Season 2 Episode 15

Global Interconnectedness Through Business

• Host
  • Dr. Kasie Whitener, Clinical Assistant Professor, Management
• Guest
  • Dr. Jason DeBacker, Associate Professor of Economics, Darla Moore School of Business

It’s like the tax Super Bowl in April 2025 as income tax is waffling between expirations and renewals, South Carolina is looking at moving toward a flat tax, and the President is hiking tariffs across a spectrum of international markets. Moore School economist Jason DeBacker came back into the studio to talk about why it’s a great time to be a tax researcher.

Jason M. DeBacker is an associate professor in the Department of Economics at the Darla Moore School of Business. His research interests lie in the areas of public finance and macroeconomics. He has published papers on these topics in the Journal of Financial Economics, the Journal of Law and Economics, the Journal of Public Economics, the Brookings Papers on Economic Activity and other outlets. From 2009 to 2012, he worked as a financial economist in the Office of Tax Analysis at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Topics in this discussion include:

• Why it’s a great time to be a tax researcher
• The complexity of the US tax code
• The real burden of tax season in the United States
• What the tax code is really for: raising revenue, spending, incentivizing
• How the tax code directs behavior through incentives
• Business tax rates as a competitive advantage for SC
• Tariffs as taxes on foreign imports.

To learn more about Jason DeBacker click here

Learn more about the Darla Moore School here

Moore Impact is a product of the Darla Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina. For episodes, notes, and links visit sc.edu/moore