Richard Crawford Pugh Lecture on Tax Law & Policy Presents Deborah Schenk

Topic

"Horizontal Equity Redux"

For many decades, tax policy scholars have defined “equity” in terms of “horizontal equity” and “vertical equity.”  In recent years the concept of horizontal equity has come under attack on two grounds:  first, that it has no content independent of vertical equity, and second, that its classic definition preferences pretax income without any justification.  Yet, the concept has remarkable staying power.  All major law casebooks reference horizontal equity, as do many scholarly articles.  This lecture explores why that is so and offers both an explanation and a justification for its continued use as a principle of tax policy.

MCLE Credit

The University of San Diego School of Law is a State Board of California-approved MCLE provider and certifies that this activity is approved for 1 hour of general credit.

Registration

This event is free, but reservations are required. A reception will follow in the Warren Hall Faculty Reading Room (2nd Floor).

About the Speaker

Deborah Schenk is a Ronald and Marilynn Grossman Professor of Taxation Emerita and Editor-in-Chief of the Tax Law Review at New York University School of Law. Schenk has produced numerous articles and three books: Federal Taxation of S Corporations, Federal Income Taxation, Principles and Policies, which she wrote with Professor Michael Graetz of Columbia, and Ethical Problems in Federal Tax Practice, which she wrote with the late Professor Bernard Wolfman of Harvard and Professor Diane Ring of Boston College Law School. Schenk actively serves the New York State Bar, where she has been on the Executive Committee of the Tax Section and is a past Chairman of the Committee on Professional Ethics. On the national level, she is a past member of the Council of the ABA Tax Section, past Vice President of the American Tax Policy Institute, a director of Tax Analysts, and a member of the ALI and the American College of Tax Counsel.

A Stone Scholar at Columbia University, Schenk received her J.D. in 1972. In 1976, she was awarded an LL.M. from NYU School of Law and has visited at Harvard and Yale Law Schools. Schenk has an abiding interest in the problems of low-income taxpayers. She has testified several times before various congressional committees on reform proposals that would affect this group and for many years provided pro bono tax advice for low-income taxpayers.