Duke Symposium: Law And Macroeconomics

Symposium, Law and Macroeconomics, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. 1-232 (2020):

• Anna Gelpern (Georgetown) & Adam J. Levitin (Georgetown), Considering Law and Macroeconomics, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. i (2020)
• Daniel K. Tarullo (Harvard), Time-Varying Measures in Financial Regulation, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. 1 (2020)
• Patricia A. McCoy (Boston College) & Susan M. Wachter (Wharton), The Macroprudential Implications of the Qualified Mortgage Debate, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. 21 (2020)
• Erik F. Gerding (Colorado), Against Regulatory Stimulus, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. 49 (2020)
• Morgan Ricks (Vanderbilt), Money, Private Law, and Macroeconomic Disasters, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. 65 (2020)
• Daniel Hemel (Chicago), Indexing, Unchained, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. 83 (2020)
• Nadav Orian Peer (Colorado), Public Purpose Finance: The Government’s Role as Lender, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. 101 (2020)
• Gina-Gail S. Fletcher (Indiana), Macroeconomic Consequences of Market Manipulation, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. 123 (2020)
• Yair Listokin (Yale), Law and Macro: What Took So Long?, 83 Law & Contemp. Probs. 141 (2020)

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NTA 113th Annual Conference On Taxation

Highlights of the third day of the National Tax Association's virtual 113th Annual Conference on Taxation (full program here):

Advances in Tax Administration
Session Chair: Elliott Ash (ETH Zurich)

• Jonathan Choi (Minnesota), How Did Mayo Shape Agency Rulemaking? an Empirical Study
• Noam Noked (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Cooperative Compliance Program for Individuals and Trusts: A Proposal for a Compliance Passport
• Young Ran (Christine) Kim (Utah), Blockchain Initiatives for Tax Administration
• Orli Oren-Kolbinger (Villanova), The Error Cost of Marriage
• Discussants: Leandra Lederman (Indiana-Bloom.), Omri Marian (UC-Irvine)

Behavioral Issues in Tax Administration & Retirement Plans
Session Chair: Jason Seligman (Investment Company Institute)

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NTA 113th Annual Conference On Taxation

Highlights of the first two days of the National Tax Association's virtual 113th Annual Conference on Taxation (full program here):

COVID-19 and Business Tax & Credit Policies
Session Chair: Yilin Hou (Syracuse)

• Mirit Eyal-Cohen (Alabama) & Ana Santos-Rutschman (St. Louis), Tax Policy and Pharmaceutical Innovation
• Joao Granja (Chicago), Christos Makridis (MIT), Constantine Yannelis (Chicago) & Erik Zwick (Chicago), Did the Paycheck Protection Program Hit the Target?
• Byron Lutz (Federal Reserve Board) et al, An Evaluation of the Paycheck Protection Program Using Administrative Payroll Microdata
• Nancy Shurtz (Oregon), A COVID Tale of Two Cities: A Case Study of Business Taxes in the Pacific Northwest
• Discussants: Yilin Hou (Syracuse), Martin Sullivan (Tax Analysts)

Electricity Sector: Policy Design and Outcomes
Session Chair: Agustin Leon-Moreta (New Mexico)

• Anne Kesselring (FAU) & Thiess Buettner (FAU), Banned for Bad Grades: Effects of Minimum Energy Performance Standards in the White Goods Industry
• Michael Ricks (Michigan), When You're Their Biggest Fan: Optimal Subsidies with Multiple Policy Instruments with Application to Wind Power
• Tracey Roberts (Cumberland), Stranded Assets and Efficient Pricing for Regulated Utilities: A Federal Tax Solution, 11 Colum. J. Tax L. 1 (2019)
• Discussants: Thiess Buettner (FAU), Louis Preonas (Maryland) & Tracey Roberts (Cumberland)

Legal Issues in International Taxation
Session Chair: Lilian Faulhaber (Georgetown)

• Reuven Avi-Yonah (Michigan), Constructive Dialogue: BEPS and the TCJA
• Yariv Brauner (Florida), Tax Treaty Negotiations
• Noam Noked (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Defense of Primary Taxing Rights
• Daniel Shaviro (NYU), What Are Minimum Taxes, and Why Might One Favor or Disfavor Them?
• Discussants: Lilian Faulhaber (Georgetown), Fadi Shaheen (Rutgers)

Nonprofit Organizations
Chair: Jeremy Bearer-Friend (George Washington)

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Leff Presents Cannabis Taxation: Theory And Practice Today At Boston University

Benjamin M. Leff (American) presents Cannabis Taxation: Theory and Practice at the Virtual Boston University Law Review Conference today on Marijuana Law 2020: Lessons from the Past, Ideas for the Future:

My goal in my presentation is to make two primary points: (1) In designing a tax instrument to tax cannabis at the state level, it is misguided to get distracted by any theory of Pigouvian taxes, since the most important market substitute for legal cannabis is illegal cannabis, and so (except for some special cases) taxation of legal cannabis is not Pigouvian.  (2) In designing a tax instrument to tax cannabis at the federal level, the most important issue is the degree to which any federal tax crowds out state-level taxation, not the purported incoherence (or injustice?) of section 280E.  In fact, section 280E has some plausible benefits as compared to federal excise taxes.

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Utah Hosts Junior Scholar’s Conference Today On How To Improve The Impact Of Your Legal Scholarship

Utah hosts the Rocky Mountain Junior Scholar’s Conference virtually today on How to Improve the Impact of Your Legal Scholarship (2:00 PM ET):

Please join us on Zoom as our expert panelists talk about how to improve the impact of your legal scholarship. Learn from our panelists about the following important topics:

• How to become one of the most cited in your field
• How to improve SSRN downloads
• How to improve law review placements
• Whether and when to write books or articles
• How to place quotes and op-eds in national publications

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Florida Hosts 16th Annual International Tax Symposium

The University of Florida Graduate Tax Program hosts its Sixteenth International Taxation Symposium virtually today:

• Shu-Yi Oei (Boston College), Who Joined BEPS? Understanding the Proliferation of International Tax Consensus
• Young Ran (Christine) Kim (Utah), Blockchain Initiatives for Tax Administration

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Black Lawyers Matter: Strategies To Enhance Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion

I am honored to have the opportunity to update my remarks on A Dean's Perspective on Diversity, Socioeconomics, The LSAT, And The U.S. News Law School Rankings as part of a panel at today's virtual conference on Black Lawyers Matter: Strategies To Enhance Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion (more here):

Moderator: 
Leonard M. Baynes (Dean, Houston)

Panelists:
Robert B. Ahdieh (Dean, Texas A&M)
Paul L. Caron (Dean, Pepperdine)
Robert Morse (Chief Data Strategist, U.S. News & World Report)
Victor Quintanilla (Indiana)
Kellye Testy (President & CEO, Law School Admission Council)

Karen Sloan (Law.com), Black Lawyers Matter: The Symposium:

The numbers tell the story of a legal profession divided by race. Less than 8% of first-year law students in 2019 were Black.

