Studies in the History of Tax Law, Volume 6


Book Description

These are the papers from the 2012 Cambridge Tax Law History Conference revised and reviewed for publication. The papers include new studies of: income tax law rewrite projects 1914–1956; law and administration in capital allowances 1878– 1950; the 'full amount' in income tax legislation; Sir Josiah Stamp and double income tax; early German income tax treaties and laws concerned with double tax avoidance (1869–1908); the policy of the medicine stamp duty; 'Danegeld' – from Danish tribute to English land tax; religion and charity, a historical perspective; 'Plaintive Glitterati'; a collision of accounting and law, dividends from pre-1914 profits in Australia; the history and development of the taxation profession in the UK and Australia; an inquiry into Dutch to British Colonial Malacca 1824–1839; the taxation history of China; taxing bachelors in America: 1895–1939; Dutch Tax reform under Napoleon; and the last decade of estate duty. The Publisher and authors have dedicated this volume to the memory of John Tiley, Emeritus Professor of the Law of Taxation at the University of Cambridge, who died as it was going to press. The Cambridge History of Tax conferences were his idea and he was responsible for their planning. He also edited all six volumes in the series.




A Good Tax


Book Description

In A Good Tax, tax expert Joan Youngman skillfully considers how to improve the operation of the property tax and supply the information that is often missing in public debate. She analyzes the legal, administrative, and political challenges to the property tax in the United States and offers recommendations for its improvement. The book is accessibly written for policy analysts and public officials who are dealing with specific property tax issues and for those concerned with property tax issues in general.




Critical Tax Theory


Book Description

Tax law is political. This book highlights and explains the major themes and methodologies of a group of scholars who challenge the traditional claim that tax law is neutral and unbiased. The contributors to this volume include pioneers in the field of critical tax theory, as well as key thinkers who have sustained and expanded the investigation into why the tax laws are the way they are and what impacts tax laws have on historically disempowered groups. This volume, assembled by two law professors who work in the field, is an accessible introduction to this new and growing body of scholarship. It is a resource not only for scholars and students in the fields of taxation and economics, but also for those who engage with critical race theory, feminist legal theory, queer theory, class-based analysis, and social justice generally. Tax is the one area of law that affects everyone in our society, and this book is crucial to understanding its impact.




Making Tax Law


Book Description

This book explores the process of making U.S. tax law and examines the ways in which considerations of tax policy, tax politics, and tax administration intersect and contribute to the development of law through the legislative process, the promulgation of regulations and other administrative guidance, and the negotiation and ratification of tax treaties. The book provides detailed information regarding the legislative process that has not been published in other resources. This insider's look into the workings of the government is derived from Berman's twenty-five-year career as a Washington, D.C. tax attorney. The book uses tax legislation as a substantive backdrop for considering the legislative process and is suited for use in J.D.- or LL.M.-level courses such as Making Tax Law, Legislation, or Federal Regulatory and Legislative Practice Seminar. "There are many tax experts, but only a very select few combine executive branch, congressional, private sector and academic perspective in the way that Dan Berman does. His views should be given extremely careful consideration." --Lawrence H. Summers, former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and former President of Harvard University "Dan is an expert at making and practicing tax law." --Sheldon S. Cohen, former Commissioner of Internal Revenue




The Income Tax


Book Description




The Federal Estate Tax


Book Description

A comprehensive and accessible account of the U.S. estate tax, examining its history and evolution, structure and inner workings, and economic consequences. Governments have been levying some form of inheritance tax since the ancient Egyptians did so in the seventh century BC. In the United States, the federal government experimented with various forms of inheritance taxes, settling on an estate tax in 1916 and a gift tax in 1932. Despite this long history, there are few empirical studies of the federal estate tax. This book offers the first comprehensive look at U.S. estate and inheritance taxes, examining their history and evolution, structure and inner workings, and economic consequences. Written by David Joulfaian, a veteran economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the book provides accessible accounts of such topics as changes in tax laws, issues of equity, the fiscal contribution of the estate tax, and its behavioral effects. Joulfaian traces the evolution of U.S. inheritance taxes from 1797 to the present, noting that the estate tax rate and base expanded through 1976, then began to decline. He describes the tax itself, explaining that it currently applies to estates and gifts in excess of $11.18 million, and outlines applicable deductions and credits. He sketches a profile of taxpayers and their beneficiaries; surveys the revenues from estate and gift taxes; and discusses the effect of estate taxation on labor decisions, saving and wealth accumulation, charitable giving, life insurance ownership, and other economic activities. Finally, he addresses criticisms of the estate tax and analyzes its shortcomings. Accompanying tables present a wealth of data gathered by Joulfaian in his research and not available elsewhere.




