Professor Charles Delmotte joined the law faculty as an assistant professor in the Fall of 2022. He teaches Basic Income Taxation, Trusts and Estates and Tax Policy. Professor Delmotte has more than a dozen publications that employ economics, empirical research, philosophy, and technology to scrutinize tax law and innovation policy. The Articles were published or are forthcoming in the Boston College Law Review, Alabama Law Review, the Florida State University Law Review, the Virginia Tax Review, the European Journal of Law and Economics, the Canadian Journal of Law and Jurisprudence, Constitutional Political Economy, Social Philosophy and Policy, the Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, and the International Journal of the Commons. Professor Delmotte contributed to the two main anthologies that bridge philosophy and tax law: namely to Oxford University Press ‘The Philosophical Foundations of Tax law’ (2017), and more recently to Springer’s ‘Political Philosophy and Taxation’ (2022).
Professor Delmotte has a JD and a PhD from Ghent University, a Bachelor’s and Master’s in Philosophy from Ghent University and was trained as a practicing lawyer at DLA Piper LLP, Brussels.
Download Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
B.A., M.A., J.D., Ph.D. Ghent University, Belgium
ARTICLES
Redistribution without Romance, 66 B.C. L. Rev. (2025, forthcoming) SSRN
Beyond the Wealth Tax, Ala. Law Rev (2024, forthcoming)
SSRN
Toward a Blockchain-Driven Tax System, 43 Va. Tax. Rev 37 (2023). HeinOnline SSRN
Predistribution Against Rent-Seeking: The Benefit Principle’s Alternative to Redistributive Taxation, 39 Soc. Phil. & Pol’y 188 (2023). Journal Website
Dynamic Preferences and the Behavioral Case Against Sin Taxes, 32 Const. Pol. Econ. 80 (2022) (with Malte Dold) Journal Website SSRN
The Mirage of Mark-to-Market Taxation: Distributive Justice and Alternatives to Capital Taxation, 25 Critical Rev. Int’l Soc. & Pol. Phil. 211 (2022) (with Nick Cowen) Journal Website SSRN
The Case Against Tax Subsidies in Innovation Policy, 48 Fla. St. L. Rev. 285 (2021). HeinOnline SSRN
Simple Rules and the Political Economy of Income Taxation: The Strengths of a Uniform Expense Rule, 51 Eur. J.L. & Econ. 1 (2021). HeinOnline SSRN
Tax Uniformity as a Requirement of Justice, 33 Canadian J.L. & Juris. 59 (2020). HeinOnline Journal Website
Floods and Mismatched Property Rights, 14 Int’l J. Commons 583 (2020) (with Nick Cowen). Journal Website SSRN
BOOK CHAPTERS
Different Economic Models of Innovation and Their Relation to the Law, in Artificial Intelligence and the Law 23 (Jan De Bruyne & Cedric Vanleenhove eds., 2023). Publisher Website
Classical Liberalism: Market-Supporting Institutions and Public Goods Funded by Limited Taxation, in Political Philosophy of Taxation 135 (Robert F. van Brederode ed., 2022) (with Daniel Nientiedt). Publisher Website
The Conception of Taxation: The Romantic Versus the Realistic Point of View, in Interdisciplinary Studies of the Market Order 131 (Donald J. Boudreaux, Christopher J. Coyne & Bobbi Herzberg, eds. 2019). SSRN Amazon
The Right to Autonomy as a Moral Foundation for the Realization Principle in Income Taxation, in The Philosophical Foundations of Tax Law 281 (Monica Bhandari ed., 2017). Publisher Website SSRN
What Is Wrong with Endowment Taxation? Self-usership as a Prerequisite for Legitimate Taxation, in Building Trust in Taxation 51 (Bruno Peeters, Hans Gribnau & Jo Badisco eds., 2017). Cambridge Press Academia
Basic Income Taxation
This survey course introduces the basic concepts of federal income taxation and is ideal for students interested in learning basic information about tax law but who are not yet certain if they want to specialize in tax or business fields. Students will get practice in the skills of statutory construction and applying a broad range of legal authorities to clients’ concrete problems, skills which are valuable for all law students regardless of whether they ultimately specialize in tax. In this course, students will be exposed to tax issues that affect individuals, including sole proprietorships, and will gain an understanding of various forms of income, exclusions from income, capital gains and losses, various deductions, and other topics. The course uses a modified Socratic approach with an emphasis on problem solving that will allow students to develop facility in analyzing cases, statutes, and administrative materials. Sample examination questions are provided to allow a student to determine how well he or she learned and retained the material. The grade in the course is based on a final examination with consideration given to class participation. Students who enroll in Basic Income Taxation for 2 credits are ineligible to enroll in Basic Income Taxation for 3 credits.
Tax Policy Seminar
(Formerly DCl 517)
This seminar covers a range of tax policy issues arising from Federal Taxation. The specific issues studied will vary but, in general, will focus on progressivity and redistribution. Topics likely to be covered include: the use of the income tax as a fiscal policy tool; the concept of income; imputed income; progressive versus flat tax rates; taxation of families; income versus consumption taxation; tax expenditures, exclusions, and deductions; taxation of business and investment income; capital gains and losses; and transfer or wealth taxes. A paper will be required. The topic will be determined after consultation with the instructor.
Trusts and Estates
(Formerly Decedents' Estates and Trusts) A study of the pattern of practices for transmitting wealth in view of death. The course surveys probate jurisdiction and administration; intestate succession; limitations on testamentary power; execution requirements for wills; revocation, revalidation and revival of wills; incorporation by reference; contest of wills and related remedies. Also covered are the private express trust, inter vivos and testamentary, including functions, prohibited trust purposes and requisites for creation; informal and incomplete trusts, including resulting, constructive and savings bank trusts; termination of trusts; gifts to charity, including historical backgrounds, nature of charitable purposes
and cy pres; powers and duties of the fiduciary; and remedies of beneficiaries in case of breach of duty.