In California, 53% of Black bar examinees passed between 2009 and 2018. That figure was 80% for white examinees.

The percentage of 2019 Black law graduates who found jobs requiring a law degree within 10 months was 62%, compared to 80% for white law graduates. And in 2020, white shoe law firm Cravath, Swaine & Moore had no Black partners.

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Call For Tax Papers And Panels: SEALS 2021 (Nov. 7 Deadline)

Hello!  I miss you all – what a year.  I am looking with optimism towards next summer!  Tessa Davis is joining me this year in coordinating tax panels and discussion groups for next year’s SEALS Conference.  The 2021 SEALS Conference will be held July 26-August 1, 2021 at the Boca Resort in Boca Raton, Florida.

The conference submission tool is now open, and Tessa and I are eager to coordinate people who are interested in presenting tax work at the SEALS conference into relevant panel groups.  In addition, we have also had very successful Tax Policy Discussion Groups in recent years.  Panels are generally composed of 4 to 5 people speaking for 15 to 20 minutes each.  We will attempt to group papers so that panels include papers on similar topics.  The Discussion Group includes about 10 people, each speaking for 5-8 minutes on a topic related to tax policy, broadly interpreted.  This has often included topics that are not necessarily fully formed paper ideas, but are thoughts the presenter has had on something he or she would like to discuss with a group of smart, informed people in an informal setting.  Both types of presentation have been very successful in the past.  Each presenter may participate in one Panel AND one Discussion Group.

So, if you are interested in submitting to SEALS and would like us to include you in a group of other tax profs, please email Tessa Davis with the following information:

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ABA Tax Section Hosts Free Webinar Today On The Tax System and Social Policy

The ABA Tax Section hosts a free webinar today on The Tax System and Social Policy at 1:00 ET:

The tax system has been used with increasing frequency as a social policy tool to administer social programs. From the Earned Income Tax Credit to the recent Economic Impact Payments, the IRS has been asked to do more with an ever decreasing budget. While the tax system may be an attractive vehicle to administer certain payments or benefits, it can also pose challenges. Panelists will examine the history of the tax code as a way to administer social programs. Panelists will then evaluate certain programs and discuss some advantages and disadvantages of administering these programs through the tax code. In particular, panelists will discuss the recent Economic Impact Payments and some of the challenges with administering these payments successfully. Lastly, panelists will propose some changes and alternatives to the way programs are administered to better serve the communities that are most in need of these benefits.

Speakers:

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Black Lawyers Matter

Houston Chronicle op-ed:  Black Attorneys Matter. We Must Diversify Texas Law Firms., by Leonard M. Baynes (Dean, Houston) & Jennifer Collins (Dean, SMU):

Prior to 1950, if a Black Texas resident wanted to become a lawyer, they had to leave the state and study at a Northern law school or serve as an apprentice under a willing white Texas lawyer in order to become licensed. They had to do this because, at that time, none of the Texas law schools admitted Black students no matter their qualifications.

This year, we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court opinion Sweatt v. Painter, the case that led to the desegregation of Texas law schools. We feel the best way to honor Heman Marion Sweatt is to continue to expand the number of students of color who are ready to be trained and join the ranks of practicing attorneys in Texas — a state that sorely needs to bolster that racial diversity. Co-hosting the Black Lawyers Matter Conference on Oct. 30, a Zoom-style webinar, will allow us to take stock of this challenge and share best practices to solve them. ...

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The Intersection Of Race And Taxes

The Philadelphia Bar Association Tax Section hosted a webcast on Friday on The Intersection of Race and Taxes:

Amid a renewed focus on racial justice in our society, this CLE program will address the scholarship and client-facing work on issues related to our tax system and its impact on racial inequality. The panelists share their insights and perspectives on how different aspects of international, federal, state and local tax structures effect racial inequities. Join your colleagues in the Tax Section for this fascinating examination of the intersection of racial diversity and federal, state and local tax policy.

• Alice Abreu ( Temple)
• Steven Dean (NYU)

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ABA Tax Section Virtual Meeting

The ABA Tax Section Virtual 2020 Fall Meeting kicks off today. The full program is here. Today's highlight is Beyond CARES: Tax and Economic Policy Responses to the Ongoing COVID Pandemic (Teaching Taxation Committee (10:00 − 11:30 AM ET)):

In March, 2020, Congress enacted the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act to ameliorate economic shocks to U.S. households from the COVID pandemic and lockdowns. The CARES Act included temporary: (1) Economic Impact Payments to individuals and families of up to $1,200 per adult (subject to income limitations) and $500 per child under 17 years old; (2) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loans to businesses, including independent contractors, to cover up to eight weeks of payroll costs or to pay interest on mortgages, rent, and utilities; and (3) supplemental Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) of $600 per week. Following expiration of CARES Act relief, the question is: what new COVID economic relief package is advisable? Members of Congress and policymakers disagree about the best approaches to counteract the continuing economic shocks to households from the pandemic. Panelists, including experts in tax, economics, and public policy will discuss tax and related policy responses to COVID economic relief going forward. Panel topics include proposals: to expand and increase the Earned Income Tax Credit; to expand and increase the Child Tax Credit; to reduce payroll taxes; to extend FPUC benefits; to increase federal subsidies to states; and to enact a federal VAT or Carbon Tax, which could fund an expanded EITC or Child Tax Credit or a lump sum Basic Income for Americans. Panelists will consider potential gender, racial, and socio-economic disparities in the economic impact of (1) the COVID pandemic and (2) pandemic relief proposals.

