Home

Who We Are

Publications

→News & Events

Conferences

Donate

Contact Us

In the News

Forty-nine OTPR-affiliated alumni, current students, and guests gathered to celebrate with Joel in Providence, Rhode Island, on November 15, 2012.

VIDEO FILES: ASK THE TAX PROFESSOR

TAXING THE RICH

How much and how the rich should be taxed often plays a critical role in tax policy debates. It comes up with regard to incremental tax proposals, which are always scrutinized for how much benefit goes to high-income individuals. It also figures prominently in the debate about fundamental tax reform -- whether to abandon the income tax in favor of a value-added tax, retail sales tax, or flat tax; while it is generally agreed upon that any of these alternatives would reduce the tax burden on the rich, there is much less agreement about whether the economic benefits would be significant, and on how critical the reduction of tax progressivity is to the economic benefits these reforms promise. In his introductory chapter of Does Atlas Shrug: The Economic Consequences of Taxing the Rich, OTPR Director Joel Slemrod discusses the issue of income tax rates on affluent households.

Events

PUBLIC FINANCE FREE LUNCH SEMINAR (PFFLS)

The Office of Tax Policy Research, together with the University of Michigan Department of Economics, sponsors a seminar series featuring leading academic experts in taxation.  OTPR also sponsors a weekly brown-bag lunchtime seminar for information presentations of work in progress by Michigan faculty and students from the Ross School of Business, Department of Economics, Law School, and the School of Public Policy.

Past Seminars

Fall 2012   Winter 2012    Fall 2011    Winter 2011    Fall 2010    Winter 2010    Fall 2009      

Past Events

The Office of Tax Policy Research recently hosted two forums that provided commentary and discussion on tax policy and health care reform as they relate to the upcoming presidential election.  URLs for viewing both of these forums are found below each announcement.

http://rossmedia.bus.umich.edu/rossmedia/Play/b8fa5b90e00d48f7b66e92f06f23ce321d

http://rossmedia.bus.umich.edu/rossmedia/Play/bbce8adc60c745048ff0e47dd9c4b6b51d

David Albouy, Research Associate of the Office of Tax Policy Research, wins IIPF Peggy and Richard
Musgrave Prize for 2012

The International Institute of Public Finance created the "Peggy and Richard Musgrave Prize" in 2003 to honor and encourage younger scholars whose work meets the high standards of scientific quality, creativity and relevance that has been a mark of the Musgraves’ contribution to public finance. It is awarded annually, on the advice of the Chair of the Scientific Committee, to the author(s) of the best paper presented at the Congress. Authors need to be under 40 years of age. Professor Albouy’s paper is titled “Evaluating the Efficiency and Equity of Federal Fiscal Equalization.”

Read Paper

David Agrawal, University of Georgia (2012 graduate of the University of Michigan), wins IIPF Young Economists Award

The International Institute of Public Finance’s Young Economists Award was instituted in 2008, with the aim of encouraging young scholars who present their papers at the IIPF annual congress. A Prize Committee, headed by the Scientific Chair of the respective congress, selects those papers presented at the congress that stand out for their scientific quality, creativity and relevance, and chooses up to three of them to be distinguished with this award. Authors need to be under 40 years of age.

Read Paper

M-TAXI (MICHIGAN TAX INVITATIONAL)
June 8-9, 2012
Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

On June 8-9, 2012, OTPR hosted the second Michigan Tax Invitational.  Papers were divided into these five categories: international, evasion and enforcement, state and local tax issues, rethinking received tax wisdom, and behavioral responses to taxation.  In all, 17 papers were presented and discussed.  Former Michigan PhD students from Universidad de Chile, Drexel University, Federal Reserve Board of Governers, U.S. Department of the Treasury, Williams College, University of Chicago, Northeastern University attended as well as current PhD students and Michigan Faculty.

The Office of Tax Policy Research recently hosted the 67th Annual Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance.  Over 350 people from 30 countries attended this 4-day event that included 5 Keynote Speakers, 75 sessions, and over 250 papers.

To the left is a group photo of conference participants at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

To view pictures of the Congress, please click here.

On the second day of the Congress, participants went on an excursion to the Henry Ford Museum and a strolling dinner at the Detroit Institute of Arts. To view pictures of the excursion, please click here.

Finally, the last night of the Congress featured a 5-course dinner and dancing. The festivities can be viewed by clicking here.

CANDACE JOHNSON AWARD

The Office of Tax Policy Research is proud to announce that our own Mary Ceccanese received the 2010 Candace Johnson Staff Award for Excellence, a University-wide award given by the Office of the Provost to an exemplary staff member.
We know Mary as OTPR’s Coordinator, which she has done with exceptional competence, energy, creativity and good cheer for 22 years. It is not at all an understatement to say that OTPR would not be OTPR without her. What you might not know is that, over this time, Mary has expanded her job to become a change agent and educator, in the university and beyond, about the importance of creating and sustaining connections between the staff and faculty, managers and staff, and various other employee groups. She actively participates in Voices of the Staff, a volunteer-based program offering U-M staff members an opportunity to share ideas and define the campus community issues that matter most to them. She also is involved in the design and delivery of training workshops, mentoring relationships with staff in a variety of units, and the development of original tools for creating positive workplaces. Four years ago, Mary initiated a task force at the Ross School called FAST Connections, which promotes high-quality relationships between faculty and staff.
We all congratulate Mary on this award and are delighted to see her receive this recognition.

M-TAXI (MICHIGAN TAX INVITATIONAL)
May 21, 2010
Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

On May 21, 2010, OTPR hosted the first Michigan Tax Invitational.  Attendees included current UM Ph.D. students and former UM Ph.D. degree students affiliated with OTPR.  The workshop showcased ongoing and recently completed public economics research within a standard conference format with assigned discussants, and was a great opportunity to share current research and receive feedback.

WORKSHOP ON INTERNATIONAL TAXATION
June 21-25, 1999

OTPR, along with the Burch Center for Tax Policy and Public Finance at UC-Berkeley and the Fund for Tax Research and John M. Olin Center of Law, Economics, and Business of Harvard Law School, sponsored a workshop in Berkeley, CA during the week of June 21-25, 1999.  This workshop provided an overview of the state of research in the economics and legal literatures on various aspects of international taxation and featured leading American academic tax specialists, including both economists and tax lawyers.  The purpose of the workshop was to stimulate research activity on international tax issues and to provide an opportunity for scholarly communication.