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Articles by Daniel Shaviro
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium: Chye-Ching Huang (plus coauthors), How to AI-Proof the Tax System
Yesterday’s colloquium paper was by Chye-Ching Huang and seven coauthors (most at the Tax Law Center, and including my colleagues Lily Batchelder and David Kamin). Its title is How to AI-Proof the Tax System. Since it’s still a work in progress that the authors didn’t want posted yet, I won’t zoom in here on aspects of the paper that might conceivably change before it is disseminated.
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium: Miranda Stewart's "International Tax Law and the Equilibrium Between States and Corporations"
Yesterday at the NYU Tax Policy Colloquium, we discussed Miranda Stewart’sInternational Tax Law and the Equilibrium Between States and Corporations. This is an earlier draft than our 2 prior colloquium papers this semester, so the full direction that it will take remains open.
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium: Miranda Stewart's "International Tax Law and the Equilibrium Between States and Corporations"
Yesterday at the NYU Tax Policy Colloquium, we discussed Miranda Stewart’sInternational Tax Law and the Equilibrium Between States and Corporations. This is an earlier draft than our 2 prior colloquium papers this semester, so the full direction that it will take remains open.
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium: Pecoraro, Moore, and Splinter's "Are Laffer Curves Flat?"
Yesterday at the NYU Tax Policy Colloquium we hosted Brandon Pecoraro and Rachel Moore, Joint Committee on Taxation economists who are two of the three co-authors (with David Splinter) ofAre Laffer Curves Flat?, an empirical paper that deserves attention but that has actually – through no fault of their own – received it for the wrong reasons, rather than the right ones. Are Laffer Curves Flat?examines one main question.
Budgetary effects of giving every adult American citizen $5,000
Not to take blather too seriously, but ... Suppose that, in early 2027, Congress passed a law saying that each adult American citizen should get a $5,000 check. (Although, I don't mean to presume here that the Trump Administration believes that any such legislative authorization is necessary, as opposed to presidential decree). Given that there are about 270 million adult American citizens, this would cost about $1.35 trillion. That is more than 4 percent of projected GDP.
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium schedule, updated
Since I’ll be blogging about this semester’s NYU Tax Policy Colloquium papers, here is an updated schedule for the semester 2026 NYU TAX POLICY COLLOQUIUM SPEAKER DATES All sessions meet on Tuesdays from 4:15 to 6:15 pm in Furman 216 at NYU Law School, and are followed by a small group dinner with the speaker(s). 1)September 8: Adam Kern, University of San Diego Law School, Separation of Bases and the Fiscal Constitution(co-authored by Daniel Hemel).
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium schedule, updated
Since I'll be blogging about this semester NYU Tax Policy Colloquium papers, here is an updated schedule for the semester 2026 NYU TAX POLICY COLLOQUIUM SPEAKER DATES All sessions meet on Tuesdays from 4:15 to 6:15 pm in Furman 216 at NYU Law School, and are followed by a small group dinner with the speaker(s). 1)September 8: Adam Kern, University of San Diego Law School, Separation of Bases and the Fiscal Constitution(co-authored by Daniel Hemel).
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium: Daniel Hemel’s and Adam Kern’s Separation of Bases and the Fiscal Constitution
Yesterday afternoon, we held the first public session of the 2026 NYU Tax Policy Colloquium, now in its 32ndconsecutive year. The paper we discussed was Daniel Hemel’s and Adam Kern’sSeparation of Bases and the Fiscal Constitution, which is forthcoming in the Texas Law Review. For some years I used to write blogposts regarding each paper that we discussed in the Colloquium – based on the papers themselves, not the public sessions, because the latter are off-the-record.
2026 NYU Tax Policy Colloquium
Here is the schedule of public sessions at the fall 2026 NYU Tax Policy Colloquium: 2026 NYU TAX POLICY COLLOQUIUM SPEAKER DATES All sessions meet on Tuesdays from 4:15 to 6:15 pm in Furman 216 at NYU Law School, and are followed by a small group dinner with the speaker(s). 1)September 8: Adam Kern, University of San Diego Law School, Separation of Bases and the Fiscal Constitution(co-authored by Daniel Hemel).
Belling the Cat? A Response to Gabriel Zucman’s Billionaire Minimum Tax Proposal
Ayuda Buscar en la ayuda Buscar en la ayuda Belling the Cat? A Response to Gabriel Zucman’s Billionaire Minimum Tax Proposal Autores: Daniel Shaviro Localización: Intertax, ISSN 0165-2826, Vol. 54, Nº. 1, 2026, págs. 24-32 Idioma: inglés Enlaces Texto completo Resumen Gabriel Zucman’s global billionaire minimum tax proposal has significant merit in the realm of ideas to place in the progressive tax policy tool chest.
