Critical Tax Theory: An Introduction

by Edited by Anthony C. Infanti , Bridget J. Crawford

• ISBN13: 9780521511360
• ISBN10: 0521511364
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-06-22
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

Tax law is political. This book highlights and explains the major themes and methodologies of a group of scholars who challenge the traditional claim that tax law is neutral and unbiased. The contributors to this volume include pioneers in the field of critical tax theory, as well as key thinkers who have sustained and expanded the investigation into why the tax laws are the way they are and what impacts tax laws have on historically disempowered groups. This volume, assembled by two law professors who work in the field, is an accessible introduction to this new and growing body of scholarship. It is a resource not only for scholars and students in the fields of taxation and economics, but also for those who engage with critical race theory, feminist legal theory, queer theory, class-based analysis, and social justice generally. Tax is the one area of law that affects everyone in our society, and this book is crucial to understanding its impact.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. xiii
List of Tables	p. xiv
List of Contributors	p. xv
List of Common Abbreviations	p. xix
Introduction	p. xxi
Foundations of Critical Tax Theory	p. 1
Sexism in the Code: A Comparative Study of Income Taxation of Working Wives and Mothers	p. 3
Historical Perspectives on Taxation	p. 11
Dollars and Selves: Women's Tax Criticism and Resistance in the 1870s	p. 13
Split Income and Separate Spheres: Tax Law and Gender Roles in the 1940s	p. 22
The Rhetoric of the Anti-Progressive Income Tax Movement: A Typical Male Reaction	p. 28
The Goals of Tax Policy	p. 39
Racial Equality in the Twenty-First Century: What's Tax Policy Got to Do with It?	p. 42
Discursive Deficits: A Feminist Perspective on the Power of Technical Knowledge in Fiscal Law and Policy	p. 46
The Hidden Costs of the Progressivity Debate	p. 53
Tax	p. 60
Tax Policy and Feminism: Competing Goals and Institutional Choices	p. 65
Critical Tax Theory Meets Practice	p. 73
A Legislator Named Sue: Re-Imagining the Income Tax	p. 75
Using the Social Background Model to Explain Who Wins Federal Appellate Tax Decisions: Do Less Traditional Judges Favor the Taxpayer?	p. 82
Tax Protest, "A Homosexual," and Frivolity: A Deconstructionist Meditation	p. 88
Sisters in Law: Gender and the Interpretation of Tax Statutes	p. 95
Deconstructing the Duty to the Tax System: Unfettering Zealous Advocacy on Behalf of Lesbian and Gay Taxpayers	p. 100
Race and Taxation	p. 107
Tax Counts: Bringing Money-Law to LatCrit	p. 109
A Black Critique of the Internal Revenue Code	p. 116
The Marriage Bonus/Penalty in Black and White	p. 125
Tax and Race: The Impact on Asian Americans	p. 130
Race and Equality Across the Law School Curriculum: The Law of Tax Exemption	p. 137
Race and Class Matters in Tax Policy	p. 144
Gender and Taxation	p. 153
Not Color- or Gender-Neutral: New Tax Treatment of Employment Discrimination Damages	p. 155
Taxing Housework	p. 162
The Marital Deduction QTIP Provisions: Illogical and Degrading to Women	p. 170
A Taxing Woman: The Relationship of Feminist Scholarship to Tax	p. 176
Sexual Orientation and Taxation	p. 183
Same-Sex Couples and the Federal Tax Laws	p. 185
The Internal Revenue Code as Sodomy Statute	p. 192
Heteronormativity and Federal Tax Policy	p. 200
Death Taxes: A Critique from the Margin	p. 208
Homo Sacer, Homosexual: Some Thoughts on Waging Tax Guerrilla Warfare	p. 215
The Family and Taxation	p. 221
Love, Money, and the IRS: Family, Income-Sharing, and the Joint Income Tax Return	p. 224
Innocent Spouses: A Critique of the New Tax Laws Governing Joint and Several Tax Liability	p. 231
Taxation and the Family: A Fresh Look at Behavioral Gender Biases in the Code	p. 239
The Profits and Penalties of Kinship: Conflicting Meanings of Family in Estate Tax Law	p. 246
The Tax Treatment of Children: Separate but Unequal	p. 254
Rocking the Tax Code: A Case Study of Employment-Related Child-Care Expenditures	p. 261
Class and Taxation	p. 269
Women, Poverty, and the Tax Code: A Tale of Theory and Practice	p. 270
The Working Poor Are Paying for Government Benefits: Fixing the Hole in the Anti-Poverty Purse	p. 276
Welfare by Any Other Name: Tax Transfers and the EITC	p. 283
Race, Class, and the Internal Revenue Code: A Class-Based Analysis of A Black Critique of the Internal Revenue Code	p. 290
Disability and Taxation	p. 299
Tax and Disability: Ability to Pay and the Taxation of Difference	p. 300
Enabling Work for People with Disabilities: A Post-Integrationist Revision of Underutilized Tax Incentives	p. 308
Disability and the Income Tax	p. 316
Global Critical Perspectives on Taxation	p. 323
Toward a Global Critical Feminist Vision: Domestic Work and the Nanny Tax Debate	p. 326
The Taxation of Undocumented Immigrants: Separate, Unequal, and Without Representation	p. 334
Prying Open the Closet Door: The Defense of Marriage Act and Tax Treaties	p. 341
Missing Africa: Should U.S. International Tax Rules Accommodate Investment in Developing Countries?	p. 348
Global Trajectories of Tax Reform: The Discourse of Tax Reform in Developing and Transition Countries	p. 354
Critical Perspectives on Critical Tax Theory	p. 363
Redistributive Justice and Cultural Feminism	p. 364
Taking Critical Tax Theory Seriously	p. 371
A Feminist Perspective on the QTIP Trust and the Unlimited Marital Deduction	p. 381
Caring Enough: Sex Roles, Work, and Taxing Women	p. 385
Index	p. 389
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