Donald Tobin

Dean and Professor of Law

Phone: (410) 706-2041 Fax: (410) 706-4045 Email: dtobin@law.umaryland.edu Office: 260

BA, 1989, Duke University
JD, magna cum laude, 1996, Georgetown University Law Center

Current Courses: Law and Leadership, Low Income Taxpayer Clinic

Biography

One of the nation’s leading experts on the intersection of tax and campaign finance laws, Dean Tobin comes to Maryland Carey Law from Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, where he was the John C. Elam/Vorys Sater Professor of Law and also served as associate dean for academic affairs, associate dean for faculty, founding co-director of the Program on Law and Leadership, and senior fellow at the Election Law @ Moritz program.

Prior to joining the Moritz faculty in 2001, Tobin served as an appellate attorney in the Tax Division of the U.S. Justice Department and as a law clerk for The Honorable Francis Murnaghan, Jr. of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Tobin began his career on Capitol Hill, working there before, during and after graduating magna cum laude and Order of the Coif from Georgetown Law Center. He served as a professional staff member for U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D.-MD), the Senate Committee on the Budget, and the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

Tobin is the co-author, with Samuel A. Donaldson, of Federal Income Taxation: A Contemporary Approach (West 2014), an interactive casebook that offers students opportunities for feedback on their understanding of the material.

He also has published numerous articles on the use of the tax code to regulate campaign financing, including “Anonymous Speech and Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code” (Georgia Law Review, 2003); “Political Campaigning by Churches and Charities: Hazardous for 501(c)(3)s; Dangerous for Democracy” (Georgetown Law Journal, 2007), a defense of the prohibition on charities and churches engaging in political advocacy; and “Political Advocacy and Taxable Entities, Are They the Next “Loophole?”, (First Amendment Law Review, 2007), one of the first articles to identify a tax loophole that is now a major concern among campaign finance reform groups.

Tobin has testified before the Federal Election Commission and the U.S. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight.

He was honored twice while serving at the Department of Justice, receiving the Outstanding Attorney Award, Tax Division, in 1999, and the Volunteer Service Award in 2001.

Tobin is a member of the Maryland and Ohio bars and authorized to practice in the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits, and the US. District Court for Maryland.

Publications

Books

Federal Income Tax: A Contemporary Approach (3d ed. 2018) (with Samuel Donaldson). [Abstract]

Principles of Federal Income Taxation (8th ed. 2017) (with Samuel Donaldson). [Abstract]

Federal Income Tax: A Contemporary Approach (2d ed. 2014) (with Samuel Donaldson). [Abstract]

Problems in Tax Ethics (2009) (with Richard Lavoie and Richard E. Trogolo). [Abstract]

Principles of Federal Income Taxation (7th ed. 2005) (with Daniel Q. Posin Jr.). [Abstract]

Articles

Citizens United and Taxable Entities: Will Taxable Entities be the New Stealth Dark Money Campaign Organizations?, 49 Valparaiso University Law Review 583 (2015). [Full Text]

The Internal Revenue Service and a Crisis of Confidence: A New Regulatory Approach for a New Era, 16 Florida Tax Review 429 (2014). [Full Text]

The 2013 IRS Crisis: Where Do We Go From Here?, 142 Tax Notes 1120 (2014). [Full Text]

Campaign Disclosure and Tax-Exempt Entities: A Quick Repair to the Regulatory Plumbing, 10 Election Law Journal 427 (2011). [Full Text]

Congress Should Not Lower the Standard for Tax Return Preparers, 120 Tax Notes 471 (2008). [Full Text]

Political Advocacy and Taxable Entities: Are They the Next "Loophole"?, 6 First Amendment Law Review 41 (2007). [Full Text]

Political Campaigning by Churches and Charities: Hazardous for 501(c)(3)s, Dangerous for Democracy, 95 Georgetown Law Journal 1313 (2007). [Full Text]

Taxpayer Standing and DaimlerChrysler v. Cuno: Where Do We Go from Here?, 110 Tax Notes 863 (2006) (with Kristin Hickman). [Full Text]

Investing in Our Children: A Not So Radical Proposal, 73 University of Cincinnati Law Review 457 (2004). [Full Text]

Regulate, Don't Eliminate, 527s, 46 The Exempt Organization Tax Review 31 (2004) (with Edward B. Foley). [Full Text]

Tax Code Section 527 Groups Not an End-Run Around McCain-Feingold, 72 U.S. Law Week 2403 (2004) (with Edward B. Foley). [Full Text]

Anonymous Speech and Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code, 37 Georgia Law Review 611 (2003). [Full Text]

Campaign Finance Disclosure and Section 527 of the Code: A Look at the District Court's Opinion in National Federation of Republican Assemblies, 38 The Exempt Organization Tax Review 43 (2002), reprinted in 97 Tax Notes 407 (2002). [Full Text]

Less Is More: A Move Toward Sanity in the Budget Process, 16 Saint Louis University Public Law Review 115 (1996). [Full Text]

The Balanced Budget Amendment: Will Judges Become Accountants? A Look at State Experiences, 12 Journal of Law & Politics 153 (1996). [Full Text]

Note, The Tax Court Revisits the Golsen Rule: Lardas v. Commissioner, 47 Tax Lawyer 559 (1994). [Full Text]

Donald Tobin

Dean and Professor of Law

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