Adopted Regulation of the Public Utilities Commission
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BEYOND PUBLIC CHOICE and PUBLIC INTEREST: a STUDY of the LEGISLATIVE PROCESS AS ILLUSTRATED by TAX LEGISLATION in the 1980S
University of Pennsylvania Law Review FOUNDED 1852 Formerly American Law Register VOL. 139 NOVEMBER 1990 No. 1 ARTICLES BEYOND PUBLIC CHOICE AND PUBLIC INTEREST: A STUDY OF THE LEGISLATIVE PROCESS AS ILLUSTRATED BY TAX LEGISLATION IN THE 1980s DANIEL SHAVIRO" TABLE OF CONTENTS I. INTRODUCTION ................................. 3 II. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF CYCLICAL TAX LEGISLATION ... 11 A. Legislation From the Beginning of the Income Tax Through the 1970s: The Evolution of Tax Instrumentalism and Tax Reform ..................................... 11 t Assistant Professor, University of Chicago Law School. The author was a Legislation Attorney with theJoint Committee of Taxation during the enactment of the 1986 tax bill discussed in this Article. He is grateful to Walter Blum, Richard Posner, Cass Sunstein, and the participants in a Harvard Law School seminar on Current Research in Taxation, held in Chatham, Massachusetts on August 23-26, 1990, for helpful comments on earlier drafts, to Joanne Fay and Michael Bonarti for research assistance, and to the WalterJ. Blum Faculty Research Fund and the Kirkland & Ellis Faculty Fund for financial support. 2 UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 139: 1 B. The 1981 Act and Its Aftermath ................... 19 C. The 1986 Act ............................... 23 D. Aftermath of the 198.6 Act ......................... 29 E. Summary .................................. 30 III. THE PUBLIC INTEREST THEORY OF LEGISLATION ........ 31 A. The Various Strands of Public Interest Theory .......... 31 1. Public Interest Theory in Economics ............ 31 2. The Pluralist School in Political Science .......... 33 3. Ideological Views of the Public Interest .......... 35 B. Criticisms of PublicInterest Theory .................. 36 1. (Largely Theoretical) Criticisms by Economists ... 36 a. When Everyone "Wins," Everyone May Lose .. -
Corporate Tax Changes in the 1986 Tax Reform Act Richard E
College of William & Mary Law School William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository William & Mary Annual Tax Conference Conferences, Events, and Lectures 1986 Corporate Tax Changes in the 1986 Tax Reform Act Richard E. May Repository Citation May, Richard E., "Corporate Tax Changes in the 1986 Tax Reform Act" (1986). William & Mary Annual Tax Conference. 558. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/tax/558 Copyright c 1986 by the authors. This article is brought to you by the William & Mary Law School Scholarship Repository. https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/tax THIRTY-SECOND WILLIAM AND MARY TAX CONFERENCE CORPORATE TAX CHANGES IN THE 1986 TAX REFORM ACT by Richard E.. May Hunton & Williams December 5-6, 1986 Williamsburg The speaker wishes to acknowledge that portions of this outline were graciously made available by Messrs. Mark J. Silverman, William C. Bowers, and Robert H. Wellen, all colleagues in the Section of Taxation of the American Bar Association. CORPORATE TAX CHANGES IN 1986 TAX REFORM ACT I. Selected changes affecting taxation of corporations.* A. Corporate rate changes. The 1986 Act makes changes to the corporate rates for both ordinary income and capital gains. Each is described below. 1. Rates for ordinary income. (1986 Act, § 601). The 1986 Act sets the maximum corporate rate on ordinary income at 34 percent for taxable income in excess of 75,000. Lower rates apply to taxable income below that amount as follows: Taxable Income Tax Rate $50,000 or less 15% $50,001 - $75,000 25% $75,001 or more 34% There is a phase-out of the benefit of the two lower rates of tax. -
JAMES A. BAKER, III the Case for Pragmatic Idealism Is Based on an Optimis- Tic View of Man, Tempered by Our Knowledge of Human Imperfection
