Monday, July 15, 2019

How Much Do Coaches Matter?

'They are distressed:' trio linked to alleged $100m money laundering syndicate face court

All three were targeted over their alleged role in using a Sydney security business as a "front" to launder money in Australia and abroad.


Immediate reforms: Triguboff's Meriton wants building industry change

The perception of a crisis in Sydney’s residential apartment market snowballed this week after the Herald revealed another evacuation of a unit block at Zetland.





MUNGO MacCALLUM. Flat earthers and ‘The Australian’.


About sixty years ago, as an undergraduate of Sydney University, I met a flat earther on the campus.   … Continue reading →

PRESS FREEDOM

Australia leads the Western world on media restrictions: UN rapporteur


Governments need to concede that journalism is “special”, says the UN press freedom rapporteur, because protecting them protects the public’s right to information.



'Limited information available to me': Attorney-General walks away from AFP claims


Christian Porter has backed away from earlier assurances journalists aren't being targeted by police, as News Corp hits back at Peter Dutton.

Lesson From The Tax Court: When Does A Business Start?

Tax Court (2017)It takes money to make money.

Andrea Curcio (Georgia State), Dean Gerken’s Vision Versus Malcolm Gladwell’s Experience:
When we decide who is smart enough to be a lawyer, we use a stopwatch. Malcolm Gladwell
Law school should be a time to luxuriate in ideas, to test their principles, and to think critically about the law and the profession. Dean Heather Gerken

HUGH WHITE.  With China’s swift rise as naval power, Australia needs to rethink how it defends itself (The Conversation, 2 July 2019)

Visiting Wellington in April 1996, I fell into conversation with a very wise and experienced New Zealand government official. We talked about the still-unfolding Taiwan Straits crisis, during which Washington had deployed a formidable array of naval power, including two aircraft carrier battle … Continue reading →

How tobest manage an ATO audit: former deputy commissioner
Former ATO deputy commissioner Michael Cranston has suggested that tax practitioners should develop an early relationship with tax officers and where necessary remind them of their obligations under the Taxpayer’s Charter.




Calvin H. Johnson (Texas), No Orchard, No Capital Gain, 72 Tax Law. 501 (2019):
ABA Tax LawyerAs a matter of principle, capital gain is the gain from invested capital or basis. If the taxpayer has no basis in something of value it sells, there is no capital gain.
The principle that capital gain is gain from capital is embedded in the ordinary English language meaning of “capital gain,” which reflects the long history of the English property system going back into feudal tenures. Property purchased by expenses charged to the income interest remains part of the income interest and does not become capital gain reserved for the next heir.

The attached revises the guides for synagogues and other religions congregations that I posted in 2010. These new versions reflect applicable law as of June, 2019. They summarize the rules I have been most often asked in the many years I have given advice on these matters, primarily with the Jewish community. One guide is directed specifically at synagogues; the other to religious congregations generally. (I use the term “religious congregations” rather than “churches” to be more inclusive.)

BCAIIn 1979, Bill Campbell quit his job as head coach of Columbia University’s chronically dreadful football team. He moved to California to work for Apple and eventually became chief executive of Intuit.
The decision that made Mr. Campbell a Silicon Valley legend, however, involved a return to his roots. When he died in 2016, he was, according to a new biography, “the greatest executive coach the world has ever seen.”
Mr. Campbell, who shunned publicity, compiled a stunning roster of mentees that included Apple’s Steve Jobs, Google’s Larry Page and Facebook ’s Sheryl Sandberg. The book, Trillion Dollar Coach, was written by a trio of former pupils, including Google’s one-time CEO, Eric Schmidt.

Diane Ring (Boston College), A Path to International Tax Reform and Improved Wealth Distribution Across the Globe (JOTWELL) (reviewing Tarcísio Diniz Magalhães (International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation), What Is Really Wrong with Global Tax Governance and How to Properly Fix It, 10 World Tax J. (2018)):
Thomas Piketty’s work brought the reality of unequal distributions of wealth into mainstream media and popular discourse. In the tax world, the conversation now regularly turns to a consideration of whether and how the international tax regime contributes to existing patterns of wealth and income distribution across nations. Certainly, the tax norms and rules that shape the basic roadmap of international tax (including source, residence and permanent establishment provisions) contribute to existing distributions of wealth—and relatedly taxable income—across jurisdictions. Why do these patterns persist? And perhaps more importantly, what would it take for change?
A recent article by Tarcísio Diniz Magalhães aims to develop answers to both questions.
Chronicle of Higher Education, What Happens When Women Run Colleges?:
Democratic, communal, inclusive. That may be the future of college leadership.

Tom Steyer 2020 Presidential Run Looks Closer Atlantic. UserFriendly: “Seriously, if you don’t shoot me I’m going to have to do it myself.”


The one certainty of tax return time? Everyone's got a 'guy'

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