Tax Notes

"Last week, President Biden released his 2023 tax return. It was the fourth tax disclosure of Biden’s presidency and the 26th of his public career. And apparently it set a record. "'Once again demonstrating his commitment to being transparent with the American people, President Biden has released the most tax returns of any commander-in-chief while in office,' the White House declared." In his latest #TaxHistory perspective, Joseph Thorndike traces the history of the voluntary release of tax records by presidents and presidential candidates and points out that in the current polarized environment, the tradition has become highly politicized and has lost bipartisan support, which could spell its end. Read the full piece for free ⬇️

"It's rather well known that corporations have been paying fewer and fewer taxes," Steve Rosenthal of Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center explains. "What has not been documented well — until our work — really is how little taxes are collected at the shareholder level." 📹 Watch the full discussion: https://lnkd.in/ektszbDe

"There's been a lot of criticism in the past of source taxation," Professor Yariv Brauner explains. "Economists come and say, what is this thing that you call source? This is kind of a ridiculous concept." 🎧 Listen to the full discussion: pod.link/TaxNotesTalk

FedEx will not be outdone in using provocative litigation language after the government labeled its foreign tax credit offset earnings position “absurd,” retaliating that the government’s brief arguing a double disallowance scheme is “pure fiction.” The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee granted the shipping giant’s motion for leave to file a reply to the government’s response in opposition to FedEx’s motion for judgment on April 24 in FedEx Corp. v. United States. “Empty rhetoric doesn’t change the facts or the law. Before April 12, 2024, the government repeatedly argued that section 960(a)(3) applied solely and exclusively to credits for foreign withholding taxes. Commenters told them otherwise, but they persisted,” the reply states. From Andrew Velarde. Continue reading ⬇️

ICYMI: https://lnkd.in/eGehzJbS

This week’s employee spotlight features the Worldwide Tax Treaties team’s deputy news editor, Eric Emmons: “In college I studied math and writing. I like the areas where language and technical topics meet. “When the subject matter is complicated, clear communication is very important. Tax Analysts is a place full of people who really understand that. “Everybody here is very smart and committed to doing good work. Being in an environment like that is really enriching.” Eric initially joined the company last May as a copy editor before transitioning to the treaty team as a deputy news editor. “Both roles I've had at Tax Analysts have allowed me to learn something new every day. “In my current role, I maintain a library of treaty documents and help cover news on international tax agreements. If two countries are working on a tax treaty, we cover all the developments from negotiation to ratification. “Something surprising about my job is that we even work with documents in different languages. The other day, I uploaded a bunch of treaties in Romanian.” Outside work, Eric enjoys keeping up with college sports and reading fiction books. “Right now, I'm working through the novels of E.M. Forster.” Learn more about Tax Analysts careers at taxnotes.com/careers.

"Okay, so look, Chevron, let's go back to law school. We have separation of powers, right? "Congress makes the laws, the executive enforces the laws, right? We all learned that in law school. This is how government in the United States is supposed to run. "And before the Internal Revenue Code got so complicated and all laws in general got complicated, it wasn't that big a deal to just know that Congress makes the laws, the executive enforces the laws. "But now the laws are designed — Congress doesn't think of everything when they pass a law or they're ambiguous. So what the courts have done, I mean I guess it's '84 with Chevron, but even before, for as long as I have been practicing. I've been practicing before Chevron came out. "The courts have deferred to the agencies where Congress, well, allegedly wrote a law that was ambiguous. So more and more they let the executive branch, supposedly in the beginning when we first started years ago, fill in the blanks, right? That you can't think of everything. There were gaps, regulations filled in the gaps. "But what started happening is, the courts started deferring to the agency interpretations or alleged interpretations of the statute, and the regs got more than just filling in the gaps." Frank Agostino discusses two pending Supreme Court cases, their potential effects on the Chevron doctrine, and their implications for the tax world ⤵️

House and Senate Republicans appear to be drifting apart on key tax policy questions as they head into the biggest and most complex tax negotiations in decades. Interviews with senior GOP leadership on the Senate Finance Committee show a deep commitment to the traditional idea that extending existing tax policy — particularly pro-growth tax policy — doesn’t have to be paid for. In the House, where budget hawks hold greater sway, there has been a growing sense that with the national debt approaching $35 trillion, offsets, or pay-fors, for tax provisions must be more than an afterthought. Which view takes precedence in next year’s negotiations over the extension of expiring Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions likely will depend on election outcomes, including whether Republicans can retain their shaky control of the House or win control of the Senate. Read Sword Doug & Cady Stanton's latest for free ⬇️

"International tax governance is at a crossroads. "The U.N. General Assembly in late 2023 mandated an ad hoc body to develop a new framework convention on tax matters. Meanwhile, the OECD remains in a strong position for steering international tax policy. "However, with recent votes in the U.N. Economic and Financial Committee, and subsequently in the General Assembly, a majority of U.N. members seem dissatisfied with the current governance structure." ➡️ On the cover of Tax Notes International: Peter Hongler and Simon A. Habich explain that upcoming U.N. negotiations should look to establish the institutional groundwork for a more credible evolution of the international tax system, recognizing that a global consensus may not be imperative across all tax-related domains, and instead should strive for global inclusivity.

📢 NEW from me and Elodie Lamer: 🌍 EU member states approved a draft joint position to represent them in negotiations for the U.N. framework convention on international tax cooperation. But while they present a united front at the EU level, many have different ideas on where the negotiations should focus, and some think beginning negotiations now is too premature. Read more in Tax Notes: https://lnkd.in/eiPCZ-GK