One of the things I love about the tax law
is that it involves a combination of values,
effects on people which are very real, and
technical expertise.
It's something that I found as a student,
though at the time it was learning all of
this in theory and seeing the theory behind
how the tax code is based on certain values
and what values sort of run through the tax
law, seeing how the tax law might affect real
people, though in our classes it was always
hypotheticals with Jane Doe standing in for
the taxpayer, and finally it was, as I was
learning in the classes, highly technical.
And that was something I enjoyed.
I enjoyed being able to work through technical law and see how it then reflected larger values,
it affected real people.
When I became a policy official, I got to
see that happening in reality, and got to
see the power of the tax code, and the degree
to which presidential candidates and presidents
would use the tax system to try to make their
values real in the country, to influence and
hopefully improve the lives of millions of
Americans, and to do so through a technical
body of law that required real knowledge to
try to do it in a effective way.
So, I’ve tried to bring that and bring that
experience to my teaching.
And both that experience, seeing it from the
student’s perspective and then seeing it
from the policy maker’s perspective where
I’ve now tried to bring the lessons
I’ve learned to the classroom, again, to
try and make it feel as real as I think it
is and to show the real power of the tax code.