Speakers:

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Symposium On Ruth Mason's The Transformation Of International Tax

Symposium, Ruth Mason's The Transformation Of International Tax, 114 Am. J. Int'l L. 353 (2020):

• Alan O. Sykes (Stanford), Introduction to the Symposium on Ruth Mason, The Transformation of International Tax, 114 Am. J. Int'l L. 252 (2020)
• Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan), Select A Positive Dialectic: BEPS and The United States, 114 Am. J. Int'l L. 255 (2020)
• Wei Cui (British Columbia), What Is Unilateralism in International Taxation?, 114 Am. J. Int'l L. 260 (2020)
• Lilian V. Faulhaber (Georgetown), Diverse Interests and International Legitimation: Public Choice Theory and the Politics of International Tax, 114 Am. J. Int'l L. 265 (2020)

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Copenhagen Business School Hosts Virtual Conference Today On Inequality Within International Taxation

Copenhagen Business School hosts a two-day virtual conference beginning today on Inequality Within International Taxation (program):

How should concerns about inequality influence the choices that countries make in the design of their international tax laws and regulations? What role do international tax rules play in reducing (or exacerbating) inequalities of income and wealth, and how do concerns such as gender and racial inequalities inform and intersect with economic and political concerns? Can tax rules, for example, allow wealthier countries to help pull poorer countries out of poverty? Will political systems be willing to use tax policy to address the effects of continuing discrimination in employment, housing, and other areas of people’s live?

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Emory Law Journal Call For Submissions: Systemic Racism In The Law & Anti-Racist Solutions

Emory Law Journal: Call for Submissions:

Dear Scholars:
We write to you in troubling times, yet we are hopeful for a brighter future ahead. First, we hope that you are taking care of yourselves and your loved ones. Second, we want to announce that the Emory Law Journal is calling for essay submissions for our forthcoming Special Issue: Systemic Racism in the Law & Anti-Racist Solutions. The Issue will be published in May 2021, with an accompanying remote symposium in March 2021.

In the wake of numerous police shootings of unarmed Black men and women, the murder of protesters, and the lack of justice for many of the perpetrators, a statement from ELJ will no longer suffice; to be an anti-racist Journal, we must act. Therefore, this spring, we will use our platform to elevate scholarship that seeks to facilitate racial justice and dismantle white supremacy by publishing a Special Issue and holding a remote symposium.

ELJ is looking for essays from 7,500 to 15,000 words that expose systemic racism in the law or propose anti-racist solutions to make the law more just. Emory’s Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law Dorothy A. Brown will be writing the introduction to the Special Issue. We will accept abstracts as submissions, and if your essay is selected, you are not required to participate in the Symposium, but you will have a standing invitation to do so. We will accept essay submissions on a rolling basis. The deadlines for submission and publication are below:

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International Tax Symposium In Honor Of Tim Edgar

Symposium, Re-Imagining Tax for the 21st Century: Inspired by the Scholarship of Tim Edgar (York University, Osgoode Hall Law School) (Vol. 67, No. 3; Vol. 67, No. 4; Vol. 68, No. 1; and Vol. 68, No. 2):

• Jinyan Li (Osgoode Hall), J. Scott Wilkie (Osgoode Hall), Graeme Cooper (University of Sydney), Re-Imagining Tax for the 21st Century: Inspired by the Scholarship of Tim Edgar, 67 Canadian Tax J. 613 (2019)
• J. Scott Wilkie (Osgoode Hall), An Introduction and a Tribute, 67 Canadian Tax J. 615 (2019)
• Richard M. Bird (Toronto), The Income Tax in an Uncertain World: Pillar, Symbol, and Instrument, 67 Canadian Tax J. 623 (2019)
• Robin Boadway (Queen's), Rationalizing the Canadian Income Tax System, 67 Canadian Tax J. 643 (2019)
• Geoffrey Hale (Lethbridge), Navigating Disruption: The Politics of Business Tax Reform as Two-Level Game, 67 Canadian Tax J. 667 (2019)
• Kevin Milligan (British Columbia), The Future of the Progressive Personal Income Tax: How High Can It Go?, 67 Canadian Tax J. 693 (2019)
•  Victor Thuronyi, A Supplemental Expenditure Tax for Canada, 67 Canadian Tax J. 711 (2019)
• Micah Burch (Sydney), Extranational Taxation: Canada and UNCLOS Article 82, 67 Canadian Tax J. 729 (2019)
• Brian J. Arnold (Canadian Tax Foundation), The Relationship Between Restrictions on the Deduction of Interest Under Canadian Law and Canadian Tax Treaties, 67 Canadian Tax J. 1051 (2019)
• Michael Kobetsky (Melbourne), The Transfer-Pricing Profit-Split Method After BEPS: Back to the Future, 67 Canadian Tax J. 1077 (2019)
• Jinyan Li, Jin Bao & Huaning Li (York), Value Creation: A Constant Principle in a Changing World of International Taxation, 67 Canadian Tax J. 1107 (2019)
• Wei Cui (British Columbia), The Digital Services Tax on the Verge of Implementation, 67 Canadian Tax J. 1135 (2019)
• Allison Christians & Tarcisio Diniz Magalhaes (McGill), A New Global Tax Deal for the Digital Age, 67 Canadian Tax J. 1153 (2019)
• Arthur J. Cockfield (Queen's), Sharing Tax Information in the 21st Century: Big Data Flows and Taxpayers as Data Subjects, 67 Canadian Tax J. 1179 (2019)

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Call For Papers: UC-Irvine Symposium On Taxation In Times Of Crisis

The UC-Irvine Graduate Tax Program has issued a call for papers for its third annual UCI/Lavar Taylor Tax Symposium on Taxation in Times of Crisis on February 22, 2021:

The purposes of this full-day symposium is to launch an in-depth discussion on the effects of local, national, and global crises on tax administration, tax policymaking, and tax compliance. We are interested in submissions for proposed presentations related to taxation in times of (or in response to) social unrest, racial tensions, pandemics, natural and man-made disasters, wars, climate and geological emergencies, financial crises, and other types of large-scale social challenges.

This one-day symposium will be attended by tax industry professionals, government officials, and academic researchers. We expect about 150 attendees this year. Presenters of accepted submissions will be invited to present at the symposium. If the symposium is held on campus, the Graduate Tax Program will cover the presenters’ reasonable travel and lodging expenses.

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Call For Papers: Conference On Law And Macroeconomics

Call for Papers - Conference on Law and Macroeconomics:

The economic devastation caused by Covid-19 triggered a slew of new research on law’s role in mediating the business cycle, economic growth, and inequality.

We welcome submissions for an online conference on October 15, 2020 that will continue to explore connections between law and the macroeconomy.

Papers may address the role of law, regulation, and institutions in:

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AALS Call For Papers Due Thursday: New Voices In Taxation

Call For Papers: New Voices in Taxation Panel
AALS Section on Taxation/2021 Annual Meeting

The AALS Section on Taxation is pleased to announce the following Call for Papers. Selected papers will be presented at a works-in-progress session at the 2021 AALS Annual Meeting from January 5 through 9. While AALS has not made a decision about whether the conference will be held in person, selected presenters will have the opportunity to present remotely. This program will provide panelists the opportunity to present their work and receive feedback from senior colleagues in the field.

