David Gamage

Obamacare and lower-income workers

David Gamage cited in Tax Jotwell, February 22, 2013

Gamage supports the ACA, but argues that it presents lower-income workers and their employers with a catch-22.  If employers provide health insurance, workers will overpay for it.  But if employers do not provide health insurance, workers cannot access traditional full-time-with-benefits jobs.

Bay Area risky for identity theft, tax fraud

David Gamage quoted in San Jose Mercury News, February 9, 2013

Gamage said that while people need to be careful—don’t get credit card statements in the mail and change your passwords for online banking—there’s no reason for panic. Credit cards and banks are quick to reverse fraudulent charges, and the IRS has systems in place to help victims of identity theft. “Sure, it ends up being a hassle,” he said. “Beyond that, this is just a risk of the technology age.”

ObamaCare’s costs to the working class

David Gamage writes for The Wall Street Journal, October 30, 2012

It is time to move past the debate over whether ObamaCare was a good or a bad idea. I count myself as an ObamaCare supporter, but this doesn’t blind me to the law’s flaws. Regardless of who wins the presidential election, bipartisan compromise will be necessary to reform health care in a constructive way.

Santa Clara County judge allows county to keep sales tax measure on ballot

David Gamage quoted in San Jose Mercury News, August 31, 2012

“The court said the ruling doesn’t matter whether supervisors are actually going to be on the ballot this election cycle (in November) as long as it’s the type of election where supervisors would be on the ballot,” said David Gamage, an assistant professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law, where he specializes in tax law, including state and local taxes. Gamage said the judge didn’t think the language in the provision was ambiguous, but even if it was, the intention behind Proposition 218 was to make sure that local governments don’t schedule “some off-cycle election where very few people would vote.”

Employers await guidance on health insurance mandate

David Gamage quoted in Tax Notes Today, August 13, 2012 (subscription required)

“The purpose of the 30-hour workweek is to make it difficult for employers to move full-time employees to part-time status to avoid the employer-mandate penalties,” David Gamage of the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law told Tax Analysts.

Health care decision means more work for IRS

David Gamage writes for San Francisco Chronicle, June 30, 2012

If the IRS is to be charged with administering social welfare policy in addition to collecting tax revenues, then the agency needs to be given adequate resources. Otherwise, we threaten the IRS’ important role in administering the tax system. Thanks to Thursday’s Supreme Court decision, the IRS’ job is likely to become much more difficult.

Conversations: David Gamage

David Gamage interviewed in Tax Analysts, June 21, 2012

“Almost everyone in Washington supports tax reform in theory. Yet I’m not convinced there’s much appetite for real tax reform, which would necessarily create both winners and losers. Tax reform is always supposedly on the agenda, but that doesn’t mean in any particular year that there’s any real likelihood of us seeing meaningful tax reform.”

David Gamage Underscores Voters Dislike of Property Taxes

SF Weekly, January 4, 2012 by Joe Eskenazi
http://bit.ly/yd8DKt

“A bumper sticker popular when Prop. 13 was enacted said ‘Bring Back the Corrupt Assessors,'” says U.C. Berkeley law professor David Gamage. Assessors had attempted to “modernize, rationalize, and make effective assessment laws. But, on an individual basis, voters don’t like having property taxes enforced in a rational, effective manner.”