Recall what happened at last year\u2019s Superbowl:\u00a0 Tom Brady received the keys to a brand new Chevy truck when he was named MVP of the Superbowl game, and then said \u201cOh, no, not me Chevy; you should give the truck to Malcolm Butler for making the game-winning interception instead.\u201d\u00a0 And Chevy did that.\u00a0 If you\u2019d been taking tax then you might have immediately thought:\u00a0 we just did this in class \u2013 who\u2019s got income?\u00a0 Brady, because he received a prize?\u00a0 Are prizes income? But in any event, he gave it away, so what does that mean?\u00a0 And what about Butler?\u00a0 Did he receive a prize?\u00a0 Or a gift from his teammate?\u00a0 Are gifts income?\u00a0 And what\u2019s a gift?\u00a0 These are all real live tax issues \u2013 indeed, this fact pattern was the first question on the tax exam last year.<\/p>\n
What about Kim Kardashian, who was robbed in Paris?\u00a0 She lost over 10 million Euros worth of jewelry.\u00a0 Can she deduct that loss? How can the deduction help her?\u00a0 What if she sues the owners of the private mansion where she was staying, and wins?\u00a0 Is the recovery income?\u00a0 What about the cost of the legal fees \u2013 are they deductible?\u00a0 Does it matter if she sues and loses? Does the existence of the deduction depend on how rich she is?<\/p>\n
Tax affects everything.\u00a0 Taking tax can change your life because you\u2019ll see that everyday life is surrounded by tax issues, just as it is surrounded by torts, and contracts, hopefully less so by crimes.\u00a0 It\u2019s the perfect 1L course because like those courses that you took last semester, it explains so much that is going on around you but that you never saw in that way before.<\/p>\n
The tax law contains what is probably the most comprehensive expression of our values and our social policy.\u00a0 That\u2019s why tax policy is always an important part of presidential elections.\u00a0 Deciding who should pay, and how we should measure how much they should pay, requires thinking through core values.\u00a0 The tax law as it exists at any given time is the concrete expression of those values.<\/p>\n
And although we might think that the tax law\u2019s only purpose is to raise revenue \u2013 to take money \u2013 the tax system does not do just that.\u00a0 The tax system not only takes, but gives.\u00a0 It gives so much that today, the tax system delivers more cash to the working poor that its benefits do more to lift individuals, and especially children, out of poverty than all of the other federal transfer programs, combined.\u00a0 Today, the tax law is the prime administrator of our social safety net and of our health care system.\u00a0 For healthcare, it provides both direct subsidies and imposes penalties, all of which come home to roost through the filing of a tax return.<\/p>\n
The tax law also delivers implicit subsidies to the middle class and to the very rich. The home mortgage interest deduction is a housing program, and the credit for dependent care expenses is a child care program. Accelerated depreciation is a capital equipment subsidy. You can\u2019t understand society, or business, or how our country functions, without understanding the tax system, and taking tax allows you to do that. It\u2019s not about filling out a tax return or adding and subtracting numbers.\u00a0 It\u2019s law.<\/p>\n
To conclude, I want to say a word about numbers. The effect of a tax provision is illustrated in numbers because the tax is paid in money and that\u2019s measured in numbers, but the course is not about arithmetic. I was a college psych major who couldn\u2019t be bothered to balance her own checkbook.\u00a0 I took tax and fell in love because it was an intricate system which reflected social values and explained the world I saw. I came to realize that, to paraphrase a Temple math professor:\u00a0 Arithmetic is to tax as typing is to writing. So, don\u2019t worry about arithmetic: Take Tax! If you can understand that 35% of $100 is $35, and that $100 minus $35 leaves you with $65, you have all the arithmetic you need for this course.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Recall what happened at last year\u2019s Superbowl:\u00a0 Tom Brady received the keys to a brand new Chevy truck when he was named MVP of the Superbowl game, and then said \u201cOh, no, not me Chevy; you should give the truck to Malcolm Butler for making the game-winning interception instead.\u201d\u00a0 And Chevy did that.\u00a0 If you\u2019d been taking tax then you might have immediately thought:\u00a0 we just did this in class \u2013 who\u2019s got income?\u00a0 Brady, because he received a prize?\u00a0 Are prizes income? But in any event, he gave it away, so what does that mean?\u00a0 And what about Butler?\u00a0 Did he receive a prize?\u00a0 Or a gift from his teammate?\u00a0 Are gifts income?\u00a0 And what\u2019s a gift?\u00a0 These are all real live tax issues \u2013 indeed, this fact pattern was the first question on the tax exam last year. What about Kim Kardashian, who was robbed in Paris?\u00a0 She lost over 10 million Euros worth of jewelry.\u00a0 Can she deduct that loss? How can the deduction help her?\u00a0 What if she sues the owners …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[317],"audience":[],"coauthors":[21],"class_list":["post-1772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-advice","tag-taxation"],"yoast_head":"\r\n