School
Expertise
Professor Colinvaux teaches courses in Federal Income Taxation, Property, Legislation, Nonprofit Organizations, and Civil Rights. From 2001-2008, Professor Colinvaux was counsel to the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation in the U.S. Congress with responsibility for tax legislation relating to nonprofit organizations.
Professor Colinvaux is an internationally recognized expert in the tax law of nonprofit organizations. His scholarship focuses on the nonprofit sector and public policy, including reform of charitable giving laws, tax exempt status, nonprofit advocacy activity, donor- advised funds, and conservation easements. His work is often cited by think tanks, policy-makers, courts, and media outlets, including the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Economist, Politico, Bloomberg, The Atlantic, and the Chronicle of Philanthropy among many others. He speaks regularly at conferences and other forums on nonprofit issues.
Professor Colinvaux has testified about nonprofit tax reform before the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee, advised the White House and the Treasury Department, served as an advisor to the Urban Institute, the National Center on Philanthropy and the Law at NYU, and the Independent Sector (as a member of the Public Policy Committee). He has chaired committees for the American Association of Law Schools and the D.C. Bar, and is a founding member of the Initiative to Accelerate Charitable Giving. He has also co-written amicus briefs on appellate litigation in cases before the 10 th and 11 th Circuits, and the Supreme Court (Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta).
From 2014-2021, Professor Colinvaux directed the law school’s Law and Public Policy Program.
Professor Colinvaux received his J.D. from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law and an M.Litt in Politics from Oxford University. After law school, he served as law clerk for the Hon. Theodore R. Boehm of the Indiana Supreme Court. Many of Professor Colinvaux’s publications can be accessed on his SSRN page.
Articles
Charitable Tax Reform for the 21st Century, 164 Tax Notes 1867 (Sept. 16, 2019) (with Ray Madoff).
Fixing Philanthropy: A Vision for Charitable Giving and Reform, 162 Tax Notes 1007 (Mar. 4, 2019).
Social Welfare and Political Organizations: Ending the Plague of Inconsistency, 21 N.Y.U. J. Legis. & Pub. Pol’y. 481 (2018).
Failed Charity: Taking State Tax Benefits into Account for Purposes of the Charitable Deduction, 66 Buffalo Law Rev. 779 (2018).
Defending Place-Based Philanthropy by Defining the Community Foundation, 2018 B.Y.U. L. Rev. 1 (2018)
Donor Advised Funds: Charitable Spending Vehicles for 21st Century Philanthropy, 92 Wash. L. Rev. 39 (2017).
The Importance of a Participatory Charitable Giving Incentive, 154 Tax Notes 605 (Jan. 30, 2017).
The Charitable Contributions Deduction: Federal Income Tax Rules (with Harvey Dale), 68 TAX LAW. 331 (2015).
Political Activity Limits and Tax Exemption: A Gordian’s Knot, 34 VA. TAX REV. 1 (2014).
Summary of and Comments on Exempt Organization Provisions of the Tax Reform Act of 2014, Urban Institute and Tax Policy Center (2014),
Conservation Easements: Design Flaws, Enforcement Challenges, and Reform, 33 UTAH L. REV. 755 (2013).
Book Chapters
Ways the Charitable Deduction has Shaped the US Charitable Sector, in RESEARCH HANDBOOK ON NOT-FOR-PROFIT LAW (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018).
Nonprofits and Advocacy, in NONPROFITS AND GOVERNMENT: COLLABORATION AND CONFLICT (Urban Institute Press 2016).
Amicus Briefs
Amicus Brief, U.S. Supreme Court. Amici Curiae Scholars of the Law of Non-Profit Organizations in Support of Respondent: Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, Nos. 19-251 & 19-255 (Mar. 31, 2021).
Amicus Brief, 11th Circuit. Amici Curiae brief of law professors to the 11th Circuit in the case of Pine Mountain Preserve LLP v. Commissioner, 151 T.C. 14 (2018) (Oct. 7, 2019).
Amicus Brief, 10 th Circuit. Amici Curiae brief of law professors on the prevailing side in the case of Belk v. Commissioner, 774 F.3d 221 (10 th Cir. 2014).
Congressional Testimony
Testimony Before the House Committee on Ways & Means, Subcommittee on Oversight, 96 TAX NOTES 52 (2012).
Testimony Before the Senate Finance Committee, United States Senate, Tax Reform Options: Incentives for Charitable Giving, 68 EXEMPT ORG. TAX REV. 536 (2011)