284:"Determine Dividends by Shareholder Gains, Not Corporate E&P," argues that the current law of dividends, depending on corporate earnings and profits, is dysfunctional and that shareholders need to be allowed recovery of basis not by looking at a corporate account, but only when they have lost basis looking to their own situation.
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In "Impost Begat
Convention: Albany and New York Confront the Ratification of the Constitution" he argued that the New York debates over ratification of the Constitution were primarily over whether New York State or the National government would get the revenue from the impost on the New York harbor
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His article "Measure Tax
Expenditures by Internal Rate of Return", concluded that given the general interest deduction, tax expenditures or tax subsidies need to be measured from a base of reducing internal rate of return by the statutory tax rate. This is the measure both for Samuelson depreciation
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Johnson's primary field is tax law, where he has published over 200 articles. In litigation, Johnson's brief in "Thor Power Tool v. Commissioner" in 1977 appeared to provide the rationale and outline for the
Supreme Court's opinion, which held that tax law was not governed by GAAP non-tax accounting
313:
Johnson has consistently argued for the complete overturning of
Pollock v. Farmers' Trust in 1894, where apportionment of direct tax among the states was erroneously used as a killing requirement. In the original meaning, the apportionment of tax by population was intended to measure wealth by the
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Johnson's 2022 piece, "Cut off the Equity Funds," published in Tax Notes
Federal, emphasized the need to cut off the extraordinary tax-driven subsidy the Private Equity Funds get on their leveraged buyouts, replacing equity with interest-deductible, high-risk debt. He explained the need to expand
280:
In 2022, Johnson wrote the article "Interest ceiling must be adjusted basis times interest rate", which argued that to avoid negative tax, better than mere tax exemption, a ceiling on interest deductions equal to taxpayers' adjusted basis in property creditors can reach times the interest rate is
265:
The 2011 work, "Corporate
Meltdowns Caused by Compensatory Stock Options", showed that high officer stock options give an unbudgeted, uncontrolled subsidy for the officers to go into high-risk investments that have a negative expected value, but which enrich the option holders and endanger the
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Later
Johnson wrote "A Thermometer for the Tax System: The Overall Health of the Tax System as Measured by Implicit Tax", which showed that the reduction in interest rate generated by the tax exemption on municipal bonds is modest, which demonstrates how ineffective as an incentive device and
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presents an intellectual history of the arguments leading to the adoption of the
Constitution. In this book, he argued that the Constitution was written and ratified to create a strong national government with the power to tax to maintain payments to the Dutch on the Revolutionary War debts.
255:"Contributions to Capital from Nonowners," a 2010 article, argued that contributions from nonowners increase the net worth of the corporation and its shareholders and are properly taxed. The article lead Congress to contract the exemption from tax for contributions from nonowners.
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contribution to wealth of the labor of its people and to achieve a uniform tax rate on states' wealth. However, when apportionment failed to achieve uniform rates, the
Founders strategically clarified the meaning of 'direct tax' to avoid the application of apportionment.
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His "Sola
Scriptura: Slavery, Federalism and the Textual Power to Provide for the General Welfare" argued that the Constitution's text grants Congress the authority to use taxation and other necessary and proper means to ensure the common defense and general welfare.
251:
In "Was it Lost? Personal Deductions under Tax Reform", he contended that personal deductions are legitimate if they represent the loss of standard of living, but not if they are for the purchase of benefits the taxpayer achieves in return.
276:
Focusing on the necessity to align the adjusted basis with the value set by the smart public market, the paper titled "Fair income tax on the trillion-dollar behemoths" argues for the need to capitalize the costs of intangible investments.
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Johnson led the 'Shelf Project', published by Tax Notes, which created ideas, in the nature of war plans, to enhance the tax base when Congress is ready. The Shelf Project has published 84 ideas and work on the project continues.
240:
His 1982 paper "Tax Shelter Gain: The Mismatch of Debt and Supply Side Depreciation" explained that the law cannot both allow expensing of equipment and an interest deduction without creating wasteful tax shelter subsidies.
273:"No orchard, no capital gain" argued that, under the original principled conceptual roots of "capital gain," a taxpayer needs to possess a property with the basis for the gain to qualify as capital gain.
144:. His academic tax work has focused on defending the fairness, and efficiency of the tax base. In constitutional history, he relies on the original sources, usually to defend the plenary reach of the
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The "Financial Impact of the 1986 Tax Reform Act on Real Estate: A View from the Spreadsheets" showed that the Tax Reform Act of 1986 reduced the value of depreciable real estate by roughly half.