Extract from Raising the Bar: The Crucial Role of the Lawyer in Society, by Talmage Boston. © State Bar of Texas 2012. Available to order at texasbarbooks.net. TWO MOST IMPORTANT LAWYERS OF THE LAST FIFTY YEARS 67 concluded his Watergate memoirs, The Right and the Power, with these words that summarize his ultimate triumph in “raising the bar”: From Watergate we learned what generations before us have known: our Constitution works. And during the Watergate years it was interpreted again so as to reaffirm that no one—absolutely no one—is above the law.29 JAMES A. BAKER, III The case for pragmatic idealism is based on an optimis- tic view of man, tempered by our knowledge of human imperfection. It promises no easy answers or quick fixes. But I am convinced that it offers our surest guide and best hope for navigating our great country safely through this precarious period of opportunity and risk in world affairs.30 In their historic careers, Leon Jaworski and James A. Baker, III, ended up in the same place—the highest level of achievement in their respective fields as lawyers—though they didn’t start from the same place. Leonidas Jaworski entered the world in 1905 as the son of Joseph Jaworski, a German-speaking Polish immigrant, who went through Ellis Island two years before Leon’s birth and made a modest living as an evangelical pastor leading small churches in Central Texas towns. James A. Baker, III, entered the world in 1930 as the son, grand- son, and great-grandson of distinguished lawyers all named James A. -
THE TRUTH ABOUT TAX REFORM Michael J
University of Florida Law Review VOLUME 40 FALL 1988 NUMBER 4 DUNWODY DISTINGUISHED LECTURE IN LAW THE TRUTH ABOUT TAX REFORM Michael J. Graetz* I. INTRODUCTION .......•••••••••.••...•... 617 II. THE SORRY STATE OF PRIOR LAW. ••••••••..• 618 III. THE POLITICAL MIRACLE ••••••••••.......• 619 IV. THE CRITICAL IDEA ••••••••••...•....•.•• 622 V. AN UNEASY MARRIAGE •..••••••••••••••••• 623 VI. THE TwIN TOWERS: REVENUE NEUTRALITY AND DISTRIBUTIONAL NEUTRALITY ••••••••••••••• 623 VII. THE OVERALL EFFECTS OF THE 1986 ACT •..... 625 VIII. THE DEMISE OF FEDERAL TAX PROGRESSIVITY •• 626 IX. THE TENUOUS CAPITAL GAIN LINCHPIN •...••• 628 X. A GREAT LEAP FORWARD FOR TAX FAIRNESS? •. 629 XI. SIMPLIFICATION •••••••.•....•••••••••••• 633 XII. THE 1986 ACT AS A SOLUTION TO THE TAX COMPLIANCE PROBLEM AND OTHER IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS •••••••••••••••....•...••••••• • 635 XIII. CONCLUSION............................ 637 I. INTRODUCTION The Tax Reform Act of 1986 has been widely heralded as the most important tax legislation since the income tax was converted to a tax on the masses during the Second World War. Since his favorite pro posal for a constitutional amendment - the one calling for a balanced budget - was not adopted, the 1986 Tax Reform Act clearly will be *Justice S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law, Yale. B.B.A., 1966, Emory University; LL.B., 1969, University of Virginia. This article was delivered as the Dunwody Lecture at the University of Florida College of Law, on March 11, 1988. Certain portions of this article appeared as commentary by the author in TAX TIMEs. 617 HeinOnline -- 40 U. Fla. L. Rev. 617 1988 618 UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 40 the major domestic achievement of Ronald Reagan's presidency. This law even produced the new Internal Revenue Code of 1986; no more Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended. -
Reactions of High-Income Taxpayers to Major Tax Legislation
National Tax Journal, December 2016, 69 (4), 935–964 https://doi.org/10.17310/ntj.2016.4.10 REACTIONS OF HIGH-INCOME TAXPAYERS TO MAJOR TAX LEGISLATION Gerald Auten, David Splinter, and Susan Nelson This paper examines how high-income taxpayers reacted to major tax legislation that affected incentives for realizations of capital gains, the form of compensation, type of investments, and the choice of organizational form for businesses. The Tax Reform Act of 1969, the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the Omnibus Budget Reconcili- ation Act of 1993, and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 are considered. The paper summarizes prior research and provides new evidence of short-term and longer-term responses of high-income taxpayers. The analysis uses individual and business tax return information to examine some of the most salient