Mylinh Uy has published Tax and Race: The Impact on Asian Americans, 11 Asian L.J. 117 (2004). Here is the Introduction:

Articles about tax law often begin by invoking Benjamin Franklin’s famous phrase: “In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” As the Internal Revenue Code increases in complexity, the certainty of taxes seems more and more illusory. For many taxpayers, taxes are more unpredictable than certain. Continued changes add to the Code’s complexity and to taxpayers’ confusion. For many taxpayers who are low-income or limited in English proficiency, these factors contributing to their lack of understanding of the law and its requirements are exacerbated….

Why is the law so often disconnected from the understanding and expectations of the taxpayers? Is it related to the fact that the people making these laws do not reflect the demographic makeup of the public who ultimately pays the taxes? Does one’s cultural understanding of the tax laws make any difference? How does one’s race affect how one is taxed? This Comment seeks to explain by way of critical tax theory the Code’s disparate impact on Asian Americans, and why this disparate impact is not recognized or addressed by traditional critical tax law theorists.

As background, Part I discusses why tax is relevant in the context of race and civil rights. Next, Part II examines recent scholarship in critical tax theory, most of which focuses on the Code’s effects on blacks. Part III brings Asian Americans into the picture and examines the Code’s disparate impact on Asian Americans. This section will highlight how empirical data may be deceptive in masking the Code’s disparate impact. Finally, Part IV looks to possible solutions for the situation at hand, recognizing that some solutions will reach beyond the Internal Revenue Code.