Tax Policy Collaborative
Tax Policy Collaborative
Tax Policy is the study of how countries, states, and localities raise revenue to finance the provision of public goods. Tax policy research addresses both micro- and macroeconomic issues, such as questions about whether the rules are fair, how they influence taxpayer behavior, and how they impact the level and shape of economic activity within countries and more globally. As such, the study of tax policy implicates fundamental issues of redistribution, economic justice, and the social safety net.
The BC Law Tax Policy Collaborative consists of some of the nation’s leading legal scholars doing research on these pressing issues. Our faculty includes experts in domestic and international taxation, employee benefits and retirement security, charitable giving and philanthropy, and wealth and transfer taxation. BC Law's JD tax program was ranked 10th in the nation in Tax Talent's "Top in Tax" survey, and 15th in US News & World Report.
Attend an Event
For more information about the Tax Policy Collaborative and how to attend an event, please contact:
Tax Policy Workshops
The Boston College Law School Tax Policy Workshop brings together academics, policymakers, and practitioners in a collaborative setting to discuss academic papers and works-in-progress. The Workshop aims to help presenters formulate and focus their ideas and evaluate various tax policy and administration design alternatives.
Workshops are open to academics, practitioners, students, and policymakers interested in tax policy, and typically start at 12:15 at Stuart House, at the Law School. Persons interested in attending should email Scott Sheltra.
The Workshop series has been active since 2007 and is made possible by the Paulus Endowment for Tax Programs.
For more information, please contact Professors James Repetti, or Diane Ring.
2024–2025 Schedule
Speaker Archives
Reuven Avi Yonah (University of Michigan Law School)
Linda Sugin (Fordham School of Law)
Miranda Stewart (University of Melbourne Law School)
Goldburn P. Maynard, Jr. (Indiana University Kelley School of Business)
Sarah Lawsky (Northwestern Pritzker School of Law)
Steven Dean (Brooklyn Law; visiting at BU Law)
Alan Feld (Boston University), Jacob Nielson (Ropes & Gray), & Theodore Sims (Boston University)
Eleanor Wilking (Cornell Law)
James Repetti (BC Law)
Susan C. Morse (University of Texas School of Law)
Pasquale Pistone (NYU Law)
Deanna Newton (Pepperdine Caruso School of Law)
Christine Kim (Utah)
Jennifer Bird-Pollan (Kentucky)
Yair Listokin (Yale)
Tom Brennan (Harvard)
Jonathan Choi (Minnesota)
Clint Wallace (South Carolina)
Hilary Escajeda (Mississippi College)
Tsilly Dagan (Oxford) “Re-Imagining Tax Justice in a Globalized World”
Miranda Perry Fleischer (San Diego) “Death and Taxes: A Libertarian Reappraisal”
Ariel Jurow Kleinman (San Diego) “Improverishment by Taxation
Werner Haslehner (Luxembourg) “International Tax Arbitration After BEPS”
Roberta Mann (Oregon) “Targeting Plastic Pollution with Taxes”
Steve Shay (Boston College) “Applying Section 265 to Address an Opaque Foreign Income Subsidy”
Ajay Mehotra (Northwestern) “Nixon’s VAT: The Rise and Fall of the 1970s Value-Added Tax to Fund Education”
Larry Zelenak (Duke University)
Karen Brown (George Washington University)
Ari Glogower (Ohio State University)
Jinyan Li (Osgood Hall Law School)
Ajay Mehotra (Northwestern, and American Bar Foundation): "The VAT Laggard: A Comparative History of US Resistance to the VAT"
Michelle Drumbl (Washington & Lee): "Improving Tax Credits for the Working Poor"
Andrew Hayashi (UVA): "Countercyclical Tax Bases"
Cliff Fleming (BYU): "An Early Look at Expanded Worldwide vs. Territorial Taxation after the TCJA" (with Robert J. Peroni and Stephen E. Shay)
Emily Satterthwaite (University of Toronto): "Toward a Signaling Account of Voluntary Value-Added Tax Registration"
Eric Toder (Urban Institute): "Distributional Effects of Individual Income Tax Expenditures After the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act"
George Yin (UVA): “Who Speaks for Tax Equity and Tax Fairness?: Stanley Surrey and the Tax Legislative Process”
Lilian Faulhaber (Georgetown): "Competing over Competition: Who Decides What Tax Practices Are Harmful?"
