Suchergebnisse

When tax returns were prepared with pencil and paper—in an era now gone forever—Congress did not impose income tax provisions of great computational complexity on large numbers of taxpayers, in the belief that it was unreasonable to require average taxpayers (or their paid preparers) to struggle with computationally complex provisions. As return preparation software gradually replaced the pencil in recent decades, the complexity constraint weakened and eventually disappeared. Congress has responded by imposing unprecedented computational complexity on large numbers of taxpayers—primarily through the expanded scope of the alternative minimum tax and the proliferation of phase outs of credits, deductions, and exclusions. This response would not be problematic, if the only objection to computational complexity were the difficulty of performing the calculations—a difficulty overcome by the widespread adoption of software. Unfortunately, computationally complex provisions generally constitute bad tax policy, even apart from computational concerns. For taxpayers faced with a welter of computationally complex provisions, the income tax is a black box, the inner workings of which are beyond their comprehension. This undermines both the political legitimacy of the tax system and the ability of taxpayers to engage in informed tax planning. In response to the demise of the complexity constraint, argues this Essay, Congress should develop a self-imposed constraint against the enactment (or survival) of computationally complex provisions of widespread applicability.

Despite bringing prosperity, industrialisation generally leads to increasing levels of pollution which has a detrimental impact on the environment. In response, legislation which seeks to control or prevent such impact has become common. Similarly, climate change and energy security have become major drivers for the regulatory regimes that have emerged in the energy field. Given the global or regional scope of many environmental problems, international cooperation is often necessary to ensure such legislation is effective. The EU and the UK have contributed to the development of the environmental and energy law regimes currently in force, spanning across international, transnational and national levels. At the same time, practical responses to environmental and energy problems have largely been the focus of engineers, scientists and other technical experts.Environmental Energy Lawattempts to bridge the knowledge gap between legal developments designed to achieve environmental and/or energy-related objectives and the practical, scientific and technical considerations applicable to the same environmental problems. In particular, it attempts to convey a broad range of topical issues in environmental and energy law, from climate and energy regulation, technology innovation and transfer, to pollution control, environmental governance and enforcement. In addition the book outlines key sector specific legal regimes (including water, waste and air quality management), focusing on issues or topics that are particularly relevant to both environmental and energy lawyers, and engineering, science and technology-oriented professionals and students. In this vein, the book guides the reader on some basic practical applications of the law within scientific, engineering and other practical settings.The book will be useful to all those working or studying in the environmental or energy arena, including law students, legal professionals, engineering and science students and professionals. By adopting a multi-disciplinary approach to environmental and energy law, the book embraces all readerships and helps to address the often thorny problem of communication between scientists, engineers, lawyers and policy-makers.

Consultative Relationship between the United Nations and Non-GovernmentalOrganizations, 1996Statutes of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal and the United Nations AppealsTribunal, 2008; II. International Labour Organization (ILO); Constitution of the International Labour Organization, 1919; Statute of the Administrative Tribunal of the International LabourOrganization, 1946; III. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO); The North Atlantic Treaty (NATO), 1949; IV. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Starting in the latter part of the 20th century, the law of sexual offenses, especially in the West, began to reflect a striking divergence. On the one hand, the law became significantly more punitive in its approach to sexual conduct that is nonconsensual, as evidenced by a major expansion in the definition of rape and sexual assault, and the creation of new offenses like sex trafficking, child grooming, and revenge porn. On the other hand, it became markedly more permissive in how it dealt with conduct that is consensual, a trend that can be seen, for example, in the legalisation or decriminalisation of sodomy, adultery, and adult pornography. This book explores the conceptual and normative implications of this divergence.

Book review of Executive Legislation: Delegate Law Making By the Executive Branch by John Mark Keyes and published by Butterworths (Toronto), 1992. (308 pp.)