Wash U Expert: Regulations on tax inversions a move in the right direction
The U.S. Treasury Department has taken action to
curb corporate tax inversions, making it more difficult to for U.S.
companies to merge with international firms and move abroad to reduce
their taxes. This move attempts to combat specific abuses within a
flawed framework, according to an international tax law expert at
Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.
Wash U Expert: Adrian Peterson and child abuse
On Sept. 11 — just one week into the 2014 NFL season — running back Adrian Peterson was indicted on charges of beating his four-year-old son with a tree branch. In the uproar that followed, Peterson was suspended from professional football and pilloried by pundits left and right. Washington University in St. Louis Associate Professor Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., PhD, who writes about masculinity, performance studies and popular culture, shares his thoughts.
Wash U Experts: Law professors discuss Missouri’s new abortion waiting period
On Sept. 10, the Missouri legislature overrode a veto by Gov. Jay Nixon and enacted one of the United States’ strictest waiting periods for women seeking abortion. The law will require a 72-hour delay, and that delay won’t make women safer or improve health outcomes, said two experts on health and family law from the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis.
Wash U Expert: Missouri lawmakers expand gun rights
Missouri lawmakers recently overrode a veto by Gov. Jay Nixon and passed a bill allowing school districts to designate teachers or administrators as school protection officers, able to carry concealed firearms into schools. The measure also lowered the age to apply for a conceal-and-carry permit to 19 from 21 and prohibits cities from banning open carry laws. Gregory P. Magarian, JD, constitutional law expert and professor of law, weighs in from the point of the view of the Second Amendment.
WashU Experts: Faculty available to comment on Ferguson unrest
As the St. Louis community grapples with recent events in the nearby suburb of Ferguson, Mo., a number of Washington University in St. Louis faculty members are offering their expertise, commentary and insight in hopes of promoting constructive dialogue on a number of challenging issues.
Wash U Expert: States should have some power over criminal laws of marijuana
A bill introduced July 28 in the U.S. House of
Representatives would amend the controlled substances act – the federal
law that criminalizes marijuana – to exempt plants with an extremely low
level of THC, the part of marijuana that makes users high. Following closely on the heels of a call by the New York Times editorial board for the federal government to legalize marijuana, this could mark a turning point of sorts in the campaign for legalization. Gregory
P. Magarian, professor of law, sees two reasons for leaving states with some power over the criminal law of marijuana.
Wash U Experts: Obama child and sick leave directive more inclusive for low-income families — including men
President Barack Obama signed a memorandum Jan. 15
directing agencies to allow federal workers to take six weeks of paid
sick leave to help with a new child or a sick relative. The
president also asked Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act, which
would grant Americans seven days a year of paid sick time. Augmenting
the Family and Medical Leave Act is one place Congress might
start if it wants to combat sex-role stereotypes and advance women’s
equal employment opportunity, as well as supporting families in times of
illness, say experts at Washington University in St. Louis.
Wash U Expert: Time to raise the gasoline tax?
Falling oil and gasoline prices have prompted some in Congress to debate about increasing the federal fuel tax, which helps fund highway and bridge construction, among other projects. Increasing
the tax, which hasn’t been raised since 1993 and isn’t tied to
inflation, to help offset revenue lost through lower prices at the pump
may seem like a good idea in theory, but it’s much more difficult in
practice, says tax law expert Adam Rosenzweig, JD, of Washington University in St. Louis.