Short comment paper published, responding to Gabriel Zucman's global billionaire minimum tax proposal
Intertax has just published and posted a new article of mine responding to Gabriel Zucman's global billionaire minimum tax proposal. Available here. Title and citation: Belling the Cat? A Response to Gabriel Zucman’s Billionaire Minimum Tax Proposal, 54 Intertax 24-32 (2026). The abstract goes something like this: Gabriel Zucman’s global billionaire minimum tax proposal has significant merit in the realm of ideas to place in the progressive tax policy tool chest.
Paper influenced by Alan Auerbach
The following is the text of some brief remarks that I offered at a conference in Berkeley last Friday honoring Alan Auerbach upon his retirement. Guidelines for these remarks suggested that one discuss recent work of one’s own that reflected Alan’s influence and intellectual presence in any of his multiple fields.
Paper influenced by Alan Auerbach
The following is the text of some brief remarks that I offered at a conference in Berkeley last Friday honoring Alan Auerbach upon his retirement. Guidelines for these remarks suggested that one discuss recent work of one's own that reflected Alan's influence and intellectual presence in any of his multiple fields.
Sometimes, it's right on front of your eyes ...
The authors of this piece have failed to apply Occam's Razor in interpreting the central empirical finding.
Forthcoming publications
I have three new articles coming out shortly. The first, in Tax Notes International next Monday (but already available behind a paywall online) is “Digital Services Taxes vs.
Book (including an article of mine) on Stanley Surrey
Duke Law School's Law and Contemporary Problems journal has just published a new issue, entitled The Legacy of Stanley S. Surrey, edited by Ajay Mehrotra and Lawrence Zelenak. It responds to the recent re-surfacing of Surrey's memoirs, still in progress (but mostly complete) when Surrey died in 1984, and then published (with useful annotations) through Mehrotra's and Zelenak's efforts. Surrey remains a figure of particular interest, and was certainly the most influential U.S. tax law academic ever.
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium: Jeremy Bearer-Friend's Race-Based Tax Weapons, Part 2
My prior post offered some background regarding the 4 case studies in Jeremy Bearer-Friend's paper. This one will focus on the paper's terminology of race-based (and other, such as class-based) "tax weapons" - a proposed takeaway from the analysis, and well worth discussing although I like case studies (including these) whether or not they have specific takeaways for contemporary readers. The paper defines a tax weapon as a provision reflecting use of the tax system to harm political rivals.
2024 NYU Tax Policy Colloquium
In a prior post, I had mentioned that the 2024 NYU Tax Policy Colloquium might need to shift to a new time, due to changes in the law school's scheduling blocks to accommodate multiple objectives. It now turns out that there will be less change than I had been thinking might be necessary. We will still be meeting on Tuesdays (in fall 2024), and the start time has been moved slightly earlier, to 4:15 pm (ending at 6:15 pm, and followed by a small group dinner.
Memoir now almost live
Today I self-published my memoir, Now Is Now and Then Is Then, on Kindle Direct Publishing. Kindle price $4.99, but not available for perhaps another 72 hours. I'll add a print-on-demand paperback option next week; couldn't do so today due to formatting issues.
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium, Kim Clausing's Capital Taxation and Market Power
Yesterday at the colloquium, Kim Clausing presented Capital Taxation and Market Power, which focuses on the importance of extra-normal returns that are earned these days, especially by big multinational companies such as the FAANG crew (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google). Extra-normal returns are important not just to rising high-end inequality in the US and around the world, but also analytically.
New article on medical deductions in the income tax
Three weeks ago, I posted an article on SSRN entitled "Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Other New Frontiers in Medicine, and the Income Tax's Role as a Back-up Health Insurance System." It's forthcoming in the Tax Law Review. The abstract goes like this: As I knew would happen, SSRN's AI bots embargoed it (nearly 3 weeks ago) on the ground that it might be offering medical advice. It isn't, but they are not very advanced or bright just yet.
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium, Edward Fox on banks vs. credit unions and corporate tax incidence
Yesterday, in the last session of the 2023 NYU Tax Policy Colloquium, Edward Fox co-presented his paper (co-authored by Benjamin Pyle), Who Benefits From Corporate Tax Cuts? Evidence from Banks and Credit Unions Around the TCJA.
Two pop songwriters
It occurred to me recently that my two favorite pop songwriters of the last 25 years - Fiona Apple and Stephin Merritt (The Magnetic Fields) - on the surface seemingly couldn't be more different. So why should they both be personal favorites of mine? True, both are astonishingly gifted, but there are other talented songwriters out there as well. Part of it is just happenstance and stylistic affinity.
