Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor Buckley

LL.M Course 2001 (cross-listed) | 3 credit hours

Under our Constitution, the power of the purse--the raising and spending of public funds--is vested in the Congress. Our major trading partners commonly have parliamentary systems in which the ruling party by definition dominates both parliament and the executive branch. Tax legislation in those countries is developed by the executive branch and often enacted “as is” by parliament. As we all know, the process is entirely different here. This course will examine the process by which Congress exercises its tax-writing powers. The course has a simple thesis: Our unique tax legislative process affects the substance and structure of our tax laws, and one cannot completely understand our tax system without appreciating the procedures and pressures at play in the tax-writing process. The course will be divided into three parts. The first part will set the stage: a broad discussion of the components of our system and an introduction to the participants in the process. The second part will go through the process starting with hearings, Committee and Floor consideration, and procedures for resolving differences between the two Houses. This part will include discussion of budget rules, revenue estimating, and distributional analysis. The course will conclude with a discussion of tax expenditures by way of demonstrating how the process genuinely does affect the substance. This a 3-credit course with an open-book, in-class final exam. Students will also be responsible for short oral presentations or writing assignments that will be taken into account in determining their final grade. Prerequisite: Tax I

Prerequisite: Taxation I