Joel Slemrod (University of Michigan, Ross School of Business) presents Taxation and Big Brother: Information, Personalization, and Privacy in 21st Century Tax Policy at the University of Toronto today at 12:10 pm – 2:00 p.m. as part of the James Hausman Tax Law and Policy Workshop Series.  Here is the abstract:

The transmission and processing of information is at the core of taxation, and one of the great ongoing technological resolutions has been in information technology. Looking forward ten, twenty, or thirty years, what are the implications of technological advancements for tax policy? How will, and how should, tax policy be different twenty years from now than it is today?

This paper argues that, although the new technology greatly facilitates the use of taxpayer information to create a personalized tax system, there are forces pushing the tax system in the opposite direction, toward a radically depersonalized tax system, partly out of concern over the infringement on privacy of the information.

The workshop will be held in the Solarium (Room FA2), Falconer Hall, 84 Queen’s Park.