features of each of these laws. Examining the responses to prior reforms can inform discussion of the effects of future tax reform proposals. Keywords: tax reform, tax avoidance, income shifting JEL Codes: H24, H25, H26 I. INTRODUCTION ver the last 50 years, several landmark tax laws targeted high-income taxpayers in Oways that affected incentives for earning and realizing income. Some of these laws raised tax rates for high-income taxpayers while others reduced them. Some broadened the tax base by repealing tax expenditures or loopholes that fostered tax avoidance, while others narrowed it by creating new or more generous deductions and exclusions. Top tax rates on ordinary income changed significantly seven times over this 50-year period (Figure 1). Top tax rates on long-term capital gains changed even more often. -
Accounts Committee, 70. 186 Adams. Abigail, 56 Adams, Frank, 196
Index Accounts Committee, 70. 186 Appropriations. Committee on (House) Adams. Abigail, 56 appointment to the, 321 Adams, Frank, 196 chairman also on Rules, 2 I I,2 13 Adams, Henry, 4 I, 174 chairman on Democratic steering Adams, John, 41,47, 248 committee, 277, 359 Chairmen Stevens, Garfield, and Adams, John Quincy, 90, 95, 106, 110- Randall, 170, 185, 190, 210 111 created, 144, 167. 168, 169, 172. 177, Advertisements, fS3, I95 184, 220 Agriculture. See also Sugar. duties on estimates government expenditures, 170 Jeffersonians identified with, 3 1, 86 exclusive assignment to the, 2 16, 32 1 prices, 229. 232, 261, 266, 303 importance of the, 358 tariffs favoring, 232, 261 within the Joint Budget Committee, 274 Agriculture Department, 303 loses some jurisdiction, 2 10 Aid to Families with Dependent Children members on Budget, 353 (AFDC). 344-345 members on Joint Study Committee on Aldrich, Nelson W., 228, 232. 241, 245, Budget Control, 352 247 privileged in reporting bills, 185 Allen, Leo. 3 I3 staff of the. 322-323 Allison, William B., 24 I Appropriations, Committee on (Senate), 274, 352 Altmeyer, Arthur J., 291-292 American Medical Association (AMA), Archer, William, 378, 381 Army, Ci.S. Spe also War Department 310, 343, 345 appropriation bills amended, 136-137, American Newspaper Publishers 137, 139-140 Association, 256 appropriation increases, 127, 253 American Party, 134 Civil War appropriations, 160, 167 American Political Science Association, Continental Army supplies, I7 273 individual appropriation bills for the. American System, 108 102 Ames, Fisher, 35. 45 mobilization of the Union Army, 174 Anderson, H. W., 303 Arthur, Chester A,, 175, 206, 208 Assay omces, 105, 166 Andrew, John, 235 Astor, John Jacob, 120 Andrews, Mary. -
EFFECTS of the TAX CUTS and JOBS ACT: a PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS William G
EFFECTS OF THE TAX CUTS AND JOBS ACT: A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS William G. Gale, Hilary Gelfond, Aaron Krupkin, Mark J. Mazur, and Eric Toder June 13, 2018 ABSTRACT This paper examines the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, the largest tax overhaul since 1986. The new tax law makes substantial changes to the rates and bases of both the individual and corporate income taxes, cutting the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent, redesigning international tax rules, and providing a deduction for pass-through income. TCJA will stimulate the economy in the near term. Most models indicate that the long-term impact on GDP will be small. The impact will be smaller on GNP than on GDP because the law will generate net capital inflows from abroad that have to be repaid in the future. The new law will reduce federal revenues by significant amounts, even after allowing for the modest impact on economic growth. It will make the distribution of after-tax income more unequal, raise federal debt, and impose burdens on future generations. When it is ultimately financed with spending cuts or other tax increases, as it must be in the long run, TCJA will, under the most plausible scenarios, end up making most households worse off than if TCJA had not been enacted. The new law simplifies taxes in some ways but creates new complexity and compliance issues in others. It will raise health care premiums and reduce health insurance coverage and will have adverse effects on charitable contributions and some state and local governments. -