Good news and bad news from the Supreme Court's Moore decision
Today the Supreme Court released its decision in Moore v. United States, upholding the 2017 tax act's mandatory repatriation tax (MRT) on foreign source income (FSI) of American-controlled foreign corporations. The MRT was eminently sensible in principle, although far from perfectly designed in practice, in that the applicable FSI had previously been subject to deferral - i.e., it would be taxed to the US shareholders upon repatriation.
Start Making Sense
My memoir, "Now Is Now and Then Is Then," has gone live on Kindle for a mere $4.99.
Michigan conference on Friday, October 6, discussing the "International Tax Revolution"
Two days ago I spoke at an international tax conference at the University of Michigan Law School, discussing OECD-BEPS Pillars 1 and 2. The video link is supposed to be here, but it appears not to work without permission. If you can view it, my remarks begin at 4:43:34.
Medical deductions article
My medical deductions article, forthcoming in the Tax Law Review, has indeed gone live here. The abstract goes as follows: Recent decades have seen explosive growth in the availability and efficacy of assisted reproductive technologies (ART) – for example, egg extraction and storage, egg donation, intracytoplasmic sperm injection, in vitro fertilization, and surrogacy.
National Tax Association, 116th Annual Meeting
I enjoyed the National Tax Association's 116th Annual Meeting, which concluded in Denver yesterday. Due to the pandemic plus last year's hurricane threat in Miami, it was actually the first live NTA Annual Meeting since 2019 (!). This added to the pleasure this time around, as did (for me) the fact that I was awarded the Daniel M. Holland Medal for "lifetime achievement in the study of the theory and the practice of public finance." I've posted the talk I gave at the award ceremony here.
Is this my big chance?
Presented without comment, part of a spam email that I got today, pertaining to a (co-authored) casebook for introductory federal income tax classes: I trust this email finds you in good health and high spirits. We are delighted to reach out to you regarding your book, "Federal Income Taxation" which was submitted to us through your literary agent.
Chat GPT's progress over the last year and a half
About 18 months ago (I remember the time because I was visiting at U Va Law School), I briefly got interested in how Chat GPT makes things up. E.g., I asked it what my novel Getting It is about. It confabulated in response that it's about the need for broad-based tax reform, etcetera. (Which, needless to say, it is not - the program generalized from superficial knowledge of my other work.) Since I gather that Chat GPT improves exponentially over time, I decided just now to give it another try.
Zero revenue cost from any and all tax cuts, forever and ever
I gather that the GOP score of the Senate tax bill DOES show budgetary costs as being lowered by the expiration of new provisions (such as the higher standard deduction) that it would add to the Internal Revenue Code. This blatantly contradicts its use of a "current-policy" baseline for 2017 provisions.
Start Making Sense
Over the last few months, I've written a fairly interesting and unique literary work (if I do say so myself). It's a memoir, covering the period from my very first memory through age 29, when I both met my wife and got my first academic teaching job. Tentative title: "Portrait of an Academic as a Young Man." The distinctive thing about is that it consists entirely of vignettes, which average about 500 words each. There are 114 in all, and the total is just under 58,000 words.
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium, Ajay Mehrotra on the lack of a U.S. VAT
Yesterday, at our penultimate public session for 2023, we discussed a pair of items (one already published, and one an early partial draft) by Ajay Mehrotra discussing U.S. tax history, and in particular our distinctive fiscal character. As the papers note, the U.S. tax system, considered in isolation, is unusually progressive by peer country standards, but also unusually small. So Americans are not "over-taxed" (as some liars like to assert) by peer standards.
Another five-star Amazon review of my memoir
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2024 NYU Tax Policy Colloquium
With the start of NYU's fall 2024 semester, I thought I should offer an update here on the public sessions at our 2024 Tax Policy Colloquium. All sessions will meet on Tuesdays, from 4:15 to 6:15 pm, in Furman 310, and most or all will be followed with small group dinners that generally include the speakers. Here is our schedule: 1) Tuesday, September 10 – Ellora Derenoncourt, Princeton University Economics Department. Wealth of Two Nations: The US Racial Wealth Gap, 1860-2020.
Review of my memoir on Amazon
Unexpectedly warm and insightful portrait of the Baby Boom Generation. (5 stars) Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2025 Verified Purchase Who knew that law professors were so funny? This is a warmhearted and introspective series of vignettes that provide an unexpected insight into the life of young professionals from the 1950s to the 1980s. Always entertaining and never boring, even when one might expect it to be. A great read.
