Cross-Border Outsourcing: U.S. International Tax Pitfalls, Pratfalls, And Opportunities
I. INTRODUCTION Broadly defined, “outsourcing” occurs when a business contracts with a third party to provide goods or perform services that traditionally have been provided or performed in-house.[1] Faced with increasing global competition, businesses have come to look to outsourcing as a means of gaining a comparative advantage over their competitors.[2] Outsourcing is thought to [...]
Book Review of Havens in a Storm: The Struggle for Global Tax Regulation
In 1998, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) issued a report titled “Harmful Tax Competition—An Emerging Global Issue” (14). In this report, the OECD sought to “define what harmful tax competition was, to make an argument for just why it was harmful, and to set out a response to the problem” (42). In [...]
Dissecting O’Donnabhain
The Tax Court recently issued its long-awaited decision in O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner.[1] This case concerns the deductibility under section 213 of expenses that the taxpayer incurred for hormone therapy, sex reassignment surgery, and breast augmentation related to her diagnosed gender identity disorder (GID). In a reviewed decision, a sharply divided Tax Court held that the [...]
Prying Open The Closet Door: Doma And Tax Treaties
I. INTRODUCTION In the wake of the events surrounding President Bush’s endorsement of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage,[2] a conservative, “pro-family“ organization[3] wrote the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) earlier this year to alert him about “a potential fraudulent tax scheme.“[4] The organization was alarmed by “rebellious state and local officials reportedly [...]
Critical Tax Theory: An Introduction
Bridget J. Crawford Tax law is political. This book highlights and explains the major themes and methodologies of a group of scholars who challenge the traditional claim that tax law is neutral and unbiased. The contributors to this volume include pioneers in the field of critical tax theory, as well as key thinkers who have [...]
Tax as Urban Legend
forthcoming in the HARVARD BLACKLETTER LAW JOURNAL AMERICAN TAXATION, AMERICAN SLAVERY. By Robin L. Einhorn. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. 2006. Pp. xii, 337. Cloth, $35.00. What do race, gender, sexual orientation, and other non-economic characteristics of individuals have to do with tax policy? Shouldn’t tax policy debates focus on neutral, objective, and [...]
Domestic Law and Tax Treaties: the United States
1. Tax Treaties in the Hierarchy of Law In the United States, the paramount source of law is the U.S. Constitution.[2] Among other things, the Constitution enumerates and delineates the powers of each of the three branches of the federal government. A branch of the federal government cannot take action (e.g., enact legislation or hear [...]