Eligibility: Scholars teaching at AALS member schools or non-member fee-paid schools with seven or fewer years of full-time teaching experience as of the submission deadline are eligible to submit papers. (Non-tenure track teaching fellowships count for this deadline.). For co-authored papers, all authors must satisfy the eligibility criteria. While we welcome submissions from previous panelists, we will give a preference to scholars whose work has not been selected for a previous new voices panel.

Due date: 5 p.m. PDT, Thursday, August 20, 2020.

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Webinar Today On Taxation And Social Contract In A Post-Pandemic Era

AfronomicsLaw Webinar IV: Taxation and Social Contract in a Post-pandemic Era today at 10:00 A.M. ET/7:00 A.M. PT (registration):

The responses of countries to the coronavirus pandemic have been limited by the strength of their revenue collection, especially through taxation. On the other hand, the expectations of citizens from their governments have been high, notwithstanding the strength or otherwise of the social contract between the sovereigns and the governed. In many developing countries, it is argued that the social contract has failed or is failing, calling for its review, if citizens will be obliged, whether legally or morally, to keep funding the social contract. As Alexander Ezenagu, the symposium convener argues, this conversation is applicable at the international level, as well as to domestic tax conversations.

This webinar is a follow-up to the recently concluded Taxation and the Social Contract in a Post-Pandemic Era: Domestic and International Dimensions Symposium which had 20 blog submissions.

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Miami And AALS Host Free Virtual Symposium Today On Power, Privilege, and Transformation: Lessons From The Pandemic For Online Legal Education

The University of Miami School of Law, in partnership with the AALS Journal of Legal Education, hosts a free virtual symposium today (noon - 6:00 pm ET) on Power, Privilege, and Transformation: Lessons from the Pandemic for Online Legal Education (registration):

Keynote Address:  Cass R. Sunstein (Harvard)

Panel #1: Power, Race, Gender, Class, Disability and Family Status

• Meera E. Deo (Thomas Jefferson)
• Doron Dorfman (Syracuse)
• Sheila R. Foster (Georgetown)
• Mary Anne Franks (Miami)
• Osamudia James (Miami)
• Margaret Y. K. Woo (Northeastern; Co-editor, Journal of Legal Education)

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Taxation And Gender Equality Conference: Postponed

Following up on my previous post, Conference Announcement And Call For Contributions: Taxation And Gender Equality: 

Taxation and Gender Equality Conference: Postponed:

As the Organizers and members of the Academic Advisory Committee we regret to confirm what you probably assumed:  The Taxation and Gender Equality Conference and Research Roundtable that were to be held on September 14 and 15, 2020, in Washington, DC, have been postponed due to the travel and other risks brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.  The Conference and Research Roundtable were to have explored the interaction between tax law and gender equality with the objective of shining a spotlight on gender issues in taxation and bringing consideration of gender impacts into mainstream discussions surrounding the enactment and administration of tax laws.  With the continued support of our sponsors, the Tax Policy Center, the American Tax Policy Institute, the American Bar Foundation, the Tax Section of the American Bar Association and the American College of Tax Counsel, we expect to hold the Conference in Fall 2021.  We will announce a date and venue once the public health crisis brought on by the pandemic has abated sufficiently to allow for safe travel and large in-person gatherings, and we will issue another Call for Papers at that time.

We thank all who submitted papers in response to our original Call for Papers and are endeavoring to provide virtual outlets for at least some of them. Please be on the lookout for further developments and thank you for your continuing support of this important project.

Organizers
Julie Divola (Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and American Tax Policy Institute), Elaine Maag (Tax Policy Center), and Alice Abreu (Temple Center for Tax Law and Public Policy and American Tax Policy Institute)

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ABA Tax Section Hosts Free CLE Webinar Today On Race And The Internal Revenue Code

The ABA Tax Section hosts a free CLE webinar on Race and the Internal Revenue Code today at 1:00 pm to 2:35 pm ET:

As the nation focuses on the many racial inequities that permeate society, this free webinar will explore how the federal tax code, state and local taxes and international taxation impact racial inequality.

The panel will feature a demonstration of a recently released interactive feature that traces IRS Form 1040 line by line to examine the impact of the federal tax code on racial and economic inequality. The panel will further explore the impact of colorblind tax data on social policy. Panelists will also discuss the racial inequities perpetuated through taxable treatment of employment discrimination damages and how race intersects with international tax law and policy.

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AALS Hosts Virtual Panel Today On Inclusion And Addressing Racism In The Federal Income Tax Course

The AALS Tax Section hosts a Zoom panel today on Inclusion and Addressing Racism in the Federal Income Tax Course at 1:00 pm ET:

The AALS Tax Section will convene a panel discussion on classroom inclusion and how to identify and address policies with racist implications in the Federal Income Tax Law course. It may also discuss issues relating to who takes tax courses in law school. Many colleagues have been spurred by Jeremy Bearer-Friend’s post to the TaxProf email list about inclusive course design, and this panel seeks to connect course design choices to the specific context of tax classes.

The session will have two parts. The first (about forty minutes) will provide an overview that touches on casebook selection and syllabus goals. Each panelist will speak briefly about what they have done in their classrooms, with a focus on specific examples. The second part (about thirty minutes) will feature a moderator-panelist exchange during which the moderator will pose questions that have been submitted to panelists in advance of the panel.

Speakers:

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South Carolina Law Review Call For Papers: Taxation, Finance, And Racial Justice

The South Carolina Law Review will host its 2021 Virtual Symposium on February 19, 2021, at the University of South Carolina School of Law, hosted on Blackboard Collaborate Ultra. The symposium will specifically examine the intersection of tax law and policy and racial (in)justice at the local, state, and federal levels.

Tax law and policy plays an essential role in defining the ways in which individuals relate to and support one another. Revenue needs and spending policy are inextricably entwined and reflect and reinforce a society’s understanding of what each individual owes to and is owed by the society in which she lives. How tax defines income, whom it taxes, their relative contributions, and the activities that our tax system chooses to subsidize or not create countless points of overlap between tax and racial justice. The goal of this symposium is to critically examine the intersection of tax law and policy, finance, and racial justice through both a chronicling of the past and detailing pathways to reform. Topics may include (but are not limited to): the past and current impact of federal tax law and policy on historically-marginalized groups, the role of state tax systems in exacerbating and/or perpetuating racial injustice, and how tax law may be reimagined to advance racial justice at the state and federal levels.

