The Second Annual Junior Tax Scholars Conference concludes today at BU with these panels:

Panel #4:  Taxation and Democracy

• Neil Buchanan (George Washington), What Do We Owe Future Generations?
  • Discussants: Lloyd Mayer (Notre Dame), Lily Batchelder (NYU)
• Lloyd Mayer (Notre Dame), What Is This "Lobbying" that We Are So Worried About?
  • Discussants:  Ajay Mehotra (Indiana), Miranda Perry Fleischer (Illinois)
• Ajay Mehotra (Indiana), To Lay and Collect: American Governors and Tax Policy, 1908-2008
  • Discussants: David Gamage (Boalt Hall), Allison Christians (Wisconsin)

Lunch Discussion Topic: To What Extent Should Our Research Make Political Concessions? What elements of the tax system do you accept as a given when talking about tax reform? Should you account for administrability concerns? Should you take a realization-based system as a given? The capital gains preference? Tax-exempt entities? Revenue-neutrality? As scholars, how should we strike the right balance between rigorous theoretical analysis and relevance to the politically-charged debates of the day?

Panel #5:  Tax Administration

• Kristin Hickman (Minesota), A Problem of Remedy
  • Discussants: David Walker (BU), Adam Chodorow (Arizona State)
• Michael Doran (Virginia), Tax Penalties and Tax Compliance
  • Discussants: Dennis Ventry (American), Ruth Mason (Connecticut)
• Alex Raskolnikov (Columbia), Tax Identity
  • Discussants: Michael Doran (Virginia), Ajay Mehotra (Indiana)
• David Walker, Regulatory Penalties
  • Discussants: Alex Raskolnikov (Columbia), Neil Buchanan (George Washington)
• Dennis Ventry (American), From Competition to Cooperation
  • Discussants: Kristin Hickman (Minnesota), Steven Dean (Brooklyn)