Starving the Hidden Beast: New Approaches to Tax Expenditure Reform January 14, 2011

Top tax-policy experts will explore a variety of innovative approaches to tax-expenditure reform during the conference, “Starving the Hidden Beast: New Approaches to Tax Expenditure Reform,” to be held Friday, Jan. 14 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Loyola Law School’s downtown L.A. campus. The event is co-presented with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center.

Tax scholars and economists will anchor a series of panels on a variety of topics: “The Salience of Tax Expenditures and Implications for Reform,” “Reforming the Tax Expenditure Budget Presentation,” “Evaluating Tax Expenditures” and “Approaches to Tax Expenditure Reform.” The panels will draw on a wide range of expertise from top law schools and policy think tanks such as the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, the Federal Budget Reform Initiative of the Pew Economic Policy Group and the Congressional Research Service.

“As Congress scrambles to achieve budget reform, we’ve assembled some of the best policy analysts in the country to look at how tax expenditure reform could help improve the country’s bottom line,” said Professor Ted Seto.

More information is available at http://events.lls.edu/taxpolicy.

AGENDA:
8 am: Welcome from Dean Victor Gold

8:15-9:45 a.m.: The Salience of Tax Expenditures and Implications for Reform

MODERATOR: Ellen Aprill, John E. Anderson Chair in Tax Law, Loyola Law School
PANELISTS:
Deborah Schenk, New York University School of Law: “The Salience of Tax Expenditures and Implications for Reform”
David Gamage, University of California, Berkeley School of Law
COMMENTATOR: Damon Jones, Harris School of Public Policy, University of Chicago

10-11:30 a.m.: Reforming the Tax Expenditure Budget Presentation

MODERATOR: Sarah Lawsky, University of California, Irvine School of Law
PANELISTS:
Linda Sugin, Fordham Law School: “Tax Expenditures, Reform, and Distributive Justice”
Eric Toder and Donald Marron, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center
COMMENTATOR: Daniel Shaviro, New York University School of Law

11:30 a.m.: Lunch

12:45-2:15 p.m.: Evaluating Tax Expenditures

MODERATOR: Rosanne Altshuler, Rutgers University
PANELISTS:
Theodore Seto, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles: “Reframing the Tax Expenditure Budget”
Thomas Hungerford, Congressional Research Service: “Tax Expenditures”
COMMENTATOR: Edward Kleinbard, USC Gould School of Law

2:30-4 p.m.: Approaches to Tax Expenditure Reform

MODERATOR: Katherine Pratt, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles
PANELISTS:
Marvin Phaup, Federal Budget Reform Initiative, Pew Economic Policy Group: “Integrating Tax Expenditures with the Budget Process”
Diane Lim Rogers, Chief Economist, Concord Coalition: “Tax Formed in the Proposal of the Deficit-Reduction Commissions”
COMMENTATOR: Elizabeth Garret, USC Gould School of Law
4:00 p.m.: Reception


About Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

Located in downtown Los Angeles—a legal, financial and media capital—Loyola Law School is home to prominent faculty, dedicated students and cutting-edge programs. Committed to legal ethics and the public interest, it has produced top attorneys for 90 years. Loyola’s California Bar Exam passage rate was 85.3 percent for the most recent major testing date. The Princeton Review ranked Loyola third for “Best Classroom Experience.” Loyola was ranked 29th on the 2010 Super Lawyers U.S. Law School Rankings. National Jurist magazine ranks it second on its list of “Best Law Schools for Public Interest Law.” It is ranked ninth in the nation for minority enrollment by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, please see www.lls.edu.

Official Website: http://events.lls.edu/taxpolicy/