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Video Presentations: 23rd Annual Critical Tax Theory Conference At Florida

You can view the Zoom video presentations at the 23rd Annual Critical Tax Theory Conference hosted by the University of Florida Levin College of Law on April 10-11, 2020:

• Neil H. Buchanan (Florida), Efficiency is an Incoherent Concept
• Jonathan Choi (Minnesota), An Empirical Study of Statutory Interpretation in Tax Law, 95 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 363 (2020) (paper)
• Charlotte Crane (Northwestern), Is There a Federal Common Law of Tax? The Supreme Court’s Decision in Rodriguez v. FDIC
• David Elkins (Netanya), The Right and the Good: The Rhetoric of International Taxation
• Leandra Lederman (Indiana), The Fraud Triangle and Tax Evasion (paper)

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AALS Call For Papers: New Voices In Taxation

Call For Papers: New Voices in Taxation Panel
AALS Section on Taxation/2021 Annual Meeting

The AALS Section on Taxation is pleased to announce the following Call for Papers. Selected papers will be presented at a works-in-progress session at the 2021 AALS Annual Meeting from January 5 through 9. While AALS has not made a decision about whether the conference will be held in person, selected presenters will have the opportunity to present remotely. This program will provide panelists the opportunity to present their work and receive feedback from senior colleagues in the field.

Eligibility: Scholars teaching at AALS member schools or non-member fee-paid schools with seven or fewer years of full-time teaching experience as of the submission deadline are eligible to submit papers. (Non-tenure track teaching fellowships count for this deadline.). For co-authored papers, all authors must satisfy the eligibility criteria. While we welcome submissions from previous panelists, we will give a preference to scholars whose work has not been selected for a previous new voices panel.

Due date: 5 p.m. PDT, Thursday, August 20, 2020.

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Avi-Yonah Delivers Keynote Address On Taxation After The Pandemic Today At Copenhagen Virtual Workshop On Corporate Tax Practice And Inequality

Copenhagen Business School, Three Day Virtual Workshop on Corporate Tax Practice and Inequality:

Scholars from the variety of fields that tackle either corporate sustainability or corporate tax practices do not ‘naturally’ meet for conversations, yet there are links between the various fields that could benefit from further dedicated exploration. Meanwhile, given the intensive media coverage of corporate tax practices and wider societal interest in the topic, much interesting research is underway to explore the linkages and other aspects of corporate tax practice that is relevant for the business in society agenda.

With this background in mind, this workshop will gather together speakers (and workshop participants) who are already involved in, planning or have a keen interest in research on the linkages between corporate tax and sustainability issues. The workshop will include presentation of innovative proposals as well as space for more general conversations about potential future research streams, key concepts that could inform work at this intersection, and theoretical themes or methodological approaches that are relevant to this work. It is our hope that the engagement between researchers from a variety of disciplines and with a variety of perspectives will generate new insights and add value to ongoing research that will enter the literature in the years to come.

The public key note speech by Professor Reuven Avi-Yonah from University of Michigan will be on Taxation after the Pandemic and followed by a Q&A:

If there is one thing that is relatively clear about the Covid-19 pandemic, it is that governments will need new sources of revenue to offset its costs and build a better social safety net. All over the world, governments are borrowing and spending at a pace not seen since World War II, and at the same time revenues from both income and consumption taxes are falling because of pandemic related slowdowns in economic activity. The result is unprecedented levels of debt that even with low interest rates mean inevitable needs for more revenue down the road. Even a country that borrows in its own currency like the US or Japan cannot debt well in excess of GDP forever without risking either inflation (if it creates money to pay off the debt) or a sharp increase in borrowing costs that crowds out other government expenditures at a time when they are most needed to bolster the social safety net, which the pandemic revealed to be quite fragile in many countries including the US.

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Today's Tuesday Afternoon AALS Faculty Focus Webinar: Excellence In Online Instruction

AALS Faculty Focus:

COVID-19 has affected the normal rhythms of the legal academy in ways that may be particularly disruptive for early-career faculty.

AALS invites tenure-track, clinical, and legal writing faculty to join us on Tuesday afternoons for “Faculty Focus,” a series of weekly webinars organized around issues these individuals may be facing as well as challenges affecting higher education and the profession in general.

Each 60-minute webinar will feature expert advice from law school leaders followed by shared experiences from early career law faculty. The sessions will be structured to encourage conversation and connection, with opportunities for participants to crowdsource solutions and discuss common issues across schools and teaching areas.

Up Next: How to spend your summer
The first series of topics will be organized around how newer faculty members might best allocate their time during the summer of 2020. The moment of pause and recalibration faculty usually experience after grades have been submitted—when the spring semester has been closed but planning for the fall has not yet begun—has become cluttered and confusing due to the exponential increase in demands on time and attention. Join our speakers to explore issues concerning work-life balance and the demands of scholarship, meeting the needs of all students online, and delivering high-quality online instruction using best practices from higher education.

Week 3 (today at 4:00 pm ET/1:00 pm PT):  Excellence in Online Instruction (register here):

Speakers:

• Yvonne Dutton (Indiana-McKinney)
• Nina Kohn (Syracuse)
• John Manning (Dean, Harvard)
• Alison Mikkor (UC-Irvine)
• Eloise Pasachoff (Georgetown)
• Michael Pollack (Cardozo)

Hosts:

• Darby Dickerson (AALS President & Dean, UIC John Marshall)
• Vince Rougeau (AALS President-elect & Dean, Boston College)

Moderator:

• Jeff Allum (AALS Director of Research)

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National Town Hall Today On Race, Law, And The Gospel

The Christian Legal Society is hosting a National Town Hall on Race, Law, and the Gospel today on Zoom at 1:00 ET (registration):

Our nation is in social turmoil, the likes of which we haven't seen in half a century. While trying to ride out a global pandemic, we are also witnessing crowds all over the country reacting in anger to egregious cases of police misconduct. 

In response to killing of George Floyd, CLS issued the following statement:

We are sorrowful over the killing of George Floyd. Christian Legal Society believes in the sacred value of his life and all human life. We pray for justice, and we confess that something needs to change. We are committed to be part of that change, as much as we can, through our members and our ministries. We call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy, help, and healing for Minneapolis and the United States of America.

In light of that statement, and the command of Micah 6:8 to Act Justly, Love Mercy, and Walk Humbly with Our God, which instructs the CLS motto, Seeking Justice with the Love of God, we are holding a national townhall meeting.

We invite you to join CLS for a live national discussion on "Race, Law, and the Gospel." Four attorneys from different backgrounds will share their thoughts on critical issues involving race relations, legal injustice, and the criminal justice system, as well as their biblical perspectives on these issues.

