Conference to look at tax reform April 27-28

Conference to look at tax reform April 27-28

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News staff

With the ongoing tax reform debate focusing on issues ranging from the fairness of the current tax system to its effectiveness in promoting economic growth, many questions have been posed about whether it is time for fundamental reform of the federal tax system.

John Diamond	George Zodrow

During a two-day conference at Rice’s James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy April 27-28, tax experts from Rice and many of the nation’s top universities, law schools, government institutions, research institutes and accounting firms will address the question “Is it time for fundamental tax reform?”

The conference was organized by John Diamond, the Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Fellow in Tax Policy at the Baker Institute, and George Zodrow, professor of economics and a Baker Institute Rice Scholar, who direct the institute’s Tax and Expenditure Policy Program.

“This conference will focus on what is known, unknown and unknowable regarding individual and business behavioral responses to reform, feasible corporate tax reforms in an increasingly globalized economy, the desirability of consumption tax reforms and potential paths for reform in the 21st century,” Diamond said.

“The timing of the conference is ideal,” added Zodrow, “as it follows the recent release of the report of the president’s advisory panel on federal tax reform and anticipates the debate on changes to the tax system that will likely take place during the upcoming presidential election campaign.”

The morning of the first day of the conference will feature analyses of past tax changes, with sessions on whether tax reform is good for business, and the nature of individual and business behavioral responses to tax changes. The afternoon will focus on corporate tax reform, with sessions on the effects of replacing the corporate and individual tax systems with a national retail sales tax, reinventing capital income taxation in an increasingly integrated world, and the economic incidence of corporate tax reform.

The morning of the second day will examine consumption tax reforms, with sessions on the potential for simplification and a paper by Diamond and Zodrow on the effects on business equity and housing prices under such reforms. The afternoon will offer sessions on the implications of behavioral economics for fundamental tax reform and an overview of prospects for tax reform in the 21st century.

Laurence Kotlikoff, professor of economics at Boston University, and Robert Carroll, deputy assistant secretary of the Office of Tax Analysis, U.S. Department of the Treasury, will present luncheon addresses during the two-day conference.

In addition to Diamond and Zodrow, Rice economists who will be participating in the conference include Malcolm Gillis, Peter Mieszkowski and Robin Sickles.

For a complete agenda of speakers and times, visit the Baker Institute Web site, <http://bakerinstitute.org>.

The conference was made possible by a generous grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.