Jasper L. Cummings, Jr. (Alston & Bird, Raleigh, NC) has published Academic Articles on Tax, 130 Tax Notes 1189 (Mar. 7, 2011):

The number of academic articles on tax has been declining sharply for the last 40 years, and those that do appear tend to be more theoretical than useful. However, gems remain, and the author welcomes Tax Notes‘ initiative to bring them to the attention of readers. …

If academic tax articles are useful and findable, then the long, slow trend that has led practitioners away from them may be reversed. But it will take a lot of effort on both sides. Having served in the IRS Office of Chief Counsel, I can report from experience that I never saw an issue solved, or even illuminated, by finding a law journal article explaining what the law meant. I don’t deny that it happens on occasion — I just never saw it.

Conversely, when I clerked for a federal district judge in 1971, he gave me a copy of Developments in the Law—Federal Habeas Corpus [83 Harv. L. Rev. 1038 (1970)]. The article was about 250 pages long and pretty much provided a roadmap for habeas corpus, which was a fairly big deal for federal district judges before they began running drug courts.

Let’s hope the editors of Tax Notes find some habeas corpus-type articles that illuminate the issues tax lawyers actually deal with, and leave the consumption taxes to Congress.

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