NYU Tax Policy Colloquium: Jeremy Bearer-Friends Race-Based Tax Weapons, part 1
Yesterday at the colloquium, we discussed with Jeremy Bearer-Friend his new article, forthcoming in the UC-Irvine Law Review, entitled Race-Based Tax Weapons. This is a case study (but also drawing broader policy-relevant conclusions) of the following four twentieth century "poll taxes" imposed by Anglophone governments: 1) The poll tax that Texas imposed beginning in 1903 to prevent Blacks, and to a lesser extent poor whites, from voting.
New articles, current and near-future
I had a sabbatical this past spring, and thus haven't been in a classroom since the end of fall 2024. One way I've used the time is in writing.
Paperback version of my memoir is now available
The paperback version of my memoir, Now Is Now and Then Is Then, is now available on Amazon for $7.99. Kindle version is $4.99 or free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. The link is at https://www.amazon.com/Now-Then-Memoir-ebook/dp/B0FBMJSDWY/ref=sr_1_1?crid=25JK9DBVTNMJL&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.JEwXYEX2OYLM1ZE5IX8ESrHGEofxNIvs96-FGLn4dAc.2EKk8AIrE7yGiyM9j54_0hEcDnuJMVtrOgYZjKiiDJ4&dib_tag=se&keywords=daniel+shaviro+now+is+now+and+then+is+then&qid=1750017020&sprefix=daniel+shaviro%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-1
Henry Simons and pre-World War libertarianism.
I just posted this piece on a libertarian-affiliated U of Chicago website. Based on a 2013 article that I wrote concerning Henry Simons. It discusses the question of why a Friedrich Hayek-affiliated "classical liberal" would have supported both vigorous anti-monopoly enforcement and a high-rate progressive income tax - positions that are anathema to the likes of (say) a Richard Epstein or Milton Friedman (if he were still alive) today.
New articles, current and near-future
I had a sabbatical this past spring, and thus haven’t been in a classroom since the end of fall 2024. One way I’ve used the time is in writing.
Another five-star Amazon review of my memoir
This one goes as follows: “Pure gold. Easily the most honest memoir I’ve ever read: bracingly real, sharply funny, and deeply human. Whether or not you’re familiar with Dan’s immense contributions in law and public policy, this is absolutely worth the read.” I don’t know who posted this (since it’s first-name only), but a fair inference from reading it would be that we (probably) do know each other.
I gather that the GOP score of the Senate tax bill DOES show budgetary costs as being lowered by the expiration of new provisions (such as the higher standard deduction) that it would add to the Internal Revenue Code. This blatantly contradicts its use of a “current-policy” baseline for 2017 provisions.
Memoir now live
My memoir, “Now Is Now and Then Is Then,” has gone live on Kindle for a mere $4.99.
Memoir now almost live
Today I self-published my memoir, Now Is Now and Then Is Then, on Kindle Direct Publishing. Kindle price $4.99, but not available for perhaps another 72 hours. I’ll add a print-on-demand paperback option next week; couldn’t do so today due to formatting issues.
Henry Simons And The Libertarian Night Watchman As Tax Collector
Henry Simons, one of the fathers of Chicago economics, advocated for libertarian policies promoting free markets as well as wealth redistribution through highly progressive income taxation, reflecting his belief that concentrations of private economic power were as threatening to liberty as centralized government power.
The Evolution Of, and Challenges To, the Income Tax
The income tax was established in 1913 with the ratification of the single sentence of the 16th amendment. Tax rules and regulations have undergone many revisions and changes in the 110 years since then, including the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act. One provision of that act, concerning multinational corporations repatriating income, is being challenged in the case Moore v. United States.
Ten thoughts about the new book minimum tax
Now that the Inflation Reduction Act has been signed into law, I thought I'd add some quick comments about it - or specifically about the book minimum tax. which reaches the "adjusted financial statement income" (AFSI) of "applicable corporations." In general, an applicable corporation has had annual AFSI averaging $1 billion over the last three years.
Build Back Better is a chance to finally make corporate taxes line up better with profits
Harry Truman once said of Richard Nixon that he could lie out of both sides of his mouth at the same time. True or not, major corporations do a more respectable version of this every year. They report their annual "income" both to the Internal Revenue Service, for purposes of determining how much income tax they owe, and to investors under financial accounting rules. Strictly speaking, these are different measures that serve different purposes. Yet their both being called "income" is no coincidence.
The revolving door at Treasury
Today's NYT story by Jesse Drucker and Danny Hakim, concerning the revolving door between the big accounting firms and the Treasury Department (as well as the IRS and Capital Hill tax staffs), offers a case study in the difference between "shocking" (which it is) and "surprising" (which it isn't, to those who are familiar with how Washington works).
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