This report considers some of the payout issues that might arise from implementing a system of individual accounts, if such accounts were to become a part of federal retirement policy. Why is it important to examine "payout" issues? Because a central goal of retirement security policy is to...

The gravamen of the constitutional complaint against the individual mandate is its supposed intrusion on personal freedom. But, when all was said and done, no one attacked a state government’s requirement that individuals must purchase health insurance, nor advanced any constitutional...

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was widely heralded as the most significant change in our nation's tax law since the income tax was extended to the masses during World War II. It was the crowning domestic policy achievement of President Ronald Reagan, who proclaimed it "the best antipoverty measure,...

This fast-paced book by Yale professors Michael Graetz and Ian Shapiro unravels the following mystery: How is it that the estate tax, which has been on the books continuously since 1916 and is paid by only the wealthiest two percent of Americans, was repealed in 2001 with broad bipartisan...

Forty-two years ago, in the Virginia Law Review, long before Congress twice enacted — and twice repealed — carryover basis for assets transferred at death, I published this article examining and evaluating a number of proposals for taxing gains at death, as well as for carryover basis. (One...

This paper details a method for implementing personal retirement accounts (PRAs) as a part of Social Security reform. The approach described here answers the following questions: how funds are collected and credited to each participants' retirement account; how money is invested; and how funds are...

About half the OECD countries provide a tax credit for foreign taxes on foreign source business income earned by multinational corporations; the other half exempt from domestic taxation active business income earned abroad. We undertake a preliminary inquiry here into the potential structure of...

We examine the recent battle for federal estate tax repeal in order better to understand the role of public opinion in enacting legislation, particularly regarding low salience issues. Our analyses of the polling data show how the contours of public opinion were strategically used in the policy...

Focuses on unresolved economic issues that may effect both the desirability of integration and how an integration system should be structured. Discusses the implications of the uncertainty for policy design.