Speakers:

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Temple Symposium: Disrupting Hierarchies In Legal Education

Temple Symposium, Disrupting Hierarchies In Legal Education:

• Paul J. Zwier (Emory), Legal Education in Search of a New Meritocracy and Values for Admissions, Grading, and Pedagogy: A Personal Reflection on the Importance of the Temple Graduate Fellow Program, 91 Temple L. Rev. Blog (Mar. 13, 2020)
• Kerri Lynn Stone (Florida International), Unsinkable? The College Admissions Scam was the Tip of the Iceberg, 91 Temple L. Rev. Blog (Mar. 20, 2020)
• John Hasnas (Georgetown), Hierarchy? What Hierarchy? Why Legal Education Is the Most Egalitarian Form of Higher Education, 91 Temple L. Rev. Blog (Mar. 26, 2020)
• Elaine D. Ingulli (Stockton), Musings on Disrupting Hierarchies in Legal Education, 91 Temple L. Rev. Blog (Apr. 2, 2020)

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Roin: Changing Places, Changing Taxes — Exploiting Tax Discontinuities

Julie Roin (Chicago), Changing Places, Changing Taxes: Exploiting Tax Discontinuities, Symposium on Legal Discontinuities (Cegla Center for Interdisciplinary Research, Tel Aviv University), 22 Theoretical Inquiries in Law ___ (2020):

President Trump’s decision to move his official state of residence from high-tax New York to no (income)–tax Florida has brought public attention to an issue that has long troubled scholars, as well as designers and administrators of income tax systems: how the interaction of tax rules deferring the taxation of income and tax rules based on residency allows taxpayers to reduce and even avoid taxation of their deferred income. These discontinuities in tax treatment may lead to excessive migration, as well as reductions in state income tax revenues.

Although trans-national moves of this sort are increasingly treated as “realization events” for tax purposes, triggering the immediate taxation of accrued but untaxed gains in the taxpayer’s country of original residence, the states of the United States have not tried to impose similar rules on residents moving to other states. This reluctance may stem in part from concerns that any attempt to do so would be struck down as a violation of the federal constitution’s Commerce Clause or its Right to Travel. But it may also stem from the fact that such a forced realization rule creates a different discontinuity; a tax rule accelerating the taxation of accrued gain penalize interstate movers (relative to those who stay put and continue to benefit from tax deferrals), disincentivizing such moves. Instead of too much interstate migration, there may be too little, interfering with both economic efficiency and what could be a valuable feedback mechanism about the performance of state governments. The same discontinuity problem arises in the international realm, of course, but there the difference in institutional structures and political sensibilities—not to mention larger revenue concerns due to higher tax rates—has led to a different policy outcome.

My paper analyses legal mechanisms or rules that might reduce both positive incentives and negative disincentives for interstate moves.

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Washington University Symposium: Current Issues In State Tax

Symposium, Current Issues in State Tax, 58 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 1-296 (2019):

• Richard Pomp (Connecticut), Wayfair: Its Implications and Missed Opportunities, 58 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 1 (2019)
• David Gamage (Indiana), Darien Shanske (UC-Davis) & Adam Thimmesch (Nebraska), Taxing E-commerce in the Post-Wayfair World, 58 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 71 (2019)
• Charles Merriweather & John Whiteman (Missouri Dep't of Revenue), Missouri's Taxation of Remote Sellers in a Post-Wayfair World, 58 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 95 (2019)
• Kirk Stark (UCLA), Regional Taxation in State Tax Reform, 58 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 117 (2019)
• Michael McLaughlin (Washington Univ.), Alcohol Taxation and Child Maltreatment, 58 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 151 (2019)
• Daniel Hemel (Chicago), The State-Charity Disparity and the 2017 Tax Law, 58 Wash. U. J.L. & Pol'y 189 (2019)

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Temple Symposium: Taxpayer Rights — All The Angles

Symposium, Taxpayer Rights: All the Angles, 91 Temp. L. Rev. 679-830 (2019):

• Alice G. Abreu (Temple), Foreword: Taxpayer Rights: All the Angles, 91 Temp. L. Rev. 679 (2019)
• T. Keith Fogg (Harvard), Can the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Assist Your Clients?, 91 Temp. L. Rev. 705 (2019)
• Richard K. Greenstein (Temple), Rights, Remedies, and Justice: The Paradox of Taxpayer Rights, 91 Temp. L. Rev. 743 (2019)
• Leslie Book (Villanova), Giving Taxpayer Rights a Seat at the Table, 91 Temp. L. Rev. 759 (2019)
• Jennifer J. Lee (Temple), Operationalizing Language Access Rights For Limited English Proficient Taxpayers, 91 Temp. L. Rev. 791 (2019)

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Ohio State Symposium: Artificial Intelligence And The Future Of Tax Law And Policy

Symposium, Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Tax Law and Policy, 16 Ohio St. Tech. L.J. 67-302 (2020) (program):

Introduction

• Stephanie Hoffer (Ohio State), What If Tax Law's Future Is Now?, 16 Ohio St. Tech L.J. 67 (2020)

Writing Laws That Robots Can Read

• Joshua Blank (UC-Irvine) & Leigh Osofsky (North Carolina), Legal Calculators and the Tax System, 16 Ohio St. Tech L.J. 73 (2020)
• Allison Christians (McGill), Taxation in the Age of Smart Contracts: the CryptoKitty Conundrum, 16 Ohio St. Tech L.J. 91 (2020)
• Sarah Lawsky (Northwestern), Form as Formalization, 16 Ohio St. Tech L.J. 114 (2020)

Taxing Robots

• Stephanie Hoffer (Ohio State), Tax Theory & Feral AI, 16 Ohio St. Tech L.J. 157 (2020)
• Robert Kovacev (Norton Rose Fulbright, Washington, D.C.), A Taxing Dilemma: Robot Taxes and the Challenges of Effective Taxation of AI, Automation, and Robotics in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, 16 Ohio St. Tech L.J. 182 (2020)

AI, the Labor Market, and Tax

• Daniel Hemel (Chicago), Does the Tax Code Favor Robots?, 16 Ohio St. Tech L.J. 221 (2020)
• Anton Korinek (Virginia), Taxation and the Vanishing Labor Market in the Age of AI, 16 Ohio St. Tech L.J. 244 (2020)

AI in Tax Compliance and Enforcement

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Call For 15 Pre-Recorded Presentations For CALIcon2020: Pandemic + Legal Education + Tech

CALIcon2020 is putting out a brand new, clean slate Call For Speakers. We want you to do a 15 minute pre-recorded session on some topic related to Pandemic + Legal Education + Tech. This can be a screencast, interpretive dance, podcast, Zoom panel discussion – whatever you want, but you have to record it and upload it to us by Midnight on Friday, May 15, 2020.