Racial Taxation


Book Description

In the United States, it is quite common to lay claim to the benefits of society by appealing to "taxpayer citizenship--the idea that, as taxpayers, we deserve access to certain social services like a public education. Tracing the genealogy of this concept, Camille Walsh shows how tax policy and taxpayer identity were built on the foundations of white supremacy and intertwined with ideas of whiteness. From the origins of unequal public school funding after the Civil War through school desegregation cases from Brown v. Board of Education to San Antonio v. Rodriguez in the 1970s, this study spans over a century of racial injustice, dramatic courtroom clashes, and white supremacist backlash to collective justice claims. Incorporating letters from everyday individuals as well as the private notes of Supreme Court justices as they deliberated, Walsh reveals how the idea of a "taxpayer" identity contributed to the contemporary crises of public education, racial disparity, and income inequality.




American Taxation, American Slavery


Book Description

For all the recent attention to the slaveholding of the founding fathers, we still know remarkably little about the influence of slavery on American politics. American Taxation, American Slavery tackles this problem in a new way. Rather than parsing the ideological pronouncements of charismatic slaveholders, it examines the concrete policy decisions that slaveholders and non-slaveholders made in the critical realm of taxation. The result is surprising—that the enduring power of antigovernment rhetoric in the United States stems from the nation’s history of slavery rather than its history of liberty. We are all familiar with the states’ rights arguments of proslavery politicians who wanted to keep the federal government weak and decentralized. But here Robin Einhorn shows the deep, broad, and continuous influence of slavery on this idea in American politics. From the earliest colonial times right up to the Civil War, slaveholding elites feared strong democratic government as a threat to the institution of slavery. American Taxation, American Slavery shows how their heated battles over taxation, the power to tax, and the distribution of tax burdens were rooted not in debates over personal liberty but rather in the rights of slaveholders to hold human beings as property. Along the way, Einhorn exposes the antidemocratic origins of the popular Jeffersonian rhetoric about weak government by showing that governments were actually more democratic—and stronger—where most people were free. A strikingly original look at the role of slavery in the making of the United States, American Taxation, American Slavery will prove essential to anyone interested in the history of American government and politics.




Studies in the History of Tax Law, Volume 1


Book Description

This work contains the full text of the papers given at the first Tax Law History Conference in Cambridge in September 2002 and organised by the Cambridge Law Facultys Centre for Tax Law. The papers ranged widely from the time of King John to the 20th century,from Tudor Englands Statute of Wills to the American taxes on slaves, from Hong Kong, Australia and Israel. The sources ranged from the Public Record office to the bowels of Somerset House. The topics ranged from the tax base through tax administration to tax policy making as well as providing detailed accounts of the UKs remittance basis of taxation and the Excess Profits Duty of the First World War. All students of tax law and tax history will want to read these papers by an international team of leading scholars in tax law and history.




European Union Corporate Tax Law


Book Description

How does EU law affect Member State corporate tax systems and the cross-border activities of companies? This unique study traces the historical development of EU corporate tax law and provides an in-depth analysis of a number of issues affecting companies, groups of companies and permanent establishments. Existing legislation, soft-law and the case-law of the Court of Justice are examined. The proposed CCCTB Directive and its potential application through enhanced co-operation are also considered. In addition to the tax issues pertaining to direct investment, the author examines the taxation of passive investment income, corporate reorganisations, exit taxes and the restrictive effect of domestic anti-abuse regimes. By doing so, the convergences and divergences arising from the interplay of EU corporate tax law and international tax law, especially the OECD model, are uncovered and highlighted.