One of the unexpected side benefits of participating in a blog is the connections that it allows you to make with others. Through the connection I have established with long-time commenter of the blog post, Bob Kamman, and the chance publication of my first name in one post, he provided me with the genealogical history of my family dating back to the first person from my father’s family who landed in Virginia in the 17th century.
A recent post has brought in another interesting connection.
Bill Elliott, who practices in the Dallas area and who I have known for many years because of his publication of an excellent book on tax collection, Federal Tax Collections, Liens and Levies, Warren Gorham & Lamont, New York, New York (2d. ed. 2019), read the recent post in which I mention Judge Vasquez and the new book about the judge. Bill reached out to me to point me to his extensive video interviews of Judge Vasquez which you can find here, here and here. These interviews are part of a series of video interviews Bill has conducted with major figures in the tax world sponsored by the Tax Section of the State Bar of Texas. The video interviews provide a glimpse of the individuals impossible to achieve through the written word. Congratulations to Bill and the Texas State Bar for their project.
If you enjoy getting to know about individuals involved in tax and prefer a medium other than writing, you might also check out the People in Tax podcast series created by James Creech through the ABA Tax Section.
My 17th-Century Virginia ancestors lived just across the Rappahannock from Keith’s. The Fogg family stayed in the Old Dominion; mine headed west. These are on my mother’s side (surnames Jett and Merry). My Kampmann ancestors left the kingdom of Hanover around 1840 to farm in southern Indiana – also soybean country, these days – where they started dropping consonants.
Speaking of lost tax history — The tax difference between a “draw” and a “distribution” had a confused beginning in the 1954 Code. However, I believe Carolyn K. Tenen gave detailed comments to Treasury when Treasury was drafting the regulations under the 1954 Code, and that these comments might lend some light on this conceptually difficult area. However after some effort, associated with the issue arising in a very large income tax case, I was never able to find those comments. The issue is now moot, but I’m still curious, and think that other people might benefit from having these comments. Anybody have any thoughts?
Dave Anderson cda@cdavidanderson