Syllabus
Tax Policy
Spring 2015
Instructor:
Erin Morrow Hawley
Room 212, Hulston Hall
(573) 882-6540
hawleye@missouri.edu
Office Hours:
Tuesday and Thursday 1-2pm and by appointment.
COURSE MATERIALS
The assigned texts will be TAXING OURSELVES: A CITIZEN’S GUIDE TO THE DEBATE OVER
TAXES (4th Ed.) by Joel Slemrod and Jon Bikija, and TAXES IN AMERICA, WHAT
EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW (1ST Ed.) by Leonard Burman and Joel Slemrod. In addition,
I will assign readings from a collection of sources to be posted to TWEN no later than
one week before the material is covered in class. The materials listed below are subject
to modification.
COURSE OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVES
This course examines the major features of the U.S. tax system, describes the most
pressing problems, and analyzes the most important reform proposals. Course objectives
include giving students a comprehensive view of the federal tax system, how revenue is
raised, and providing students with the analytical framework to identify the strengths and
weaknesses of current tax reform proposals. The course also will provide students with
the opportunity to write and present a research paper, developing critical analytic,
writing, and speaking skills.
FORMAT
This course is a seminar. Student participation is essential to a successful class and thus
expected. Grades will be based, in part, on class participation. Your grade primarily will
be based on a final paper. There will be no final exam. You will be expected to select a
tax policy or tax reform topic and apply what we have discussed in class to that topic.
Paper Specifics: Papers will satisfy the writing requirement and must be 20-25 pages
long, with pages numbered, double-spaced 12 point Times New Roman font, and normal
margins. Please use footnotes for your citations.
Final papers should be of professional quality (i.e., well-written, with proper citations,
and free of typographical errors). The final paper should include the following three (3)
sections: (1) description of the rule of law or tax principle, (2) history and development of
the rule of law or principle, and (3) analysis of the rule of law or tax principle. Final
papers will be graded on two main criteria – substantive content and style. The grade on
the substantive content will be based on the information/research you discuss in the paper
and the analysis/critique of that information. The grading criteria for style will include the
following: organization, grammar/clarity, and citation form.
A statement of your topic is due at the beginning of class on Feb. 16th. Initial Draft: A
draft of all three (3) sections is due at the beginning of class on April 5th. We will meet
individually the following week to discuss your drafts. You will present your paper in
class during the final class periods. Your final paper is due by 5:00 p.m. on April 28th.
Discussion Leaders. You will be divided into four groups and each group will have
primary responsibility for leading the class discussion on assigned dates. On the date your
group leads the discussion, at the beginning of class, you will be required to provide me a
simple one or two page outline of your discussion agenda.
EVALUATION
Your Initial Draft will be worth 20% of your final grade. Your Final Paper will be worth
40% of your final grade. Your Oral Presentation will be worth 20% of your final grade.
Class Participation will be worth 20% of your grade.
STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES
If you anticipate barriers related to the format or requirements of this course, if you have
emergency medical information to share with me, or if you need to make arrangements in
case the building must be evacuated, please let me know as soon as possible.
If disability related accommodations are necessary (for example, a note taker, extended
time on exams, captioning), please register with the Office of Disability Services
(http://disabilityservices.missouri.edu), S5 Memorial Union, 573- 882-4696, and then
notify me of your eligibility for reasonable accommodations. For other MU resources for
students with disabilities, click on "Disability Resources" on the MU homepage.
TENTATIVE ASSIGNMENTS
Class One: Structure, Purposes, Goals of Income Taxation
Slemrod & Bakija, Chapter One (Introduction)
Burman & Slemrod, Chapter One
Class Two: Personal Income Taxes
Burman & Slemrod, Chapter Two
Slemrod & Bakija, Chapter Two (pages 28-55)
Daniel Shaviro, The Man Who Lost Way Too Much: Zarin v. Commissioner, 45
Tax. L. Rev. 215 (1990)
Class Three: Business Income Taxes
Burman & Slemrod, Chapter Three
Slemrod & Bakija, pp. 279-282
Class Four: Taxing Spending
Burman & Slemrod, Chapter Four
Slemrod & Bakija, Chapter Six pp. 189-216
Class Five: Other Taxes
Burman & Slemrod, Chapter Five
Class Six: Taxes and the Economy/Efficiency
Burman & Slemrod, Chapter Six
Slemrod & Bakija, Chapter Four pages 99-127
Class Seven: Hidden Welfare State
Burman & Slemrod, Chapter Seven
Slemrod & Bakija, Excerpts TBD (Chapter 4)
Class Eight: The Burden of Taxation
Burman & Slemrod, Chapter Eight
Slemrod & Bakija, Excerpts TBD
Class Nine: Tax Administration & Enforcement
Burman & Slemrod, Chapter Nine
Slemrod & Bakija, Chapter Five pp 160-188
Class Ten: Policy & Reform
Burman & Slemrod, Chapter Ten-Twelve
Slemrod & Bakija, Excerpts TBD
Class 11: Progressivity
Marty McMahon, Winner-Take-All-Markets: Easing the Case for Progressive
Taxation, 4 Fla. Tax. Rev. 1 (1998) pp. 39-64
Thomas D. Griffith, Progressive Taxation and Happiness, 45 B.C. L. REV. 1363
(2004)
Marjorie E Kornhauser, Educating Ourselves Towards a Progressive (and
Happier) Tax: A Commentary on Griffith’s Progressive Taxation and Happiness,
45 B.C. L. REV. 1399 (2004)
Martin J. McMahon Jr., The Matthew Effect and Federal Taxation, 45 B.C. L.
