This essay examines the case for granting tax preferences to private university endowments. It looks first at the theoretical arguments that can be made to justify using tax preferences to enlist the help of private individuals in the pursuit of public goals, and finds that such arguments do not...

This paper examines the general relationship between state tax policy and state spending policy and concludes that states that rely solely (or even primarily) on either an income tax or a retail sales tax to finance state spending are pursuing an ultimately unstable course. States that seek to...

When income generated by business activity conducted in one country is ultimately consumed by an individual living in another country, both countries have typically been thought to have the right to tax such income. One basis for this result is that both countries provide taxpayer-funded...

Under current tax law, there can be considerable period-by-period divergence between a taxpayer's after-tax income and her desired or actual consumption. This divergence will cause the taxpayer to borrow. One can view such borrowing either as being incurred to fund consumption, or as being...

There continues to be an active debate on the question of whether or not law school is a good investment. I prefer to think of the question not in terms of “whether,” but in terms of “when.” In this essay, I conduct an analysis for three current undergraduates who are considering...