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Framing Middle-Class Insecurity: Tax And The Ideology Of Unequal Economic Growth, Martha T. Mccluskey

Martha T. McCluskey

Prevailing tax discourse rationalizes growing economic inequality. Using the example of state and local economic development “subsidy wars,” this article explores how conventional tax ideas present unequal sacrifice and risk as a public responsibility, driven by economic fact rather than unjust politics. Over the last several decades, one contributing cause of inequality has been the escalating tax and spending incentives offered by local governments to attract private business investment. This competition operates to favor wealthy corporations over small businesses, without producing broad or lasting economic gains to communities, and it erodes resources for public education, infrastructure, social services, health care, …

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Brief Of Amici Curiae Tax Law Professors And Economists In Support Of Petitioner In South Dakota V. Wayfair, Richard Pomp, Daniel Jacob Hemel, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Joseph Bankman, Jordan Barry, Lily L. Batchelder, John R. Brooks, Samuel D. Brunson, J. Clifton Fleming Jr, David Gamage, Ari Glogower, Jacob Goldin, Andrew J. Haile, David J. Herzig, Hayes R. Holderness, Calvin H. Johnson, Richard L. Kaplan, Michael S. Knoll, Zachary Liscow, Yair Listokin, Ruth Mason, Goldburn Maynard, Orly Mazur, Susan C. Morse, James R. Repetti, Julie A. Roin, Daniel Schaffa, Erin Adele Scharff, Daniel N. Shaviro, Jay A. Soled, Sloan Speck, Kirk J. Stark, John A. Swain, Adam Thimmesch, Manoj Viswanathan, Edward A. Zelinsky, Eric M. Zolt

J. Clifton Fleming, Jr.

While the Supreme Court is rightly reluctant to overrule its own precedents under any circumstances, the force of stare decisis is less powerful in some contexts than in others. Specifically, stare decisis exerts a weaker pull when judicial doctrine in the relevant area is based not on statutory interpretation but on changing competitive circumstances and evolving economic understandings. Antitrust law is a paradigmatic example of an area in which these conditions are met, but the argument for a flexible application of precedent is similarly strong with respect to dormant Commerce Clause tax cases such as this one.

In Quill Corp. …

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First Amendment Decisions From The October 2006 Term, Erwin Chemerinsky, Marci A. Hamilton

Erwin Chemerinsky

No abstract provided.

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Framing Middle-Class Insecurity: Tax And The Ideology Of Unequal Economic Growth, Martha T. Mccluskey

Martha T. McCluskey

J. Clifton Fleming, Jr.

First Amendment Decisions From The October 2006 Term, Erwin Chemerinsky, Marci A. Hamilton

Erwin Chemerinsky