Ministerial Magic: Tax-Free Housing and Religious Employers

Religious organizations enjoy many of the same benefits that other non-profit organizations do. Churches, temples and mosques, for example, generally are exempt from local real estate taxes. Economically speaking, a tax exemption has the same effect as a subsidy; freedom from tax liability means that the organization can devote its financial resources to other activities. But where an exemption afforded to a religious employee is broader than the equivalent exemption available to a secular employee, a significant Establishment Clause concern is raised. The parsonage exemption of Internal Revenue Code Section 107 presents such an issue: ministers are permitted to exclude cash housing allowances from their taxable income as a matter of course, even though the equivalent exemptions for secular employees are far more limited. Recently, however, in Gaylor v. Mnuchin, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit rejected the argument that the parsonage exemption violates the Establishment Clause. This Essay evaluates the court\u27s reasoning and suggests that the decision minimized the extent to which the parsonage exemption provides active governmental support for religion. This minimization, we argue, led to a distorted Establishment Clause analysis and the wrong result. We also address an issue lurking in the background: the intersection between the parsonage exemption and sex discrimination, given that some religions do not permit women to serve in religious leadership roles that would qualify them as ministers under Section 107. Although the stronger constitutional argument against the parsonage exemption stems from the Establishment Clause, both issues raise important policy concerns

The Unconstitutional Tampon Tax

Thirty-five states impose a sales tax on menstrual hygiene products, while products like spermicidal condoms and erectile dysfunction medications are tax-free. This sales tax--commonly called the “tampon tax”--represents an expense that girls and women must bear on top of the cost of biologically necessary items that they need in order to attend school, work, and otherwise participate in public life. This article explores the constitutionality of the tampon tax and argues that it is an impermissible form of gender discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause. First, menstrual hygiene products are a unique proxy for female sex, and therefore any disadvantageous tax classification of these products amounts to a facial classification on the basis of sex. There is no “exceedingly persuasive justification” for taxing menstrual hygiene products, and so the tax must fail intermediate scrutiny. Even assuming arguendo that the tampon tax is not viewed as a tax on female sex, it is still unconstitutional because it cannot pass rational basis review. Since 2016, four states and the District of Columbia have legislatively repealed their sales tax on menstrual hygiene products. One state, Nevada, did so by ballot referendum in 2018. Other states will consider repeal bills in upcoming legislative sessions or may consider ballot initiatives in the future. Women have also brought class action litigation in four jurisdictions, seeking declarations that the state tampon tax is unconstitutional and requesting refunds of prior taxes paid. The article develops the constitutional arguments that can be used by litigators in any ongoing or future case, recognizing that menstrual equity activism, including impact litigation, is likely to continue in the future. Ultimately, what and whom a society seeks to tax signal its larger values. The continued imposition of state sales tax on menstrual hygiene products, seemingly without a principled distinction from other products that are exempted as necessities, exacerbates the aggregate economic inequality that already exists between the sexes. The tampon tax is unconstitutional and should be repealed in all states

Regulatory Change in the Energy and Telecommunications Industries - Overview

Recent changes in the telecommunications industry and the emerging momentum for change in the regulation of the energy industry have provided a unique opportunity to reevaluate the regulatory models that have predominated in these fields. As these proposed changes are promulgated and begin to take effect and find practical form, crucial questions of implementation become the focus of the debate and the practice of regulatory law. Basic questions are ripe for consideration, such as: Will the regulators be State or Federal Agencies? What form should this regulatory power take? Will legislators and regulators focus on new players in the industry as targets for regulation? The Sixteenth Annual National Regulatory Conference, Regulating Change and Changing Regulation: Restructuring the Energy and Telecommunications Industries,[3] addressed many of these questions while also providing a technological analysis to explain the rising need for new regulatory approaches

Restoring Acipenser sturio L., 1758 in Europe: Lessons from the Acipenser oxyrinchus Mitchill, 1815 experience in North America

