03/24/04—The Boston College Law Review is pleased to announce its 2004 Symposium, entitled “The State of the Federal Income Tax: Rates, Progressivity, and Budget Processes.” The symposium will take place in Boston College Law School’s East Wing building, Room 120 on Friday, April 16, 2004 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The symposium will address fundamental changes that have occurred in our tax system in the past four years. These changes raise several important issues such as, is it appropriate to decrease tax revenues in order to decrease the size of the government? What is the appropriate role of progressivity? What are the efficiency effects of recent tax cuts? How important is it to have a transparent budget process?

A respected group of tax scholars will come together to consider these issues. The four presenters include Professor Daniel N. Shaviro, New York University School of Law; Dr. William G. Gale, Brookings Institution; Professor Martin J. McMahon Jr. University of Florida College of Law; and Professor Thomas D. Griffith, University of Southern California. The commentators include Professor Lawrence Lokken, University of Florida College of Law; Professor David Ira Walker, Boston University School of Law; Professor Paul R. McDaniel, Boston College Law School; Professor Linda F. Sugin, Fordham University; Professor Deborah H. Schenk, New York University School of Law; Professor Richard L. Schmalbeck, Duke University; Professor Marjorie E. Kornhauser, Tulane Law School; and Professor Diane M. Ring, Harvard Law School.

The symposium will be moderated by BC Law Professor James R. Repetti. It is being sponsored by the Paulus family.

For more information, contact Roz Kaplan at kaplanr@bc.edu. A full schedule follows below.

Link to selected abstracts and biographies of participants

9:00am - Opening Remarks (James Repetti)

9:10am - First Panel Presentation: Martin McMahon, "The Matthew Effect and Federal Taxation"
Comments by: Deborah Schenk & Richard Schmalbeck

10:40 - Second Panel Presentation: William Gale, "Tax Policy in the Bush Administration: 2001- 2004"
Comments by: Paul McDaniel & Linda Sugin

12:00-1:00 LUNCH

1:00 - Third Panel Presentation: Daniel Shaviro, "Reckless Disregard: The Bush Administration's Policy of Cutting Taxes in the Face of an Enormous Fiscal Gap"
Comments by: Lawrence Lokken & David Walker

2:30 - Fourth Panel Presentation: Thomas Griffith, “Progressive Taxation and Happiness”
Comments by: Marjorie Kornhauser & Diane Ring