50th Annual (Virtual) Spring Symposium Program

THE GOLDEN ANNIVERSARY SYMPOSIUM: NEW THINKING ON ENDURING QUESTIONS

Conference Organizers: Aparna Mathur (then of American Enterprise Institute, now at Council of Economic Advisers), Shanthi Ramnath (Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago)

For a PDF of the program, click here

For recordings of the event, click here.  Please note: this content was emailed to registered attendees of the conference in late May. The link above requires a log in and is for NTA Members Only.

Thursday, May 14

9:00-9:10 am

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

William Gale, President, National Tax Association

9:10-10:20 am

BIG IDEAS IN TAX POLICY (A Panel Discussion)

Moderator: Richard Rubin, The Wall Street Journal
Panelists:
Jane Gravelle, Congressional Research Services
James Hines, University of Michigan
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, American Action Forum
Natasha Sarin, University of Pennsylvania

10:20-10:30 am

BREAK

10:30-11:40 am

INEQUALITY AND TAXES

Organizer: David Splinter, Joint Committee on Taxation
Moderator: Joel Slemrod, University of Michigan

Effective Tax Rates by Wealth Class (Slides)
Jesse Bricker, Federal Reserve Board, Alice Henriques Volz, Federal Reserve Board, Kevin Moore, Federal Reserve Board, and Sarah Reber, Federal Reserve Board

U.S. Tax Progressivity (Slides)
David Splinter, Joint Committee on Taxation

Income Inequality and Tax Compliance (Slides)
Jason DeBacker
, University of South Carolina, Bradley Heim, Indiana University, Anh Tran, Indiana University, Alex Yuskavage, U.S. Department of Treasury

The Distribution of Underreported Income: What We Can Learn from the NRP (Slides)
Gerald Auten
, U.S. Department of Treasury, Patrick Langetieg, Internal Revenue Service

11:40-11:50 am

BREAK

11:50-12:50 pm

INTERVIEW OF TOMAS PHILIPSON, ACTING CHAIR, COUNCIL OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS, BY DAVID WESSEL, DIRECTOR, HUTCHINS CENTER ON FISCAL AND MONETARY POLICY, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION

12:50-1:00 pm

BREAK

1:00-1:05 pm

PRESENTATION OF THE DAVIE-DAVIS AWARD TO JANET HOLTZBLATT

1:05 – 2:00 pm

KEYNOTE SESSION: REFLECTION ON LAST 50 YEARS OF TAX POLICY (Slides)

Speaker: Joseph Thorndike, Contributing Editor, Tax Notes and Director of the Tax History Project, Tax Analysts

2:00-2:10 pm

BREAK

2:10-3:20 pm

ACCOUNTING PROFIT AS A TAX BASE FOR A GLOBAL MINIMUM TAX:  REVISITING BOOK-TAX CONFORMITY

Organizer: Mindy Herzfeld, University of Florida
Moderator: Mindy Herzfeld, University of Florida

The Tax Elasticity of Financial Statement Income: Implications for Current Reform Proposals (Slides)
Dhammika Dharmapala, University of Chicago

Challenges of IFRS/GAAP Tax Base in Context of OECD Global Min Tax Proposal (Slides)
Rick Levin, PwC

What to do with Losses? Making Sense of Book-Tax Conformity in a Downturn
Todd Castagno, Morgan Stanley

Book-Tax Conformity: Lessons from the Accounting Literature (Slides)
Michelle Hanlon, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

3:20-3:30 pm

BREAK

3:30-4:40 pm

TCJA: THE TODDLER YEARS

Organizer: Joseph Rosenberg, Congressional Budget Office
Moderator: Kyle Pomerleau, American Enterprise Institute 

Corporate Tax Preferences Before and After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017
Erin Henry, University of Arkansas

Distributional Effects of the TCJA: An Intragenerational Accounting Framework (Slides)
Alan Auerbach, University California, Berkeley

The New Tax Legislative and Regulatory Process (Slides)
Rebecca Kysar, Fordham University

Friday, May 15

9:00-9:10 am

WELCOME AND INTRODUCTION

William Gale, President, National Tax Association

9:10-10:20 am

BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS AND PUBLIC FINANCE

Organizer: Tatiana Homonoff, New York University
Moderator: Bill Congdon, Urban Institute

Closing the Gap:  The Effect of a Targeted, Tuition-Free Promise on College Choices of High-Achieving, Low-Income Students
Susan Dynarski, University of Michigan, C.J. Libassi, College Board, Katherine Michelmore, Syracuse University, and Stephanie Owen, University of Michigan

Left-Bunching at Kinks: Evidence and Implications
Alex Gelber, University of California, San Diego, Damon Jones, University of Chicago, Daniel Sacks, Indiana University

Behavioral Barriers to Health Insurance Take-Up: Experimental Evidence from Taxpayer Outreach
Jacob Goldin, Stanford University, Ithai Lurie, U.S. Department of Treasury, and Janet McCubbin, U.S. Department Treasury

10:20-10:30 am

BREAK

10:30-11:40 am

REFORMING THE EITC: OPTIONS AND ISSUES

Organizers: Leonard Burman, Syracuse University
Moderator:  Shanthi Ramnath, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

Tax Options to Help Workers and Families (Slides)
Elaine Maag, Urban Institute

Reforming the EITC to Reverse Wage Stagnation (Slides)
Len Burman, Syracuse University

Welfare Reform and the EITC: What Really Happened to Single-Parent Families in the 1990s?
Adam Looney, Brookings Institute

11:40-11:50 am

BREAK

11:50-1:00 pm

Economic Aspects of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Organizers: Shanthi Ramnath, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago & William Gale, National Tax Association
Moderator: Shanthi Ramnath, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago

State and Local Government Finances in the COVID-19 Era (Slides)
Lucy Dadayan, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, Tracy Gordon, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, Kim Rueben, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

COVID-19 and Families’ Financial Security (Slides)
Neil Bhutta, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Jacqueline Blair, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Lisa Dettling, Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Kevin Moore, Federal Reserve Board of Governors 

Taxes in the Time of Coronavirus: Is It Time to Revive the Excess Profits Tax? (Slides)
Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, University of Michigan

1:00-1:10 pm

BREAK

1:10-2:00 pm

KEYNOTE

Speaker: Charles Rettig, U.S. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Internal Revenue Service

2:00-2:10 pm

BREAK

2:10-3:20 pm

TAX POLICY AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Organizer: Roberta Mann, University of Oregon (for the American Tax Policy Institute)
Moderator: Roberta Mann, University of Oregon Law School 

Does the Federal Tax Law Favor Entrepreneurs? (Slides)
Eric Toder, Tax Policy Center

The Qualified Small Business Stock Exclusion and Entrepreneurship (Slides)
Greg Polsky, University of Georgia 

Tax-Driven Entrepreneurship?  The Domestic Hirer Asymmetry in a Gig Economy
Emily Satterthwaite, University of Toronto, Ariel Jurow Kleiman, University of San Diego

3:20-3:30 pm

BREAK

3:30-4:40 pm

INTERNATIONAL PROFIT SHIFTING AND THE NORMAL RETURN

Organizer: Steven Shay, Harvard University (for the American Tax Policy Institute)
Moderator: George Plesko, University of Connecticut

Profit Shifting Before and After the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Slides)
Kimberly Clausing, Reed College

Untaxed Foreign Profits of U.S. Multinationals
Kevin Markle, University of Iowa

Identifying Excess Profits:  What is a Normal Return? (Slides)
Michael Keen, International Monetary Fund

4:40-4:45 pm

CONCLUDING REMARKS

William Gale, President, National Tax Association