Acipenser sturio L., 1758 estuvo ampliamente distribuido y fue común en Europa, pero ahora persiste precariamente en estado silvestre sólo en poblaciones relictas. Su especie hermana, el morfológica y ecológicamente similar Acipenser oxyrinchus Mitchill, 1815, existe en el Atlántico norte occidental. Aunque ambas formas han padecido los mismos tres riesgos —sobrepesca, modificación del hábitat y contaminación— sus efectos netos han sido mucho mayores en A. sturio. Históricamente hubo, al menos, 35 poblaciones de A. oxyrinchus en América del Norte; su estado actual varía entre moderadamente abundante a posiblemente extirpado. Sin embargo, el interés por la conservación de A. oxyrinchus ha crecido importantemente durante las dos últimas décadas y se han dado grandes pasos hacia su recuperación. Las técnicas utilizadas han incluido inspecciones de información anecdótica, revisiones directas de las pescas, análisis genético detallado, mejora del cultivo en criadero, sueltas experimentales de juveniles producidos en criadero e investigación básica de la historia natural. Además, la gravedad de los bruscos declives frente a los repentinos aumentos de las pescas reunió la voluntad política para proteger a A. oxyrinchus de la pesca directa en las aguas estadounidenses por un periodo de hasta 40 años (aunque la captura ocasional continúa siendo un problema). Debido a que su tasa intrínseca de crecimiento es muy lenta, tendrán que pasar décadas antes de que poblaciones particulares sean de nuevo abundantes. No obstante, el futuro para A. oxyrinchus parece prometedor. A. sturio es tan escaso que cada ejemplar es precioso; así, es arriesgado experimentar con ellos. Pero dadas las similitudes entre las dos especies, los que pretenden recuperar A. sturio serían capaces de adaptar mucha de la información aprendida de los gestores de A. oxyrinchus.Acipenser sturio L., 1758 was once wide-ranging and common in Europe, but it now persists precariously in the wild only in relict populations. Its sister species, the morphologically and ecologically similar Acipenser oxyrinchus Mitchill, 1815, exists in the western North Atlantic. Although both forms have suffered from the same three liabilities -overharvest, habitat modification, and pollution- their net effects have been far greater for A. sturio. Historically, there were at least 35 populations of A. oxyrinchus in North America; their present statuses range from moderately abundant to possibly extirpated. However, interest in conservation of A. oxyrinchus has increased greatly over the past two decades and great strides have been made toward their restoration. Techniques used have included surveys of anecdotal information, directed fisheries surveys, comprehensive genetic analysis, hatchery culture improvements, experimental stockings of hatcheryproduced young, and fundamental life history research. Moreover, the seriousness of sharp declines in the face of suddenly enlarged fisheries mustered the political will to protect A. oxyrinchus from directed fisheries in U.S. waters for a period of up to 40 years (although by-catch remains a concern). Because their intrinsic rate of increase is very protracted, it will be decades before particular populations are once again abundant. Nonetheless, the future for A. oxyrinchus appears promising. A. sturio is so scarce that each specimen is precious; thus, it is risky to experiment with them. But given the similarities between the two species, those seeking to restore A. sturio should be able to adapt much of the information learned from managers of A. oxyrinchus.Instituto Español de Oceanografí

A Unified Approach To Cyber-Libel: Defamation On The Internet, A Suggested Approach

The Internet is a global super-network of over 15,000 computer networks used by millions of individuals, organizations, corporations and educational entities the world over. As the Internet has developed, it has become a medium not only for entertainment, but also an important source of information and news distribution. Because the Internet and the World Wide Web have developed into important resources for information and news, traditional media concerns and legal controversies have reached a level of growing importance. While it is true that much of the development of the law concerning the . . . Internet [i]s in its infant stages,” online defamation has received significant comment

Household Demand for Broadband Internet Service

As part of the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) National Broadband Report to Congress, we have been asked to conduct a survey to help determine consumer valuations of different aspects of broadband Internet service. This report details our methodology, sample and preliminary results. We do not provide policy recommendations. This draft report uses data obtained from a nationwide survey during late December 2009 and early January 2010 to estimate household demand for broadband Internet service. The report combines household data, obtained from choices in a real market and an experimental setting, with a discrete-choice model to estimate the marginal willingness-to-pay (WTP) for improvements in eight Internet service characteristics.