Today’s highlights at the AALS Annual Meeting in New Orleans:

Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) Breakfast and Annual Members Meeting (7:15-8:30 a.m.) (Hilton, River Room, 2nd Floor)

Section on Taxation:  Does the U.S. Need a VAT? (2:00-3:45 p.m.) (Hilton, Rosedown, 3rd Floor):

• Reuven S. Avi-Yonah (Michigan) (moderator)
• Itai Grinberg (Georgetown)
• Calvin H. Johnson (Texas)
• Victor Thuronyi (Senior Counsel, International Monetary Fund)

The United States faces a looming fiscal crisis that threatens to undermine its ability to sustain the social safety net (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid). This session will feature a debate on whether the U.S. can deal with its budget deficit without enacting a VAT, as every other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and most other countries have done. Professor Johnson will argue that the deficit can be closed by raising more revenue from the existing income tax. Professor Grinberg will argue that a VAT is a necessary part of the solution, especially if it can be used to replace part of the existing income tax.