54th Annual Spring Symposium Program In Association with the American Tax Policy Institute (ATPI)

TAXES IN A CHANGING ECONOMIC AND LEGAL LANDSCAPE

Program Chairs: Jason DeBacker, University of South Carolina, Emily Lin, U.S. Department of the Treasury

Thursday, May 9, 2024

8:45-9:00AM	WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION
9:00-9:30AM	KEYNOTE SESSION Introduction: Jason Debacker, University of South Carolina The Inflation Reduction Act, The Wyden-Smith Tax Package, and the Coming Tax Debate of 2025 Ron Wyden, United States Senator, Oregon
9:30 – 9:45 AM	BREAK
9:45 – 11:05 AM	LESSONS FROM RECENT BUSINESS TAXATION LEGISLATION (Paper Session) Moderator: Lucas Goodman, U.S. Department of the Treasury Investor Perceptions of the Book Minimum Tax Fabio Gaertner, University of Wisconsin, Madison Tax Policy and Investment in a Global Economy Eric Zwick, University of Chicago and NBER The Efficiency-Equity Tradeoff of the Corporate Income Tax: Evidence from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Jake Mortenson, Joint Committee on Taxation How Do Business Owners Respond to a Tax Cut? Examining the 199A Deduction for Pass-Through Firms Lucas Goodman, U.S. Department of the Treasury
11:05 – 11:20 AM	BREAK
11:20AM- 12:50PM	PRESENTATION OF THE DAVIE-DAVIS AWARD FOR PUBLIC SERVICE Presentation of the Davie-Davis Award for Public Service to Recipient James Cilke, U.S. Congress, Joint Committee on Taxation, by Adam Looney, University of Utah CHOOSING AMONG REVENUE RAISERS (Panel Session) Moderator: James Mackie, EY Panelists: Robert Carroll, EY John McClelland, Congressional Budget Office Robert McClelland, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center Brandon Pizzola, EY Kyle Pomerleau, AEI Panel Description The U.S. federal government faces large budget deficits as far as the eye can see. Extending TCJA would add to these. The panel will discuss current estimates of the federal government’s fiscal position, including the primary drives of the deficit. Then the discussion will move on to the revenue potential of the current tax system and an evaluation of the revenue, efficiency and distributional implications of alternative revenue sources such as a VAT, wealth tax, carbon tax, and increased taxes on high income taxpayers. The implications of the OECD’s BEPS project will also be discussed.
12:50 – 2:30 PM	LUNCH
2:30 – 4:00 PM	THE SUPREME COURT’S EXAMINATION OF THE AUTHORITY OF CONGRESS AND FEDERAL AGENCIES TO FORMULATE TAX LAW (Panel Session) Co-Sponsored by the American Tax Policy Institute Moderator: Stephen Shay, Boston College Law School Panelists: Brian Galle, Georgetown Law School Chye-Ching Huang, New York University Law School Eric Solomon, Ivins, Phillips & Barker Panel Description The Supreme Court will soon render opinions on important tax cases examining the breadth of authority given to Congress and federal agencies to formulate tax law. In the Moore case, the Supreme Court is considering the scope of tax-writing authority granted to Congress by the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. In the Loper Bright Enterprises and Relentless cases, the Supreme Court is reconsidering the deference courts have provided to agency regulatory actions since the Supreme Court’s 1984 decision in the Chevron case. This panel will discuss these cases, other types of challenges to agency actions, as well as the potential effects of the forthcoming Supreme Court decisions.
4:00 – 4:15 PM	BREAK
4:15 – 5:30 PM	CHANGING ECONOMY, CHANGING TAXES (Paper Session) Moderator: David Coyne, U.S. Department of the Treasury The Evolution of Platform Gig Work, 2012-2021 Andrew Garin, Carnegie Mellon University Growing Electric Vehicle Adoption: Implications for Infrastructure Maintenance and the Tax Burden on Families of Different Funding Polices Julie Hotchkiss, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Georgia State University Taxing Cryptocurrencies Katherine Baer, International Monetary Fund
5:30 – 6:45 PM	RECEPTION

