Memo to the President: Tax Reform’s Challenges and Opportunities

The Brookings Institution, Tax Analysts, and Tax Policy Center host a program today on Memo to the President: Tax Reform’s Challenges and Opportunities (webcast available here):

The tax code is complex and hard to understand, riddled with loopholes, and widely viewed as unfair. Now, a new president and Congress face the challenge of addressing these shortcomings while creating a new system that contributes to economic growth. Complicating matters further, President Bush’s tax cuts are due to expire in 2010, the alternative minimum tax will reach tens of millions of Americans if left alone, and lawmakers will be searching for revenue sources to help finance health care reform and other priorities. With all of this as background, this day-long event ... explore key tax issues that are, or should be, on the agenda of President-elect Obama and his new administration.

• Welcome:
  • Leonard Burman (Director, Tax Policy Center, and Senior Fellow, Urban Institute)
  • Christopher Bergin (President and Publisher, Tax Analysts)
• Panel One: Setting the Stage
  • Leonard Burman (Moderator)
  • William Gale (Co-director, Tax Policy Center)
  • Roberton Williams (Principal Research Associate, Tax Policy Center)
  • John Buckley (Chief Democratic Tax Counsel, House Ways & Means Committee)
• Panel Two: Taxes and the Social Safety Net
  • Deborah Schenk (Moderator) (NYU)
  • Leonard Burman
  • Fred Goldberg (Partner, Skadden)
• Lunch:
  • William Gale (Moderator)
  • Speaker: Representative from the Obama economic team
• Panel Three:  Taxation of Capital Income
  • Rosanne Altshuler (Moderator) (Rutgers University; Incoming Codirector, Tax Policy Center)
  • Pamela Olson (Partner, Skadden; former Assistant Treasury Secretary for Tax Policy)
  • Lily Batchelder (NYU)
• Panel Four:  Energy Taxes
  • Christopher Bergin (Moderator)
  • Marty Sullivan (Contributing Editor, Tax Analysts)
  • David Weisbach (University of Chicago Law School)
  • Gilbert Metcalf (Tufts University)
• Closing Comments:  William Gale