Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
Publication Citation
103 Minnesota Law Review 1439 (2019)
Abstract
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 on one of the most consequential pieces of domestic policy enacted in recent history. This Article is an effort to supply the analysis and deliberation that should have accompanied the bill’s consideration and passage and describes key problem areas in the new legislation. Many of the new changes fundamentally undermine the integrity of the tax code and allow well-advised taxpayers to game the new rules through strategic planning. These gaming opportunities are likely to worsen the bill’s distributional and budgetary costs beyond those expected in the official estimates. Other changes will encounter legal roadblocks, while drafting glitches could lead to uncertainty and haphazard increases or decreases in taxes. This Article also describes reform options for policymakers who will inevitably be tasked with enacting further changes to the tax law in order to undo the legislation’s harmful effects on the fiscal system.
Recommended Citation
Gamage, David and Kamin, David, "The Games They Will Play: Tax Games, Roadblocks, and Glitches Under the 2017 Tax Legislation" (2019). Articles by Maurer Faculty. 2739.
https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub/2739
Comments
Other authors include the following:
Ari Glogower, The Ohio State University Moritz School of Law
Rebecca Kysar, Fordham University School of Law
Darien Shanske, UC Davis School of Law
Reuven Avi-Yonah, University of Michigan Law School
Lily Batchelder, NYU School of Law
J. Clifton Fleming, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University
Daniel Hemel, University of Chicago Law School
Mitchell Kane, NYU School of Law
David Miller, Proskauer Rose, LLP
Daniel Shaviro, NYU School of Law
Manoj Viswanathan, UC Hastings College of Law