David Kamin (NYU): "The Tax Rate Ratchet"
Daniel Hemel (Chicago): "Easy on the SALT: In Defense of the Deduction for State and Local Taxes"
Ruth Mason (UVA): "State Aid Special Report – Part 6: Are Tax Rulings Selective?"
Zachary Liscow (Yale): “Is Efficiency Biased?”
Lily Batchelder (NYU): "The Shaky Case for a Business Cash-Flow Tax"
Phyllis Taite, "Making Tax Policy Great Again: America You’ve Been Trumped"
Leandra Lederman (Indiana): “To What Extent Does Enforcement Crowd Out Voluntary Tax Compliance?”
Charlotte Crane (Northwestern): “Integrating a Fragmented Corporate Tax”
James Repetti (BC): “Tax Rates, Efficiency, and Inequality”
Diane Ring (BC): “Leak-Driven Law”
Richard Schmalbeck (Duke): “Ending the Sweetheart Deal Between Big-Time College Sports and the Tax System”
David Gamage (Berkeley): “The Tax Cannibalization Problem and Fiscal Federalism in the United States”
Charlene Luke (U. FL): “The Captive Insurance Conundrum”
Dorothy Brown (Emory): “Tax Policy and the Racial Wealth Gap”
Miranda Perry (San Diego): “Not So Fast: The Hidden Difficulties of Taxing Wealth”
Jake Brooks (Georgetown): “Fiscal Federalism as Risk-Pooling”
Reuven Avi-Yonah (U. Michigan): “And Yet It Moves: Taxation and Labor Mobility in the 21st Century”
Emily Cauble (DePaul): “Safe Harbors in Tax Law”
Tom Brennan (Northwestern): “Smooth Retirement Accounts”
New England International Fiscal Association April Extended Breakfast (Two Panel Workshop: IP Panel and Irish/Swiss Panel)
Tracy Kaye (Seton Hall): “Innovations in the War on Tax Evasion”
George Yin (Virginia): “Creation of the Joint Committee on Taxation”
Chris Sanchirico (U. Penn): “Optimal Tax Policy and the Symmetries of Ignorance”
Joshua Blank (NYU): “Collateral Compliance”
Susan Morse (UC Hastings): “Startup Ltd: Tax Planning and Initial Incorporation”
Sarah Lawsky (UC Irvine): “Modeling Tax Law’s Uncertainty”
Adam Rosenzweig (Wash. U.): “Thinking Outside the (Tax) Treaty”
Ed Kleinbard (USC): “Lessons of Stateless Income”
Larry Zelenak (Duke): “Choosing Between Tax and Non-Tax Delivery Mechanisms for Health Insurance Subsidies”
Tricia Brown (U. Miami): “Don’t Mess with Success: The ‘Primary Place of Management and Control” in U.S. Tax Treaties”
David Noren (Joint Committee on Taxation): “ ‘Managed and Controlled’ Corporate Residence Legislation: An Idea Whose Time Came and Went”
Miranda Perry (Colorado): “Equality of Opportunity and the Charitable Tax Subsidies”
Christiana HJP Panayi (Queen Mary, University of London)
Adam Chodorow (Arizona State University): “Doing Good While Staying Well: A Proposal to Combine Healthcare and Charitable Giving Tax Provisions”
Lily Kahng (Seattle): “Costly Mistakes: Undertaxed Business Owners and Overtaxed Workers”
Karen Brown (George Washington): “A Comparative Look at Regulation of Corporate Tax Avoidance”
Eric Lustig (New England): “Dilbert to Murder Mystery: The Strange Case of Company-Owned Life Insurance (COLI)”
Meredith Conway (Suffolk): “With or Without You: Debt and Equity and Continuity of Interest”
Lily Faulhaber (Harvard): “Sovereignty, Integration and Tax Avoidance in the European Union: Striking the Proper Balance”
Ruth Mason (U.Conn): “Welfare, Tax Incentives and Labor Mobility”
Marjorie Kornhauser (Arizona State): “Remember the ‘Forgotten Man’ (and Woman): Hidden taxes and the 1936 Election”
Noel Cunningham (NYU): “Rectifying the Tax Treatment of SAMs”
Leandra Lederman (Indiana): “W(h)ither Economic Substance?”
Neil Buchannan (George Washington): “The ‘Growth Budget’: Disciplined and Responsible Government Spending for Future Prosperity”
Dan Shaviro (NYU): “The Optimal Relationship Between Taxable Income and Financial Accounting Income: Analysis and A Proposal”
Kirk Stark (UCLA): “Rich States, Poor States: American Federalism and the Politics of Fiscal Equalization”
Deborah Schenk (NYU): “The Political Economy of Tax Reform: The Case for Retaining the AMT”
Nancy Staudt (Northwestern): “If Major Wars Affect (Judicial) Fiscal Policy, How & Why?”
