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Full-Text Articles in Law
Book Review. Reviving Fiscal Citizenship, Ajay K. Mehrotra
Book Review. Reviving Fiscal Citizenship, Ajay K. Mehrotra
Articles by Maurer Faculty
In recent years, numerous lawmakers, policy analysts, and scholars have been decrying the many defects of the present U.S. income tax system. Few have attempted to defend our return-based mass income tax. This essay reviews Learning to Love Form 1040, Lawrence Zelenak’s stirring and persuasive defense of a simplified version of our present federal income tax system. In contrast to the conventional economic critiques, Zelenak explores the underappreciated social, cultural, and political benefits of a return-based, mass income tax. Chief among these, he argues, is the existing regime’s potential to raise the tax consciousness of the average citizen and to …
The Case For Taxing (All Of) Labor Income, Consumption, Capital Income, And Wealth, David Gamage
The Case For Taxing (All Of) Labor Income, Consumption, Capital Income, And Wealth, David Gamage
Articles by Maurer Faculty
Perhaps the most fundamental questions in tax legal scholarship concern debates about what should be the ideal tax base or tax bases. In particular, scholars have vigorously disagreed about (1) whether the United States should follow other developed countries in supplementing its income tax with a value-added consumption tax, and (2) whether governments should seek to tax capital income and wealth or should instead seek to redesign or replace income taxes with progressive consumption taxes.
The prior economics-oriented theoretical literature on these questions has largely focused on analyzing labor supply and savings behaviors. Yet the existing empirical literature does not …