The Tax Maven

Professor Wei Cui LLM ’05 weaves very different perspectives on tax policy into ideas and insights you can’t find anywhere else. You won’t see the world the same way after you hear him talk about Chinese tax policymakers’ surprising ideas about the IRS and Europe’s bid to launch a new Digital Services Tax. Find out whether information reporting makes tax systems powerful or strong institutions just happen to support both. And learn about the connection between location specific rents and the new wave of DSTs. Cui’s unique voice has made him one of the most sought-after tax scholars on the planet and in this episode, he is our Tax Maven.

Cui also answers a pencil question from an article by Anne Alstott about the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Some of us dread tax day, but many Americans celebrate it.

Perhaps surprisingly, the working poor often welcome that time of year. As Professor Sara Greene explains, a tax provision by the name of the Earned Income Tax Credit helps explain why. Hear Greene explain how the tax law can create “Christmas in February” with a critical lifeline for the working poor. Greene’s research focuses on understanding the relationship between inequality and the law and she shows why tax plays a key role not only in shielding the vulnerable but inviting them to participate in a central feature of American life.

Greene also answers a pencil question from an article by Leigh Osofsky.

We all know that opportunity tends to be distributed unequally. In this episode, you will see why filing your tax return can help fix that. Some countries, some cities and towns and some people seem to get all the breaks. But the lines between those that do well and those that struggle don’t always fall where we expect them to. Professor John Friedman uses administrative data—information collected for an entirely different purpose—to better understand which communities, schools, and even tax policies succeed in providing opportunity.

Friedman also answers a question inspired by Ha-Joon Chang's, "23 Things They Don't Tell You about Capitalism".

The vast COVID-19 relief bill makes ordinary Americans eligible for payments designed to help them meet their basic needs. Unfortunately, some people who meet the requirements will never receive them. As Professor Tatiana Homonoff explains in this episode, the needier an individual is, the harder it may be for her to grab hold of a lifeline. Although this episode was recorded before the pandemic, the lessons it offers about getting help to those who need it are more relevant than ever. Homonoff’s research shows how even seemingly trivial details (such as whether an interview is scheduled at the start, middle or end of a month, and even if it is easy to change the interview date) can make all the difference. Homonoff offers advice that policymakers who are trying to help the most vulnerable would be wise to heed.

Homonoff’s research does not merely lament the disconnect between government support and beneficiaries, she systematically shows what goes wrong and how to fix the process. One key problem Professor Homonoff finds is that people are simply not always rational. She applies the concept of “loss aversion” to show why people get so excited about tax refunds and why a 5 cent plastic bag tax makes people behave differently than a discount.

Homonoff also displays her impressive knowledge of 1980s cinema by grappling with a Pencil Question from an article by Brian Galle, “The Tragedy of the Carrots.”

Steve Bank has both a superpower and a secret identity. He studies history to reveal truths that turn the conventional wisdom on its head. US experts have long said that tax planning became mainstream long before World War II and that tax shelters lost their stigma well after it. In this episode, Bank uses his historical x-ray vision to reveal the truth.

For everyone who has ever looked at a paycheck and wondered why it looks so much smaller than they expected, Bank also tells the surprising story of why employers withhold income taxes on wages but banks don’t do the same on payments of investment income. He also explains how the Supreme Court, the Rockefellers, and the State of Delaware all found themselves in the headlines because of the taxation (or, more accurately, the non-taxation) of corporate reorganizations. His Pencil Question comes from an article by Miranda Stewart in the Harvard International Law Journal.

A typical consumer spends exactly zero hours a day thinking about corporate tax compliance. Jeff Hoopes, a Tax Maven who devotes approximately 100% of his time to thinking about tax as the research director of the UNC Tax Center, explains why that disconnect matters. In this Episode, he explains the power and the limits of sophisticated enforcement tools such FIN 48 and the Schedule UTP and the humble credit card. He explores whether firms that donated to a particular political party respond differently to tax breaks such as those delivered by the 2017 tax law changes. Hoopes also shows why data from corporate tax returns challenge the conventional wisdom that private companies engage in more aggressive tax planning. His Pencil Question comes from an article by Edward J. Mccaffery in the Wisconsin Law Review.

Melbourne’s Miranda Stewart has a passion for tax law that led her halfway around the world to NYU Law’s tax LLM in the late 1990s, helping launch her prolific career as a scholar. Now, Professor Stewart teaches, writes and advises governments about improving the relationship between people and their governments and the role that tax policy can play in promoting transparency. In this episode, Stewart describes the way the tax law intersects with gender, human rights, good governance and the rule of law. She also explains why she has an Italian fresco on her home page and what it says about the role tax plays in society. She answers a pencil question based on an article by UCLA’s Eric Zolt.

What if there were one mechanism that could support workers and communities harmed as a result of technological change; mediate the forces of the global economy; and adequately fund urgent public priorities such as education, health, and climate? In this episode, economist Kimberly Clausing stops by to talk with Steven Dean about how tax can address big challenges such as increasing inequality and growing threats to the middle class. Clausing reveals her prescription for more equitably sharing the fruits of economic progress as explored in her recent book, Open: The Progressive Case for Free Trade, Immigration, and Global Capital. Her pencil question comes from an article by Ajay Mehrotra and Julia Ott.