204:. He joined the University of Texas School of Law in 1981 as a professor. He now serves as a John T. Kipp Chair in Business and Corporate Law Emeritus at the University of Texas.
215:, in 2007, a Member of the Academic Advisers on the Overall Health of the Tax System for the Joint Committee on Taxation in 2001, a Dean's Distinguished Visitor at
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473:"A Thermometer for the Tax System: The Overall Health of the Tax System as Measured bymplicit Tax, 56 SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY L. REV. 13 (2003)"
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published a satirical piece running off his argument that computer games like Doom were the most heavily subsidized industry in America.
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Johnson, C. H. (1998). Apportionment of direct taxes: The foul-up in the core of the Constitution. Wm. & Mary Bill Rts. J., 7, 1.
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100:
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422:"Brief of the Taxation with Representation Fund and the Tax Reform Research Group as Amici Curiae in Support of Respondent"
211:(joint program of Urban Institute and Brookings Institution) in 2011, a visiting professor at the Office of Chief Counsel,
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456:"Financial Impact of the 1986 Tax Reform Act on Real Estate: A View from the Spreadsheets, 36 TAX NOTES 309 (1987)"
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Johnson, C. H. (1982). Tax Shelter Gain: The Mismatch of Debt and Supply Side Depreciation. Tex. L. Rev., 61, 1013.
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required. In this structure, he wrote, there would be an exception allowed for loan balances reduced by year-end.
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section 279 of the Code to take away the interest deduction on debt incurred to buy back the issuer's own stock.
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490:"Was it Lost? Personal Deductions under Tax Reform, 59 SOUTHERN METHODIST UNIVERSITY L. REV. 689 (2006)"
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Johnson began his academic career in 1975 as an assistant professor, then associate professor at
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in 1971 and practiced with Paul, Weiss, Goldberg, Rifkind, and Garrison in the tax department in
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695:"Sola Scriptura: Slavery, Federalism and the Textual Power to Provide for the General Welfare"
681:"Why Our Constitution Should Not Be Adopted?? A Review of Michael Klarman's The Framers' Coup"
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667:"'Impost Begat Convention': Albany and New York Confront the Ratification of the Constitution"
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in 2000, a Member of the IRS Commissioner's Advisory Group in 1989 and a Guest Scholar at The
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439:"Tax Shelter Gain: The Mismatch of Debt and Supply Side Depreciation, 61 TEXAS LAW REV. 1013"
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605:"Determine Dividends by Shareholder Gains, Not Corporate E&P by Calvin H. Johnson"
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Righteous Anger at the Wicked States: The Meaning of the Founders' Constitution
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Righteous Anger at the Wicked States: The Meaning of the Founders' Constitution
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Righteous Anger at the Wicked States: The Meaning of the Founders' Constitution
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for combat in an infantry reconnaissance unit in Vietnam in 1968. He earned a
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650:"Apportionment of Direct Taxes: The Foul-Up in the Core of the Constitution"
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and in the effective tax rate measure used in the Tax Reform Act of 1986.
633:""The Shelf Project: Revenue-Raising Projects That Defend the Tax Base""
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Johnson has also worked in the area of constitutional law. His book,
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535:"Corporate Meltdowns Caused by Compensatory Stock Options"
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import. He has reviewed books on Constitutional history.
188:, Office of Tax Legislative Council, from 1973 to 1975.
549:"Measure Tax Expenditures by Internal Rate of Return"
591:"Annex and Errata on Ceiling on Interest Deductions"
577:"A Fair Income Tax on the Trillion-dollar Behemoths"
184:from 1971 to 1973. Following this he served in the
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248:loophole-ridden America's income tax system is.
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507:"'Contributions to Capital' from Nonowners"
521:"Capitalize Costs of Software Development"
136:Johnson's scholarship is in the fields of
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16:American tax lawyer, author, and academic
408:"Calvin H Johnson – Faculty – Texas Law"
391:"Madison's Denial by Calvin H. Johnson"
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725:Columbia College (New York) alumni
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563:"No Orchard, No Capital Gain"
207:Johnson was a Fellow of the
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730:Stanford Law School alumni
619:"Cut Off the Equity Funds"
156:Education and early career
339:(2005) ISBN 9780521757522
160:Johnson earned a B.A. in
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168:in 1966, and received a
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142:Constitutional history
221:Brookings Institution
217:Vanderbilt Law School
374:"Calvin H. Johnson"
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81:Stanford Law School
63:Academic background
301:Constitutional law
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162:Philosophy
223:in 1980.
68:Education
227:Research
117:American
35:American
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232:Tax law
138:tax law
202:Newark
192:Career
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