50 years ago in The Tax Adviser.

Here are some highlights from the March 1970 issue: Sec. 170(e)(1) limits charitable contribution deductions

No area of the Code was devastated more by the Tax Reform Act of 1969 than the provisions dealing with charity--from the viewpoint of the donee-charitable organizations (especially private foundations) and the donors----No longer will it be possible to avoid the tax on the unrealized appreciation in the value of the property... by donating the property to a charity. Under prior law ... [it] was possible for an individual to realize more dollars by donating certain ordinary income (such as inventory) or short-term capital gain property to charity than by selling the property and paying the tax.

--Leonard A. Rapoport, CPA, "Charitable Contributions Under the Tax Reform Act of 1969, "p. 162. Rapoport was a partner with Alexander Grant & Co. in St. Paul, Minn., and was a member of the AICPA Council.

Economic effects of the tax system

As we are all aware, the present income tax law is replete with differential provisions which have the effect of imposing differing effective rates of tax on a given amount of income, depending on the source of the income, the way in which it is used, or the circumstance of the taxpayer. Some of these provisions are in the tax law because of misapprehensions by tax policymakers about the nature of income. More of them were included as a deliberate effort to promote certain types of activity. The recent tax reform effort has involved...