Paul Caron (U. Cinn): “The Story of Murphy: A New Front in the war Against the Income Tax”
Linda Beale (Wayne): “Tax Patents: At the Crossroads of Tax and Patent Law”
Tax Roundtable
The Boston College–Tulane Tax Roundtable is a jointly organized event, co-sponsored by Boston College Law School, the Murphy Institute for Political Economy at Tulane University, Tulane Law School. The Roundtable brings together tax scholars from around the country, resident BC and Tulane faculty and BC and Tulane students for discussion and debate about important tax policy issues of our time. The roundtable showcases the drafts and works-in-progress of its participants and subjects these works to rigorous analysis in a discussant-driven workshop format. All are welcome to attend.
Archived events are listed here. Upcoming events will be listed in the calendar above. For more information, please contact Professor Diane Ring.
Tax Policy Roundtable Friday March 26, 2021
Brian Galle (Georgetown) and Stephen Shay (BC)
Administrative Law and the Crisis of Tax Administration
Discussant: Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan)
Susie Morse (U Texas)
Emergency Money: Lessons from the Paycheck Protection Program
Discussant: Andrew Hayashi (Virginia)
Shu-Yi Oei (Boston College)
Who Joins BEPS? Understanding the Proliferation of International Tax Consensus
Discussant: Steve Shay (Boston College)
Steve Sheffrin (Tulane Economics) (with Koray Caglayan, American Institutes for Research)
Giver and Taker States over the Business Cycle
Discussant: David Walker (Boston University)
Other Symposia and Colloquia
2016
Boston College Law School Hosted the International Fiscal Association Extended Breakfast
April 14, 2016
Panel #1
Overview Review and hot topics in European and Latin American VAT, and Canadian GST/PST Panel:
The panel will provide a brief introduction to Value Added Tax and Goods and Services Tax, followed by a discussion of practical VAT/GST issues that the panelists recognize as typical for U.S.-based multinationals. Examples of talking points are recent developments in the VAT/GST world (such as BEPS and the upcoming VAT in Puerto Rico), VAT on online sales as well as “hands-on” tips to manage an organization’s global indirect tax footprint.
Rosemary Anderson – Thorsteinssons LLP, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
- Lucas Giardelli – Mayer Brown, New York, New York
- Mark Houtzager – US VAT Inc., Brooklyn, New York
Panel #2
Overview Advanced Withholding Tax Topics Panel:
A look at some special issues encountered by a withholding agent and how to manage them. Most people know that they need a Form W-8 when making a cross-border payment. This panel will go beyond the garden-variety payment case and examine issues that may arise in special cases.
- Lani Chou – PwC, Boston, Massachusetts
- Carol Tello – Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP, Washington, D.C.
2015
Symposium on The Centennial of the Estate and Gift Tax: Perspectives and Recommendations. (co-sponsored with the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel Foundation)
Published: 57 B.C. Law Rev. No. 3 (2016) here
October 2, 2015:
Keynote Speaker: Michael Graetz (Columbia Law School)
Panel #1
Whether it is desirable to tax the gratuitous transfer of wealth during life or at death?
- James Repetti (Boston College Law School) Commentator and Moderator
- Jennifer Bird-Pollan (University of Kentucky College of Law)
- Paul Caron (Pepperdine University School of Law)
- Dr. David Joulfaian (U.S. Department of the Treasury)
Panel #2
Whether methods other than an estate and gift tax could better address problems associated with wealth concentration?
- Ray Madoff (Boston College Law School) Commentator and Moderator
- David Duff (University of British Columbia's Allard School of Law)
- Miranda Perry Fleischer (University of San Diego School of Law)
- David Shakow (University of Pennsylvania School of Law)
Panel #3
What improvements could be made to the existing estate and gift tax system?
- Bridget Crawford (Pace University School of Law) Commentator and Moderator
- Joseph Dodge (Florida State University College of Law)
- Wendy Gerzog (University of Baltimore School of Law)
- Kerry Ryan (St. Louis University School of Law)
2014
Symposium on Reforming Entity Taxation (co-sponsored with Tax Analysts)
Published in Tax Notes (2015)
Oct. 10, 2014
Keynote Speaker: Lee Sheppard (Contributing Editor, Tax Analysts)
Panel #1
Reforming Entity Taxation: Corporations
- Mirit Eyal-Cohen (Alabama)
- Deborah Schenk (NYU) “A Role for Subchapter S?”
