Contribution to the report and book "The Protection of Taxpayers' Rights in International Law - Results of the ILA Study Group on International Tax Law 2018-2021"

This document contains the results of the ILA Study Group, then Committee on InternationalTax Law from 2018 to 2021. Contribution to some sections on fairness, equity, equality and neutrality.Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)758671Grenzen van fiscale soevereinitei

For Sale. Patents. Never Used: Gaps In the Tax Code for Patent Sales, 11 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 859 (2012)

Patent sales are an underappreciated means of monetizing patents. Recent blockbuster patent sales indicate heightened demand for patent acquisitions. There is evidence that such patent sales transfer patents to parties more skilled in patent enforcement, reducing litigation. Patent sales also move capital to innovators, which enhance incentives to innovate. But crucially, C corporations do not benefit from advantaged tax treatment. Efforts by other nations to encourage patent use and sales by providing “patent box” preferential tax regimes may provide some guidance for remedying this gap in the tax code

AI Risk Assessment Tools Amid the War on Drugs: Productive or Counterproductive?

The War on Drugs refers to a situation in which all the processes of production, distribution, and consumption of all illegal drugs are prohibited. This ambitious goal has imposed considerable costs on societies. The war has weaponized harsher punishments such as life imprisonment, execution, and long-term incarceration against drug offenders. Nonviolent offenders, those who possessed illegal drugs, have been easy targets for governments to show that the war is still ongoing. Although some countries became pioneers in changing the laws to end this costly war, Iran and the United States have made their stance on the drug issue clear, and show their persistence by recruiting law enforcement agents and continuing the fight. This article argues that the continuation of this war is deprived of any rationality that a cost-effectiveness approach could provide. It is also not compatible with the nonaggression principle; therefore, radical change is inevitable to alter nonviolent drug offenders’ situations and keep them away from prisons. The argument is that AI (Artificial Intelligence) risk assessment tools can instrumentally be efficient in safeguarding criminal justice from the adverse side effects that the war on drugs has bred and might contribute to the reduction of population in prisons by predicting drug offenders\u27 dangerousness, separating high-risk offenders from low-ones, and stopping nonviolent offenders’ imprisonment

Is Sharif\u27s Castle Deductible? Islam and the Tax Treatment of Mortgage Debt

This Article examines the tax treatment of Islamic mortgage alternatives and considers the cultural and constitutional implications of the tax treatment of mortgage debt. Islamic law cannot be separated from the religion of Islam, and one of the primary tenets of Islamic law is the prohibition of riba, which is defined by some Islamic jurists as the payment of interest on any loan. Financing institutions, working with Muslim religious leaders, have developed a number of financing instruments that do not violate the prohibition against riba, thus facilitating home ownership for those Muslims who do not feel comfortable with a traditional mortgage. Should payments under such instruments qualify for the home mortgage interest deduction? What are the potential consequences of either permitting or denying a deduction for such payments? This Article discusses the constitutional implications of denying a tax deduction and administrative and regulatory options to accommodate tax deduction of payments under Muslim mortgage alternatives. Finally, this Article concludes that the issue of religious discrimination in the tax treatment of housing should be among the motivating factors for a statutory remodeling of the home mortgage interest deduction

Rethinking Tax Priorities: Marriage Neutrality, Children, and Contemporary Families

Tax scholarship has long struggled with whether married taxpayers should be taxed differently from unmarried taxpayers. Currently, married taxpayers are subject to different tax rates than unmarried taxpayers, and may file a joint tax return. A married couple may pay a higher or lower amount of tax than an unmarried couple with the same total income, and a single person generally pays more tax on a given income than a married couple with a single earner with the same income. These outcomes are difficult to reconcile with a commitment to income tax progressivity, which in theory requires that higher incomes be taxed at higher rates. Moreover, the system penalizes some marriages, and benefits other marriages. This article takes a fresh look at the problem of marriage bonuses and penalties, acknowledges that there may be difficulties with a separate filing system, but concludes that the joint return and special rates for married taxpayers should be abolished. In addition, drawing on the work of family law scholars, this article argues that a stronger case can be made for supporting parenting rather than marriage in the tax system

Surviving a Heart Attack: Expatriation and the Tax Policy Implications of the New Exit Tax

Part II of this article provides an overview of the U.S. tax system applicable to citizens, permanent residents, and nonresidents. Part III discusses the prior law applicable to expatriates and the history behind that law. Part IV discusses the provisions of the HEART Act and the changes the new system makes to the exit tax regime. Finally, Part V considers the policy implications of the new exit tax system