REV. 993 (2004)
Class 12: Taxation & Marriage
Zelenak, Marriage and the Income Tax, 67 So. Cal. L. Rev. 339, 342-69, 380-93
(1994).
Boris I. Bittker, Federal Income Taxation and the Family, 27 Stan. L. Rev. 1389
(1975)
Pamela B. Gann, Abandoning Marital Status as a Factor in Allocating Income
Tax Burdens, 59 Tex. L. Rev. 1 (1980)
Edward J. McCaffrey, Taxation and the Family: A Fresh Look at Behavioral
Gender Biases in the Code, 40 UCLA L. Rev. 983 (1993)
Shari Motro, A New “I Do”: Towards a Marriage-Neutral Income Tax, 91 Iowa
L. Rev. 1509 (2006)
Class 13: Taxation & Children
Lawrence Zelenak, Children and the Income Tax, 49 Tax L. Rev. 349 (1994)
Class 14: Tax Expenditures
Bernard Wolfman, Review of Stanley Surrey’s TAX EXPENDITURES (1985)
Excerpts from the Analytic Perspectives Budget of the US (OMB 2011)
JCT, Estimates of Federal Tax Expenditures, 2-9, 27-end (2010))
Browse website: http://subsidyscope.org/tax_expenditures/summary/
Class 15: Home Mortgage Deduction
Dorothy A. Brown, Shades of the American Dream, 87 Wash. U. L. Rev. 329
(2009)
Roberta F. Mann, The (Not So) Little House on the Prairie: The Hidden Costs of
the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction, 37 ARIZ. ST. L. J. 1347 (2000)
Class 16: Charitable Contributions
McDaniel, Federal Matching Grants for Charitable Contributions (1972)
Bittker, Charitable Contributions: Tax Deductions or Matching Grants? (1972)
David E. Pozen, Remapping the Charitable Deduction, 39 Conn. L. Rev. 531
(2006)
David M. Schizer, Subsidizing Charitable Contributions: Incentives, Information,
and the Private Pursuit of Public Goals, 62 TAX L. REV. 221 (2009)
Todd Izzo, A Full Spectrum of Light: Rethinking the Charitable Contribution
Deduction, 141 U. PA. L. REV. 2371 (1993)
Class 17: Health Insurance
Aaron and Burman, USING TAXES TO REFORM HEALTH INSURANCE, Introduction
Bob Lyke, CRS, The Tax Exclusion for Employer-Provided Health Ins. (2008)
This American Life No. 392 Someone Else’s Money Act 2 (11 min.) (2009)
Class 18: Education
Stuart Lazar, Schooling Congress: The Current Landscape of the Tax Treatment
of Higher Education Expenses and a Framework for Reform, 2010 Mich. St. L.
Rev. 1047 (2010)
Charlotte Crane, Scholarships and the Federal Income Tax Base, 28 HARV. J. ON
LEGIS. 63 (1991)
Andrew D. Pike, No Wealthy Parent Left Behind: An Analysis of Tax Subsidies
for Higher Education, 56 AM. U. L. REV. 1229 (2007)
Class 19: Schedule Individual Meeting to Discuss
Class 20: Individual Meetings to Discuss Draft Papers
Class 21: Estate Taxation
Lily Batchelder, Taxing Privilege More Effectively (2007)
Class 22: Capital Gains
Slemrod & Bakija, pp. 279-282
Noel B. Cunningham & Deborah H. Schenk, The Case for a Capital Gains
Preference, 48 Tax L. Rev. 319 (1993)
Daniel N. Shaviro, Commentary, Uneasiness, and Capital Gains, 48 Tax L. Rev.
393 (1993)
John W. Lee, Capital Gains Myths, 67 Tax Notes 809 (1995)
Class 23: Tax Planning
David A. Weisbach, Formalism in the Tax Law, 66 U. Chi. L. Rev. 860 (1999)
David A. Weisbach, Ten Truths About Tax Shelters, 55 Tax L. Rev. 215 (2002)
Class 24: Paper Presentations
Class 25: Paper Presentations
Class 26: Paper Presentations
Class 27: Paper Presentations
Make-up Session: Writing Workshop: Date TBD
Eugene Volokh, Writing a Student Article, 48 J. LEGAL ED. 247, 269 (1998)
Bring to class a law review article or other source on a topic you are thinking of
writing about. Be prepared to discuss the topic and whether the article is a good or bad
piece of legal scholarship.