Examining the Internal Revenue Code for disparate racial impacts by Lawrence Zelenak
By: Zelenak, Lawrence
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Material type: 
ArticlePublisher: 2020Subject(s): ESTADOS UNIDOS | RACISMO | IMPUESTOS | POLITICA FISCALOnline resources: Click here to access online
In:
Tax Notes volume 168, number 10, september 7, 2020, p. 1807-1821Summary: In this article, Zelenak considers how a legislature committed to racial justice should respond to a convincing statistical demonstration that a particular provision of the Internal Revenue Code has disparate racial impacts. He says there are several steps between a demonstration that a provision (for example, the charitable deduction) disproportionately benefits white taxpayers in nominal terms, and the conclusion that it should be repealed or reformed to eliminate the disparate impact. He argues it is necessary to establish a normative baseline from which the current provision departs, to determine the race-based distribution of the ultimate benefits and burdens of the provision (as contrasted with the provision’s nominal impacts), and to determine that a focus on the provision (rather than a broader or narrower focus) is at an appropriate level of analytical granularity. He concludes that the most important use of evidence of disparate racial impacts of tax provisions will almost certainly be as an argument for repealing or reforming a provision that constitutes bad tax policy even apart from its racial effects.
| Item type | Current location | Home library | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Artículos | IEF | IEF | OP 1820/2020/168/10-2 (Browse shelf) | Available | OP 1820/2020/168/10-2 |
Bibliografía
In this article, Zelenak considers how a legislature committed to racial justice should respond to a convincing statistical demonstration that a particular provision of the Internal Revenue Code has disparate racial impacts. He says there are several steps between a demonstration that a provision (for example, the charitable deduction) disproportionately benefits white taxpayers in nominal terms, and the conclusion that it should be repealed or reformed to eliminate the disparate impact. He argues it is necessary to establish a normative baseline from which the current provision departs, to determine the race-based distribution of the ultimate benefits and burdens of the provision (as contrasted with the provision’s nominal impacts), and to determine that a focus on the provision (rather than a broader or narrower focus) is at an appropriate level of analytical granularity. He concludes that the most important use of evidence of disparate racial impacts of tax provisions will almost certainly be as an argument for repealing or reforming a provision that constitutes bad tax policy even apart from its racial effects.
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