LaPiana is the Director of Estate Planning Studies, Graduate Tax Program at New York Law School.
FORBES: The Limits Of Portability And Other Estate Tax Opportunities And Challenges
The National Union of Students rejected the attacks on a graduate tax as "baseless scaremongering".
Labour's university spokesman, Pat McFadden, says a change of direction over a graduate tax is "shambolic".
Business Secretary Vince Cable had suggested a graduate tax last week, but this now appears unlikely.
The introduction of a graduate tax would undermine the competitiveness of the UK economy, say business leaders.
Sir Timothy said a graduate tax could not be ruled out in Scotland to plug the gap.
The apparent shift in direction away from adopting a graduate tax has been welcomed by university groups.
But university leaders have welcomed reports that a graduate tax will not be a replacement for tuition fees.
He also said that Labour's long-term aspiration was to introduce a graduate tax.
Mr Brown wants the state, rather than the universities, to collect and disperse the money, perhaps through a graduate tax.
Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, rejected the criticisms of a graduate tax - which the union supports.
The IoD argues that a graduate tax would place an extra burden on employers because graduates would expect higher wages to compensate.
Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable has appeared to be more enthusiastic about a graduate tax than his Conservative universities minister, David Willetts.
It also claims a graduate tax would lead to a "brain drain" by encouraging the most able students to study and work abroad.
The Conservatives are considering Lib Dem calls for higher earning graduates to pay more interest on student loans after rejecting a graduate tax.
Tory Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said a graduate tax, put forward by Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable but now ruled out, was "unfair".
Mr Cable had suggested that a form of graduate tax should be considered in the search for a fairer way of paying for university.
Universities are concerned that a graduate tax would mean that the government would control the income from this extra tax, threatening the independence of universities.
"A graduate tax is a bad idea that would break the vital link between a student's fees and the institution, " says the 1994 Group of universities.
The second option, said to be backed by Mr Brown, is a pure graduate tax, which future graduates would pay for the rest of their working lives.
It is in these circumstances that there is a strong case for a graduate tax, which may offer a fairer way of sharing costs between individuals and government.
The IoD report says under an open-ended system, a graduate tax becomes the student loan you never pay off and would be "a tax on effort and merit".
Meanwhile shadow chancellor Alan Johnson - who has previously opposed a graduate tax - has told the Times he believes there is now a "strong case" for one.
Of the two ways of doing it through the fee structure, whether top up or not, or through graduate tax, I've always been slightly inclined towards the graduate tax myself.
The last Labour government introduced student tuition fees but their new leader Ed Miliband has said he is now sceptical about their impact on education opportunity and prefers a graduate tax.
Ms Smith said her party had ruled out up-front tuition fees and a pure graduate tax and instead declared themselves in favour of a deferred fees system facilitated through income contingent loans.
This points towards fees combined with an expanded loans system, or a graduate tax, whereby students would take out a loan and repay it if and when they got a reasonably well-paid job.
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However, they should not be deterred from university since they would only have to make repayments of a fixed sum, unlike the graduate tax, and the system would offer protection to low earners.
The funding review is considering options such as raising tuition fees, which are paid back by students after they graduate, or introducing a form of graduate tax paid by graduates to the Treasury through their salary.
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