...7 Corporations in the Modern Era The Commercial Transformation of Material Life and Culture I hope we shall . . . crush in [its] birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength and bid defiance to the laws of our country. —Thomas Jefferson (letter to Tom Logan, 1816) J 1 ustice John Paul Stevens of the U.S. Supreme Court cited the third president of the United States in his strong dissent to the majority’s 2010 decision allowing corporations unlimited spending on behalf of political candidates.1 Quoting the court’s earlier McConnell decision, Stevens wrote, “We have repeatedly sustained legislation aimed at ‘the corrosive and distorting effects of immense aggregations of wealth that are accumulated with Jefferson’s animus may seem curious in light of the history of British corporations that financed the settling of the first North American colonies and, as discussed in this chapter, are often credited with providing the model for representative government adopted by the framers of the U.S. Constitution (Tuitt 2006). 280 Corporations in the Modern Era——281 the help of the corporate form.’” The court’s decision, Justice Stevens continued, “will undoubtedly cripple the ability of ordinary citizens, Congress and the States to adopt even limited measures to protect against corporate domination of the electoral process.” The essence of Justice Steven’s dissent in the Citizens United v. Federal...
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...TEACHER’S MANUAL to accompany CASES AND MATERIALS ON TAXATION OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISES Second Edition By Glenn E. Coven Mills E. Godwin Professor of Law College of William and Mary Robert J. Peroni Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law The George Washington University Richard Crawford Pugh Distinguished Professor of Law University of San Diego AMERICAN CASEBOOK SERIES® ® WEST GROUP A THOMSON COMPANY ST. PAUL, MINN., 2002 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Note to prior users: The order of this chapter has been revised. Users who wish to skip the introductory material and begin with the check-the-box regulations may now begin with paragraph 1075. [¶ 1000] A. HISTORY OF THE CORPORATE INCOME TAX This paragraph briefly summarizes the history of the corporate income tax. Some instructors may want to note here that the top corporate income tax rate reached a zenith in 1951 of 52 percent, before being reduced in 1964 to 48 percent, in 1978 to 46 percent, in 1986 to 34 percent (except for corporations with taxable incomes within a specified range that are subject to a top effective marginal rate of 39 percent). The maximum rate was raised in 1993 to 35 percent but only for a relative handful of generally publicly owned corporations earning over $10 million annually. [¶ 1005] B. COMPUTATION OF C CORPORATION'S TAXABLE INCOME This paragraph discusses the computation of a C corporation's taxable...
Words: 89224 - Pages: 357
...TEACHER’S MANUAL to accompany CASES AND MATERIALS ON TAXATION OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISES Second Edition By Glenn E. Coven Mills E. Godwin Professor of Law College of William and Mary Robert J. Peroni Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law The George Washington University Richard Crawford Pugh Distinguished Professor of Law University of San Diego AMERICAN CASEBOOK SERIES® ® WEST GROUP A THOMSON COMPANY ST. PAUL, MINN., 2002 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Note to prior users: The order of this chapter has been revised. Users who wish to skip the introductory material and begin with the check-the-box regulations may now begin with paragraph 1075. [¶ 1000] A. HISTORY OF THE CORPORATE INCOME TAX This paragraph briefly summarizes the history of the corporate income tax. Some instructors may want to note here that the top corporate income tax rate reached a zenith in 1951 of 52 percent, before being reduced in 1964 to 48 percent, in 1978 to 46 percent, in 1986 to 34 percent (except for corporations with taxable incomes within a specified range that are subject to a top effective marginal rate of 39 percent). The maximum rate was raised in 1993 to 35 percent but only for a relative handful of generally publicly owned corporations earning over $10 million annually. [¶ 1005] B. COMPUTATION OF C CORPORATION'S TAXABLE INCOME This paragraph discusses the computation of a C corporation's taxable...
Words: 89224 - Pages: 357