We will choose 18 of these and assemble them into clusters of three presentations.

Conference Description:
We are in the midst of the largest distance learning experiment in legal education history. Everyone – faculty, students, Teknoids, law librarians, edtech folks — everyone — has experienced it differently and had to make adjustments or witnessed a rapid change. We want you to talk about that. How’d it go? Does this mean real, permanent change for legal education? What did you learn? If you could go back in time to December 2019, what advice would you give yourself? You get the idea.

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Symposium: Green Tax Solutions

The Pittsburgh Tax Review has published Symposium, Green Tax Solutions, 17 Pitt. Tax Rev. 1-200 (2019):

• Roberta Mann (Oregon), Tax Policies for Clean Manufacturing: Implementing the Green
  New Deal, 17 Pitt. Tax Rev. 1 (2019)
• Tracey M. Roberts (Cumberland), Greenbacks for the Green New Deal, 17 Pitt. Tax Rev. 53 (2019)
• Janet E. Milne (Vermont), How Durable Is a Lockbox for Carbon Tax Revenue?, 17 Pitt. Tax Rev. 105 (2019)

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Tax Papers At 6th Annual Michigan Junior Scholars Conference

6th Annual Michigan Junior Scholars Conference:

Rory Gillis (Toronto), Dividing the Public Fisc: Rethinking the Division of Tax Room in Fiscal Federalism

Michelle Layser (Illinois), How Place-Based Tax Incentives Can Reduce Geographic Inequality, 74 Tax L. Rev. ___ (2020):

Place-based tax incentives are frequently used by governments to encourage investment in low-income areas. But no standard exists to describe the ideal place-based tax incentive, making evaluation of these programs nearly impossible. This Article provides the necessary baseline by explaining when, where, and how to design place-based tax incentives that can benefit low-income communities by reducing geographic inequality. Using Geospatial Information System (GIS) mapping methods, this Article demonstrates how lawmakers can use public data to map spatial disadvantage. It then draws on tax theory to show how to design place-based tax incentives to reduce geographic inequality in targeted areas. The result is not a one-size-fits-all prescription, but a place-specific approach that can help place-based tax incentives become an effective vehicle for reducing underlying, geographic causes of neighborhood disadvantage. Comparing current place-based tax incentives to this baseline reveals that a significant weakness of current approaches is their failure to target places with geographic inequality or promote activities that could reduce it.

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23rd Annual Critical Tax Theory Conference At Florida

Florida hosts the 23rd annual (and first virtual)  Critical Tax Theory Conference today and tomorrow:

The Critical Tax Theory Conference has a long history of fostering the work of both established and emerging scholars whose research challenges and enriches the tax law and policy literature. Critical tax scholars question assumptions of objectivity in tax, as their work explores how tax law and policy impact historically marginalized groups. At a time when tax policy is once again at the forefront of politics and public discourse, the work of these and other critical tax scholars supports a more robust discussion of the role for tax law in current and future social and economic policy.

Friday

• Yariv Brauner (Florida), Tax Treaty Negotiation
• Kim Brooks (Dalhousie), A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Comparative Tax Scholarship
• David Elkins (Netanya), The Right and the Good: The Rhetoric of International Taxation
• Jonathan Choi (NYU), An Empirical Study of Statutory Interpretation in Tax Law, 95 N.Y.U. L. Rev. ___ (2020)
• Tessa Davis (South Carolina), Taxing the Cyborg
• Victoria Haneman (Creighton), Green Burial, Funeral Poverty, and Tax Incentives
• Darryll Jones (Florida A&M), Subsidizing Hate? Does the Constitution Require Tax Exempt Status for the Alt-Right?
• Henry Ordower (St. Louis), Capital, an Elusive Tax Object and Impediment to Sustainable Taxation
• Orli Oren-Kolbinger (Villanova), The Error Cost of Marriage
• Leandra Lederman (Indiana), The Fraud Triangle and Tax Evasion
• Fernando Loayza (LL.M. 2020, Yale), A Peruvian Tax Lawyer in a US Corporate Tax Class: What Can Be Explained and What Cannot Be Explained
• Kerry Ryan (St. Louis), Employment Taxation of Prison Labor
• Morenike Saula (George Washington), Why Nigeria Needs a FATCA
• Dan Shaviro (NYU), What Are Minimum Taxes, and Why Might One Favor or Disfavor Them?
• Phyllis Taite (Florida A&M), Making Tax Policy Great Again: America, You’ve Been Trumped
• Cristina Trenta (Örebro), Tax Measures in Support of the Circular Economy and Sustainable Development: The Experience of the Nordic Countries

Saturday

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Pepperdine Symposium: The Impact Of The 2017 Tax Act On Income And Wealth Inequality — Lessons For 2020 And Beyond

Due to the coronavirus, we had to cancel today's Pepperdine Law Review Symposium, The Impact of the 2017 Tax Act on Income and Wealth Inequality: Lessons For 2020 And Beyond. We are incredibly disappointed that we did not get to spend the day with these wonderful tax scholars and show off our beautiful law school, campus, and city. I feel especially bad for 3L Nicole Mitchell, the law review's symposium editor who conceived of the topic (after our Tax Policy class last Spring), selected and invited the speakers, and made all of the travel, hotel, and restaurant arrangements. However, we are delighted that many of the participants will be publishing their papers in the symposium issue of our law review.

Inequality Debate At Pepperdine: Arthur Laffer v. Emmanuel Saez

The Triumph of Injustice: Will a Wealth Tax Increase Prosperity and Opportunity in America?:

Join Pepperdine School of Public Policy and The Steamboat Institute for an evening debate over whether a wealth tax would enhance or diminish prosperity and opportunity in America, featuring Arthur B. Laffer, inventor of the Laffer Curve and member of President Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board, and Emmanuel Saez, professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, and advisor to US senator and presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren. This debate will be moderated by Amber Athey, White House Correspondent for The Daily Caller and Tony Blankley Fellow with the Steamboat Institute.