Friday, May 10, 2024

8:45 – 8:50 AM	WELCOME National Tax Association
8:50 – 10:05 AM	AI IN TAX ADIMINISTRATION, RESEARCH, AND POLICY (Paper session) Moderator: Peter Barnes, Caplin & Drysdale Using AI to Enhance Tax Services Ben Alarie, Blue J Legal and University of Toronto Using AI to Revolutionize Policy Analysis Max Ghenis, PolicyEngine The Tax Data Science Revolution: Opportunities and Challenges for Researchers and Policy Analysts Len Burman, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and Syracuse University
10:05-10:20 AM	BREAK
10:20 – 11:00 AM	THE ROLE OF TAX IN RACIAL INEQUITY (Panel Session) Co-sponsored by the American Tax Policy Institute Moderator: Karen Brown, George Washington University Law School Panelists: Steven Dean, Boston University School of Law Katherine Pratt, LMU Loyola Law School, Los Angeles Panel Description In recent years, legal scholars, including Dorothy Brown, Jacob Goldin, Jeremy Bearer-Friend, Andrew Kahrl, and Steven Dean have developed a growing literature on ways in which facially neutral tax laws contribute to racial inequity. Continuing this research, two legal scholars will present their work in progress. Steven Dean’s book, Global Jim Crow: International Taxation and Racial Capitalism, tells the story of what happened after imperial control gave way to independence, highlighting the rise of an international tax system that did for the world what racially discriminatory tax policies achieved in the United States in the years after slavery ended. Katherine Pratt’s article, Taxing Reparations, analyzes the tax consequences of historical reparation examples under existing income tax rules and rationales and normative frameworks for the federal income tax and for reparation programs.
11:05 – 11:45 AM	LESSONS FROM THE RECENT EXPANSION IN THE EITC AND CHILD TAX CREDIT (Paper Session) Moderator: Dayanand Manoli, Georgetown University The Effect of the 2021 Childless EITC Expansion on Young Adults’ Material Well-Being Katherine Michelmore, University of Michigan Boosting Take-Up of the Expanded Child Tax Credit Kye Lippold, U.S. Department of the Treasury
11:45 AM – 12:00 PM	BREAK
12:00 – 12:50 PM	KEYNOTE PRESENTATION Introduction: Emily Lin, U.S. Department of the Treasury The Power to Destroy: How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America Michael J. Graetz, Columbia Law School
12:50 – 2:15 PM	LUNCH
	STATE-LOCAL TAX PROGRAM Program Chair: Nathan Seegert, University of Utah
2:15 – 3:30 PM	LAND TAXES: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE (Panel Session) Moderator: Kim Rueben, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center Panelists: Nick Allen, MIT John Anderson, University of Nebraska Dan Murphy, University of Virginia Zhou Yang, Robert Morris University Panel Description Economists have long stressed the virtues of land taxes over other taxes. Land value taxation offers the greatest efficiency gains in strong urban land markets, where land is highly congestible. In practice, land value taxation has gained traction in weak land markets as an alternative to single-rate property taxes. What accounts for this division between theory and use? This panel provides multiple perspectives on land taxes, bridging the gap between theory and practice.
3:35 – 4:45 PM	IMPLICATIONS OF PROPERTY TAX POLICY CHANGES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING Moderator: Byron Lutz, Federal Reserve Board Panelists: Emily Horton, University of Michigan Cameron LaPoint, Yale University Jenny Schuetz, Brookings Institution Jared Walczak, Tax Foundation Panel Description Many local governments have enacted policies that reduce property taxes to increase housing affordability for certain groups of taxpayers. If home values increase when property taxes fall, offering reductions will be ineffective at increasing the affordability on the margin of homeownership. However, property taxes are less likely to be priced into home values if residents expect changes to property taxes will trigger changes in public goods expenditures, if property taxes are not salient to residents, or if housing supply in an area is elastic relative to demand. This panel discusses recently proposed and realized reforms at the state and local levels.