- Dan Shaviro (NYU) “Evaluating the Case for 1986-Style Corporate Tax Reform”
- Brian Galle (Boston College) Commentator
- Jeremy Scott (Editor in Chief of News, Tax Analysts) Moderator
Panel #2
Reforming Entity Taxation: Partnerships
- Karen Burke (Florida) “Unified Passthrough Reform Misses the Mark”
- Andrea Monroe (Temple) “Subchapter K, Gateway Drugs, and Tax Reform”
- Gregg Polsky (North Carolina)
- James Repetti (Boston College) Commentator
- Amy Elliot (Contributing Editor, Tax Notes) Moderator
Panel #3
Reforming Entity Taxation: International
- Allison Christians (McGill)
- Robert Peroni (Texas)
- Martin Sullivan (Tax Analysts)
- Diane Ring (Boston College) Commentator
- Sam Young, (Editor Worldwide Tax Daily) Moderator
2014
Boston College Law School Hosted the International Fiscal Association Extended Breakfast
April 17, 2014
Panel #1
International Tax Issues Associated with Cloud Computing
A discussion on the international tax opportunities, risks, and issues associated with Cloud Computing
- Lewis Greenwald, Mayer Brown LLP
- Gary Sprague, Baker & Asbill McKenzie LLP
- Carol Tello, Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
Panel #2
Tax Considerations of Investing in Ireland and Switzerland
A discussion on practical considerations, typical tax structures, issues, and opportunities to consider when investing in Ireland and Switzerland.
- Martina Walt, Swiss Desk, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
- Daryl Hanberry, Ireland Desk, Deloitte Tax LLP
2005
The State of Federal Income Taxation Symposium: Rates, Progressivity, and the Budget Processes
- James Repetti (Boston College) Introduction to the State of Federal Income Taxation: Rates, Progressivity, and Budget Processes
- Martin J. McMahon Jr (University of Florida) The Matthew Effect and Federal Taxation
- Deborah H. Schenk (NYU) The Luke Effect and Federal Taxation: A Commentary on McMahon's The Matthew Effect and Federal Taxation
- Richard Schmalbeck (Duke) The Death of the Efficiency-Equity Tradeoff?: A Commentary on McMahon's Matthew Effect and Federal Taxation
- William G. Gale (Brookings) and Peter R. Orszag (Brookings) An Economic Assessment of Tax Policy in the Bush Administration, 2001-2004
- Paul R. McDaniel (University of Florida) Assessing the Bush Administration's Tax Agenda: Commentary on Gale and Orszag's an Economic Assessment of Tax Policy in the Bush Administration, 2001-2004
- Linda Sugin (Fordham) Sustaining Progressivity in the Budget Process: Commentary on Gale and Orszag's an Economic Assessment of Tax Policy in the Bush Administration, 2001-2004
- Daniel N. Shaviro (NYU)Reckless Disregard: The Bush Administration's Policy of Cutting Taxes in the Face of an Enormous Fiscal Gap
- Lawrence Lokken (University of Florida) A Tax Lawyer's Observations on Scary Numbers, Politics, and Irresponsibility: A Commentary on Shaviro's Reckless Disregard
- David I. Walker (Boston University) The Social Insurance Crisis And The Problem Of Collective Saving: A Commentary On Shaviro's Reckless Disregard
- Thomas D. Griffith (USC) Progressive Taxation And Happiness
- Marjorie E. Kornhauser (Tulane) Educating Ourselves Towards A Progressive (And Happier) Tax: A Commentary On Griffith's Progressive Taxation And Happiness
- Diane M. Ring (Harvard) Why Happiness?: A Commentary On Griffith's Progressive Taxation And Happiness
The Tax Concentration is designed for students with a specific interest in tax law as well as for students interested in a variety of business law fields where tax is typically important in the clients' decision making. Participating in the Tax Concentration offers a number of benefits to students including: (1) the ability to signal to employers and others the depth of your tax knowledge developed during law school; (2) receipt of invitations to join tax workshops and other events during the year; (3) enrollment in the Tax Concentration Seminar in Fall of the 3L year, which is intended to serve as a capstone course; (4) specific advising and discussion of tax and tax adjacent career planning; and (5) opportunity to work with other students sharing your interests!
For more information or to apply, please visit BC Law's concentrations page.