptcy filings. We exploit the randomized timing of the rebate checks and estimate that the...

This Article shows how, because of changes in key rulings of the United States Supreme Court and in other state court rulings on the character of income taxes, Washington’s legislature could now implement a graduated net income tax on both individuals and businesses. The Article concludes that...