Alex Raskolnivok, Accepting the Limits of Tax Law and Economics, 99 Cornell L. Rev. 523 (2013).
What are the criteria according to which tax base design should proceed? In Accepting the Limits of Tax Law and Economics, Alex Raskolnikov cogently reminds us not to rely too heavily on the approaches associated with tax law and economics, even if we find the approaches of law and economics in other contexts appealing.
Until early in the last century, there was little room for theory, economic or otherwise, in tax base design. The blunt practicalities of tax collection left little room for taxes that were not focused on highly visible and measurable activities. The development of economic theory, and its application to legal rules in the framework of “law and economics,” has shifted the focus from what can be collected to what should be collected (and from what can fairly be collected given the constraints of politics) to what can efficiently be collected, meaning in general with as little adverse effects on market activities as possible. In Accepting the Limits of Tax Law and Economics, Alex Raskolnikov outlines the reasons tax designers cannot rely solely—and probably not even primarily—on the methods of law and economics. Continue reading "The Limits of Even the Most Powerful Theories, or Why Tax Really Is Different"
