Crumbs for Oliver Twist: Resolving the Conflict Between Tax and Support Claims in Bankruptcy

Authors

Michelle A. Cecil, University of Missouri School of LawFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Spring 2001

Abstract

This article is premised on the assumption that the congressional goal of preferring support claims over federal income tax claims is indeed a laudable one, based on three interrelated policy justifications. First, support claimants are unable to spread their risk of loss like the government is able to do by raising tax rates or increasing tax revenue from other sources. As three prominent bankruptcy scholars noted in their recent study of consumer bankruptcy entitled The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt:

Recommended Citation

Michelle Arnopol Cecil, Crumbs for Oliver Twist: Resolving the Conflict Between Tax and Support Claims in Bankruptcy, 20 Va. Tax Rev. 719 (2001)