Clearing Obstacles to Sound Tax Policy: The Case Against the Anticipatory Assignment of Income Doctrine in the Charitable Context

The Internal Revenue Code is replete with policy preferences in the form of deductions, credits, and deferrals, commonly called tax expenditures. The law prevents these tax expenditures from impairing the revenue function of the tax code by providing caps, time limits, and recapture rules that are meant to moderate their effects and prevent abuses. While these limitations are generally prudent, they themselves require frequent review to ensure they are not unduly disrupting the legitimate functions of the tax code. Indeed, it is possible, perhaps common, for reasonable limits on tax expenditures to evolve into unreasonable obstacles to effective tax strategy.