Summary: Richard Winchester delivered this year’s Beck Lecture titled “A Simple Tax Case Complicated by Race” where he highlighted why Judges, including those deciding tax cases, must be sensitive to any implicit racial biases that might cloud their thinking. Intersections between race and the law persist intensely within the U.S. legal system. Dorothy Brown famously writes in her book, The Whiteness of Wealth, that she pursued a career in tax law to “get away from race.” On its face, being a tax professional could be exactly what she wrote — a way to get away from all biases including those rooted in race. From the outside, tax looks simply like writing or typing dollar values into forms or advocating for the legitimacy of tax planning in a court room. The 2024 Beck Lecture at Temple Law though pointed to a clear example of how racism is still forcing its way into tax issues that should be decided solely on the merits of the tax planning that took place. The case, Pontchartrain Park Homes, Inc. v. Commissioner, …

Getting to attend Temple Law’s Fogel Lecture every year is one of my favorite parts about our tax program. Hosted by our Center for Tax Law and Public Policy, the Fogel Lecture is an opportunity for students to hear first-hand from leading tax policy-makers, tax administrators, and judges who are grappling with some of the most pressing tax issues of the day. For students like myself, it is also an opportunity for me to learn about tax law issues that are typically not directly addressed in our regular curriculum and are best taught by current practitioners. With the visit from Tom West, the icing on the cake was that the lecture was hosted by a Temple Law alum, and he shared how his Temple Law experience built the foundation for his awesome experience at Treasury.   ————————————————————————————————  On February 21. 2024, Tom West (LAW ’99), former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Treasury Department’s Office of Tax Policy, delivered this year’s Fogel Lecture at Temple Law School, titled “Tax Regulators, Mount Up!: How Tax Policy Is Taking …