This Article provides an overview and critical analysis of sunset provisions in the tax code, and through examination of the political pressures that led to their striking transformation, also reveals disturbing points of vulnerability in the legislative process. It concludes that, contrary to...

The 2017 tax legislation brought sweeping changes to the rules for taxing individuals and business, the deductibility of state and local taxes, and the international tax regime. The complex legislation was drafted and passed through a rushed and secretive process intended to limit public comment...

In this article, we discuss the inconsistent use of the current policy baseline by policymakers, which undermines budget enforcement and represents a deep violation of Senate norms. We further describe how the potentially dangerous disruption to the budget process provides an opportunity to...

The circumstances, if any, that permit non-uniform, or differentiated, treaty interpretation are difficult to define. Generally, a differentiated approach stands in tension with the Vienna Convention's rules of interpretation, which apply a methodology based on plain meaning to all treaties. Yet...

Increasingly, political pressures to enact tax legislation impact the budget process, with enduring consequences that sometimes reach beyond tax law. Most recently, partisan conflict over the 2017 tax legislation challenged fundamental aspects of the budget process — such as the length of...

This presentation examines the profit shifting and offshoring incentives in the new international tax regime. It concludes that the new regime makes policy choices that unnecessarily incentivize the offshoring of real assets, while largely preserving profit shifting. The slides were presented at...

This report describes various tax games, roadblocks, and glitches in the tax legislation currently before Congress, titled the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). The complex rules proposed in the House and Senate bills will allow new tax games and planning opportunities for well-advised taxpayers,...

With increasing frequency, many important revenue laws, such as the Affordable Care Act and the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, begin as “shell bills." The Origination Clause of the Constitution aims to place decisions over tax policy closer to the people by requiring that bills raising...