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Vol. 32 No. 2 - Winter 2013

 

Point & Counterpoint: Tax Incentives for Homeownership - A Lincoln-Douglas Debate

We Should Continue to Provide a Tax Break for Gains on the Sale of Owner-Occupied Houses

The arguments regarding individual home ownership, which Professor Neil H. Buchanan (my alter ego) laid out in his Affirmative comments, may or may not be persuasive. I will leave that for others to decide. Here, I will argue that—even if we are going to change the tax and other policies by which we encourage people to own the houses in which they live—the most defensible of those many subsidies is the exclusion of any gains that are realized when people sell their houses. ...

From the Chair

Interview

Point to Remember

Pro Bono Matters

“The Hardest Thing in the World to Understand Is the Income Tax.” — Albert Einstein

There are almost 11 million working poor in America today. While this is the highest number since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started keeping track in 1987, it would be much higher if it included those unable to meet basic needs despite having an income just above the poverty threshold. And the child-poverty rate in America is higher than the same rate in Japan, Canada, or any European country except Romania. ...

Book Review

The Supreme Court, Federal Taxation, and the Constitution By Jasper L. Cummings, Jr.

The Fall 2010 issue of NewsQuarterly included Peter Faber’s review of an earlier book by Mr. Cummings, The Supreme Court’s Federal Tax Jurisprudence. That book, a comprehen-sive review of more than 900 opinions, discusses changes in the Court’s views of taxation and their effect on the develop-ment of tax law. Mr. Cummings’ most recent book, The Supreme Court, Federal Taxation, and the Constitution, has a narrower focus. ...

Tax Bites

A Law Student Perspective

A Law Student Perspective on Tax Law

As a student of tax law, the last two years have provided me with a unique opportunity to examine the implications of tax policy. From the hard fought battle between the states and Amazon over whether out-of-state online retailers have to collect sales tax, to the ongoing national debate over tax cuts, to the discussion on whether to transform our international tax system by ending the deferral tax regime, these conversa-tions have made at least one thing clear to me: tax is not merely an afterthought in policy discussions but in fact is a critical aspect of our democracy. ...

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