Familienheimfahrt – jahresbezogene Beurteilung

Anspruch auf steuerliche Anerkennung der Aufwendungen für Familienheimfahrten, wenn ein Steuerpflichtiger einen vom Besch?ftigungsort entfernten (Familien-)Wohnsitz unterh?lt und in einem Streitjahr dessen Verlegung (zB im Hinblick auf die dort wohnhafte berufst?tige Ehefrau) unzumutbar ist. Dabei kommt es nicht darauf an, ob früher (insbesondere im zeitlichen Zusammenhang mit der Aufnahme der Besch?ftigung an einem neuen Besch?ftigungsort) die Zumutbarkeit der Wohnsitzverlegung gegeben gewesen ist. Demzufolge ist es steuerlich im Streitjahr unsch?dlich, dass in der Vergangenheit eine (nur in dieser) zumutbare Wohnsitzverlegung nicht durchgeführt wurde.     

The performance of charter schools in Wisconsin

How have charter schools in Wisconsin performed relative to traditional public schools? Two analyses provide an answer: First, a comparison of achievement test scores for students in Milwaukee charter and traditional schools from 1998 to 2002 for grades 3 through 10 finds a relative advantage for charter school students using fixed effects and first difference specifications. Second, a methodological approach new to the debate over performance in choice schools assesses schoollevel standardized tests in the fourth and eighth grades for 2000–01 and 2001–02. The results for fourth grade are generally favorable for charter schools; those for eighth grade are mixed. Overall, the results from these two analyses suggest that charter schools in Wisconsin are performing somewhat better than the traditional public schools from which they draw students. © 2007 by the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management     

The protection of confidential information in the human rights era: two aspects

Legal context: The Human Rights Act has had an obvious impact on the law ofbreach of confidence as it applies to private information. Itsinfluence on the law of confidence as it applies to commercialinformation has been subtle, but nevertheless significant. Key points: Confidentiality is a relative rather than an absolute concept.Whether information is in the public domain or retains the necessaryquality of confidence is a question of degree which dependson the circumstances of the case, and in particular the natureof the information. A compilation of information may be confidentialeven if the individual elements are in the public domain. Itis a defence to a claim for breach of confidence that disclosureof the information would be in the public interest whether theclam is based on an express contractual, an implied contractualor an equitable obligation. The balance of authority favoursthe view that an express contractual obligation carries greaterweight when balancing parties’ Convention rights thanan implied contractual or equitable obligation, but it is difficultto see why this should be so. The real difference between contractualand equitable obligations is that it is possible by contractto prevent the disclosure of information that is not confidential. Practical significance: The law continues to evolve. As matters stand parties are welladvised to seek contractual protection for their confidentialinformation.     

The determination of drugs and their substitutes in human hairs

In recent years it has become possible to detect organic pharmaceuticals and drugs in a few milligrams of a person's hair, using modern analytical methods (RIA, GC/MS, GC), whether this person has taken narcotics and other drugs in past times. With the aid of hair analysis it is possible to examine the drug career of a drug addict for up to 1 year, and sometimes for a longer time. This is mostly of great importance in criminalistics and forensic medicine, in the criminal retrospective examination of addicts.