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Fordham Symposium: The Future Of The New International Tax Regime

Symposium, The Future of the New International Tax Regime, 24 Fordham J. Corp. & Fin. L. 219-319 (2019):

• Rosanne Altshuler (Rutgers)
• Jeffrey Colon (Fordham)
• Fadi Shaheen (Rutgers)
• Steven Dean (NYU)
• Michael Graetz (Columbia)
• Rebecca Kysar (Fordham)
• Susan Morse (Texas)
• Daniel Shaviro (NYU)

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St. Louis Symposium On Law School Teaching Methods

Symposium on Law School Teaching Methods, 63 St. Louis U. L.J. 373-504 (2019):

• Nancy E. Miller (John Marshall-Atlanta), The Science of Successful Teaching: Incorporating Mind, Brain, and Education Research into the Legal Writing Course, 63 St. Louis U. L.J. 373 (2019)
• Pamela A. Wilkins (Detroit-Mercy), Law School in a Different Voice: Legal Education as a Work of Mercy, 63 St. Louis U. L.J. 401 (2019)

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Highlights Of ABA TechShow2020

Legal Education

• ABA Journal, Law School Tech Classes May Not Bring Job Opportunities, But They Do Help Teach Practice Skills
• ABA Journal, Want Law Profs to Embrace Technology? Show Them How It Improves Their Teaching
• ABA Journal, What Legal Tech Jobs Are Available For New Lawyers?

Legal Profession

• ABA Journal, Blind Recruiting, Ranking Job Candidates Could Help Address Extreme Lack of Diversity in Legal Profession

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UC-Irvine Hosts Symposium On Machine Intelligence And The Changing Nature Of Tax Law Practice

UC-Irvine hosts a two-day symposium on Machine Intelligence and the Changing Nature of Tax Law Practice. Tax Prof speakers include:

• Ted Afield (Georgia State)
• Benjamin Alarie (Toronto)
• Joshua Blank (UC-Irvine)
• Victor Fleischer (UC-Irvine)
• Stephanie Hoffer (Ohio State)
• Christine Kim (Utah)
• Sarah Lawsky (Northwestern)
• Omri Marian (UC-Irvine)
• Manoj Viswanathan (UC-Hastings)

Columbia Hosts Program Today On The Global Consequences Of The U.S. Tax Cuts And Jobs Act

Columbia Business Schools hosts a program today on The Global Consequences of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017:

With the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, the US government had great goals of improving US competitiveness by lowering the corporate tax rate, enabling the movement of money back to the United States, and driving job growth in the country. More than two years after enactment, there are a number of important questions to consider. Has corporate behavior changed as a result of the legislation? More broadly, how are businesses in the United States and abroad reacting to the changes? What is happening to tax policies around the world? And how might this change in the future, given the resulting deficits, rising US debt levels, and the impending US election?

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UC-Hastings Hosts Symposium Today On Revolution or Evolution: Administrative Law In The Age of Trump

Hastings Law Journal Symposium: Revolution or Evolution: Administrative Law in the Age of Trump:

This year, we will consider how the Trump administration has pushed the boundaries of regulatory policy and upended longstanding policy assumptions in a variety of different domains. Specifically, the symposium will consider the Trump administration’s use of administrative procedures to advance policy goals, the judicial response to Trump administration policies, and whether any administrative law doctrines and theories should be reconsidered. At the symposium, we plan on having panels dedicated to discussing how the Trump administration’s use of administrative law has impacted environmental law, immigration law, and tax policy.

Tax Law Panel:

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ATPI & TPC Host Conference On Taxes And The Future Of Philanthropy

The American Tax Policy Institute and the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center hosted a conference yesterday on Taxes and the Future of Philanthropy:

The philanthropic sector currently faces a difficult challenge: Recent changes to the tax law leave only about 10 percent of households, mainly with higher incomes, with incentive to donate to charity. This increasingly dominant influence of wealthy donors has drawn criticism, and leaders of the philanthropic sector have expressed concern about diminishing public trust in the sector’s efforts. In addition, a lack of resources limits regulators’ abilities to police this influence, thus bad actors threaten the sector’s reputation.

All this occurs against a backdrop of vexing societal challenges—climate change, rising inequality, loss of faith in government—that call for the philanthropic sector’s involvement. To address these issues, the sector is creating new philanthropic vehicles and approaches and considering legal and structural changes.

On Tuesday, February 18, a conference jointly organized by the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center and the American Tax Policy Institute, featuring panels of experts and a keynote address by Chronicle of Philanthropy editor Stacy Palmer, deepen the discussion by addressing the following:

• Has charitable giving become the province of the rich, and, if so, what are the consequences?
• What policies would more efficiently and fairly encourage charitable giving?
• Can the Internal Revenue Service regulate the philanthropic sector, and should reform account for the Internal Revenue Service’s capacity?
• How has the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 affected charities?
• How will generational change affect philanthropy?

Welcome and Introduction

• Ellen Aprill (Loyola-L.A.; American Tax Policy Institute)
• Mark Mazur (Tax Policy Center)

Panel #1:  Oversight of Nonprofits

• Karin Kunstler Goldman (Charities Bureau, Office of the New York Attorney General), State Regulation and Enforcement in the Charitable Sector 
• Nina Olson (Center for Taxpayer Rights), TAS Studies of IRS 1023-EZ Determinations
• Marcus Owens (Loeb & Loeb), Charity Oversight: An Alternative Approach 
• Art Taylor (BBB Wise Giving Alliance), Hacking Nonprofit Collaboration 
• Elizabeth Young (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants), UBIT—Times, They Are a’changing…. 

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Call For Symposium Proposals: Columbia And California Law Reviews

Columbia Law Review Call for Symposium & Timeline:
We are currently accepting symposium proposals for an event in November 2020. Please send all proposals to symposium@columbialawreview.org. We will be making a determination in April 2020 regarding which, if any, proposals will be accepted for an event next fall. If your proposal is selected, there will be an accompanying issue of the Columbia Law Review dedicated to publication of the work generated by the symposium.

Proposal Requirements:
Proposals should include a detailed 2-3 page explanation of:

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ABA Tax Section Mid-Year Meeting

The ABA Tax Section Midyear Meeting concludes today in Boca Raton, Florida. The full program is here. The highlight of the program is:

Teaching Taxation: Opportunity Zones – Two Years In
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted in December 2017 included a new provision intended to direct investment into low-income communities through a combination of tax benefits for investors (deferral, partial reductions in gains, and exclusions of future appreciation). Though the enactment of such targeted tax incentives is not entirely new, the design of this provision has raised significant questions for investing taxpayers seeking to secure the tax benefits and for public policy advocates assessing whether the Opportunity Zone provisions achieve their stated goals. To explore all of these issues, this panel will discuss the design of the new incentive, who is making the investments, where, in what projects, how much is being invested, who is securing the benefits, and what will be the likely community impact. The panel also considers the current data reporting requirements and what/whether data should be made public to facilitate assessment of the program’s success in promoting economic growth in low-income areas.

• Edward De Barbieri (Albany)
• Michelle Layser (Illinois)
• Ellen Aprill (Loyola-L.A.) (moderator)

Other Tax Profs with speaking roles include:

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