The Charitable Contribution Deduction: A Historical Review and a Look to the Future

A taxpayer is entitled to a charitable contribution deduction for gifts of money or property made during the taxable year to nonprofit organizations. Part II of this article explores the history of U.S. Internal Revenue Code §170 from its initial enactment in 1917 through the numerous amendments since made. This part does not outline every amendment that Congress has enacted but provides sufficient detail to illustrate how the section has gone from a fairly simple provision to an extremely complex set of rules. Part III addresses various equity considerations. The first issue examined is whether charities have societal value that should be encouraged or subsidized under the Code. Alternatively, this article considers the use of direct expenditures as the primary means of the government\u27s subsidization of charitable organizations and discusses the constitutional roadblocks to direct expenditures. Part III also addresses whether the complex rules that exist today are necessary to achieve the statutory objectives. It also addresses how the charitable contribution deduction fails to further the needs of the poor and whether the provisions should be amended to provide an additional incentive for taxpayers to make contributions to organizations that are designed to combat poverty. Finally, this part addresses how the charitable contribution rules impact the progressive tax structure and how the current scheme is inconsistent with progressive taxation. Part IV considers perspectives on the future of charitable giving. This part analyzes the impact of the elimination of the estate tax and addresses whether Congress should enhance the incentives for charitable giving in light of the phaseout of the estate tax. This might be necessary if the repeal of the estate tax is made permanent. Finally, this part addresses whether Congress must make some statutory adjustments to the charitable contribution rules to protect the integrity of the progressive tax structure

Review: The Essence of Property Law

Part II of this essay will outline my overall approach to teaching Property and the inherent challenges of the subject. Part III sets out the topics covered in my property classes and the relevance of the “bundle of rights” concept. Part IV describes my use of the problem method in teaching Property and counters the purported disadvantages of applying that method. That part also demonstrates the practical use of the problem approach. Part V examines the evolutionary nature of property law and looks at three areas of law: landlord and tenant relationships, the law of servitudes, and future interests

Multidrug-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in US Meat and Poultry

We characterized the prevalence, antibiotic susceptibility profiles, and genotypes of Staphylococcus aureus among US meat and poultry samples (n = 136). S. aureus contaminated 47% of samples, and multidrug resistance was common among isolates (52%). S. aureus genotypes and resistance profiles differed significantly among sample types, suggesting food animal–specific contamination

Micro methods for megafauna: novel approaches to late quaternary extinctions and their contributions to faunal conservation in the anthropocene

Drivers of Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions are relevant to modern conservation policy in a world of growing human population density, climate change, and faunal decline. Traditional debates tend toward global solutions, blaming either dramatic climate change or dispersals of Homo sapiens to new regions. Inherent limitations to archaeological and paleontological data sets often require reliance on scant, poorly resolved lines of evidence. However, recent developments in scientific technologies allow for more local, context-specific approaches. In the present article, we highlight how developments in five such methodologies (radiocarbon approaches, stable isotope analysis, ancient DNA, ancient proteomics, microscopy) have helped drive detailed analysis of specific megafaunal species, their particular ecological settings, and responses to new competitors or predators, climate change, and other external phenomena. The detailed case studies of faunal community composition, extinction chronologies, and demographic trends enabled by these methods examine megafaunal extinctions at scales appropriate for practical understanding of threats against particular species in their habitats today

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570