Prior to 2011, the most efficient estate tax planning for married couples required a minimal level of asset equalization. In order to take maximum advantage of all existing wealth transfer tax exemptions and credits, each spouse needed to own, in an estate tax sense, enough assets to be able to...

A tax system should be fair. According to conventional wisdom, this fairness mandate means that similarly situated taxpayers should pay similar taxes. Notably absent from most discussions about tax fairness or equity is any consideration of race. This makes sense, if one focuses on the tax...

The proposal aims to simplify the law pertaining to transfers with retained interests and powers under the estate and gift tax that are potentially within current IRC sections 2036-2038. Under the proposal, transfers with retained current-enjoyment interests would be deemed to be incomplete...

The taxable estate is the value of assets at the moment of death or other valuation date. Routine estate planning claims discounts of 30 to 60 percent of the value of the property through temporary, self-imposed restrictions or arrangements that Joseph M. Dodge will lapse or that heirs can undo....

The taxable estate is the value of assets at the moment of death or other valuation date. Routine estate planning claims discounts of 30 to 60 percent of the value of the property through temporary, self-imposed restrictions or arrangements that will lapse or that heirs can undo. The wealth...

Suppose a parent “loans” her vacation home “Dellview” in Aspen to her adult child for a non-specified period of time without rent or other charge for the use of the property. The home has a rental value of $1,000 per day. There is no formal lease agreement. Therefore, the parent (as...

This article proposes replacing the federal estate and gift tax system with an accessions tax. An accessions tax is a tax, at progressive rates, on the aggregate lifetime gratuitous receipts of an individual in excess of a specified exemption. The main thesis of this article is that an...

This article argues that the classic Haig-Simons formulation of personal income, namely, an individual’s consumption plus net increases in wealth for the taxable year, was not actually embraced by Simons himself, is contrary to fundamental political values, and (unnecessarily) raises...

The thesis is that inconsistent tax accounting rules undermine the individual income tax, and the best available move for improving it – given the unassailability of the realization principle - is to eliminate its accrual (and quasi-accrual) features. Specifically, the agenda is to eliminate...