The Taxation of Dividends: Background and Overview
The Taxation of Dividends: Background and Overview (name redacted) Senior Specialist in Economic Policy (name redacted) Specialist in Public Finance March 10, 2014 Congressional Research Service 7-.... www.crs.gov R43418 The Taxation of Dividends: Background and Overview Summary The tax treatment of dividends has changed numerous times over the past century. Most recently, the American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA; P.L. 112-240) increased the tax rate on dividends, from 15% to 20%, for taxpayers in the top income tax bracket. The change was effective for 2013. Also effective in 2013 is the 3.8% tax on net investment income for taxpayers with modified adjusted gross income above certain thresholds ($200,000 for single, $250,000 for married filing jointly). Further increases in the tax rate on dividends may be considered as part of a base-broadening, rate-reducing tax reform. Rough estimates suggest that taxing dividends as ordinary income could raise enough in revenue to offset a 1.3% reduction in individual income tax rates, which would reduce the top marginal rate from 39.6% to roughly 39.1%. If the revenues were instead used to reduce corporate rates, the corporate tax rate could be reduced by roughly 4.6%, from 35% to roughly 33.2%. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp’s tax reform discussion draft, the Tax Reform Act of 2014, proposes that dividends be taxed as ordinary income, but provides an exclusion of 40% for dividend and capital gain income. Before 2003, dividends were taxed as ordinary income. The tax rate on dividends was reduced as part of the Jobs and Growth Tax Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA; P.L. -
Tax Reform and Capital Gains: the Aw R Against Unfari Taxes Is Far from Over Richard A
Journal of Legislation Volume 14 | Issue 1 Article 1 1-1-1987 Tax Reform and Capital Gains: The aW r against Unfari Taxes Is Far from Over Richard A. Gephardt Michael R. Wessel Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/jleg Recommended Citation Gephardt, Richard A. and Wessel, Michael R. (1987) "Tax Reform and Capital Gains: The aW r against Unfari Taxes Is Far from Over," Journal of Legislation: Vol. 14: Iss. 1, Article 1. Available at: http://scholarship.law.nd.edu/jleg/vol14/iss1/1 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journal of Legislation at NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Legislation by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TAX REFORM AND CAPITAL GAINS: THE WAR AGAINST UNFAIR TAXES IS FAR FROM OVER Richard A. Gephardt* with Michael R. Wessel** INTRODUCTION In the fall of 1986, Congress completed the process of fundamen- tally reforming the U.S. Tax Code. The House of Representatives passed a comprehensive tax reform bill late in December 1985.1 The bill underwent radical change in the Senate Finance Committee. 2 Pres- ident Reagan signed the Tax Reform Act of 19861 on October 22, 1986. The U.S. Tax Code has grown from eighty-nine pages in 19134 to thousands of pages in 1987. Additionally, the regulations and case law needed to interpret the Code require analysis of volumes of reference materials.' The Deficit Reduction Act of 19846 alone topped 1,300. pages. -
Will Tax Hikes Kill the Bull Market? Trending Conversations
Will Tax Hikes Kill the Bull Market? Trending Conversations Brian Levitt Global Market Strategist, North America Not a Deposit Not FDIC Insured Not Guaranteed by the Bank May Lose Value Not Insured by any Federal Government Agency Sources: Federal Reserve Bank ofSt.Louis, 12/31/20. federal budget deficit. deficit. budget federal The upshot is a substantialof the widening US a result of the weakness in economy activity. government hasbeen collecting less revenue as spending.the At sametime, the federal currently seeking an additional $1.9 trillion in is administration Biden The economy. the support to in spending trillion $3 over committed has already economy, the many of segments on impact devastating its and outbreak coronavirus federalThe US government,its in responsethe to Spending is Outpacing Revenue by a Wide Margin a Wide Spending by is Outpacing Revenue The Problem The FederalTax Receipts Spending and Percent of US Gross Domestic Product 30% 20% 35% 25% 10% 15% 1962 Federal Government Outlays (% of GDP) of Government (% Outlays Federal 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 Federal Government Receipts (% of GDP) of (% Receipts Government Federal 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 Spending Revenue 2016 2018 2 2020 The Response The Biden Administration is Proposing Tax Increases The Biden administration is proposing tax Past Tax Rates and Current Proposals increases designed to generate revenue and to reduce the income gap between the nation’s 60% higher and lower earners. Among -
Uncorrected Transcript
1 TAX-2015/11/03 THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION HOW DO WE GET TO TAX REFORM? LESSONS FROM THE BUSH PANEL Washington, D.C. Tuesday, November 3, 2015 Welcome: LEONARD BURMAN Robert C. Pozen Director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center Daniel Patrick Moynihan Professor of Public Affairs, Syracuse University Keynote Remarks: JASON FURMAN Chair, Council of Economic Advisers, The White House Moderator: HOWARD GLECKMAN Senior Fellow, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center What We Learned: DAVID WESSEL, Moderator Director, Hutchins Center on Fiscal and Monetary Policy Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution ROSANNE ALTSHULER Chair and Professor of Economics, Rutgers University JOHN BREAUX Co-Chair, Squire Patton Boggs Public Policy Practice Former U.S. Senator (D-LA) JAMES POTERBA Mitsui Professor of Economics, MIT President and Chief Executive Officer, National Bureau of Economic Research EDWARD LAZEAR Jack Steele Parker Professor of Human Resources Management and Economics, Stanford University Morris Arnold and Nona Cox Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution Former Chairman, Council of Economic Advisers (2006-2009) CHARLES ROSSOTTI Operating Executive, The Carlyle Group Former Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service * * * * * ANDERSON COURT REPORTING 706 Duke Street, Suite 100 Alexandria, VA 22314 Phone (703) 519-7180 Fax (703) 519-7190 2 TAX-2015/11/03 P R O C E E D I N G S MR. BURMAN: Okay, we’re going to try to do something very un- Washington, which is to start an event on time. I want to welcome you all to this event in which we will discover how we get to tax reform, which I can’t wait to hear. -
CORPORATE TAX POLICY and the RIGHT to KNOW Improving State Tax Policymaking by Enhancing Legislative and Public Access
CORPORATE TAX POLICY AND THE RIGHT TO KNOW Improving State Tax Policymaking By Enhancing Legislative and Public Access By Professor Richard D. Pomp Alva P. Loiselle Professor of Law School of Law University of Connecticut for The Fiscal Policy Institute 146 State Street Albany, New York 12207 December 1993 CONTENTS Executive Summary i I. Introduction 1 II. The Disclosure of Income Tax Information at the 4 Federal Level: An Historical Perspective A. The Civil War Income Taxes: 1861-1872 5 B. The 1894 Income Tax 7 C. The Tariff Act of 1909 8 D. 1913 - 1923 10 E. The 1924 and 1926 Acts 11 F. The Pink Slip Provisions: 1934 - 1935 14 G. SEC Disclosure: 1933 - Present 20 H. Citizens for Tax Justice and the Use of SEC-Required Disclosure for Tax Policy Analysis 22 I. Summary 24 III. Disclosure at the State Level 26 A. Massachusetts 26 B. West Virginia 28 C. Arkansas 29 D. Wisconsin 31 E. Lessons to Date 32 IV. Evaluating the Case for State-Level Tax Disclosure by Publicly-Traded Corporations 33 A. Firm-Specific Disclosure is Necessary for Informed Tax Policy 33 B. Firm-Specific Disclosure is Essential to Public Understanding of Corporate Tax Issues 38 C. Sunlight is the Best Disinfectant: Disclosure Would Promote Openness and Accountability 39 D. State-Level Disclosure Will Complement SEC- Mandated Disclosure 40 E. Why Not Disclose Firm-Specific Data Anonymously? 41 F. Will Disclosure Violate a Corporation's Right to Privacy? 43 G. Will Disclosure Reveal Proprietary Information? 43 H. Will Disclosure Discourage the Filing of Accurate Tax Returns? 47 I.