Temporary-Effect Legislation and Fiscal Responsibility

October 9, 2007
Speaker: George K. Yin, Edwin S. Cohen Distinguished Professor of Law & Taxation and Class of 1966 Research Professor, University of Virginia
Presented by: the Center for Business Law & Regulation

Summary: Norman A. Sugarman Tax Scholar-in-Residence Lecture
In recent years, Congress has passed an increasing amount of tax legislation that affects the budget for only a limited time ("temporary-effect legislation"). Most analysts have sharply criticized this practice, suggesting it allowed Congress to escape fiscal discipline.

Which legislation, "temporary" or "permanent" will facilitate greater fiscal responsibility on the part of the Congress?
What are the key factors influencing Congressional budget decision-making?
What are the effects of the tax laws they pass?

George Yin has been on the University of Virginia faculty since 1994. From 2003 to 2005, he was Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation of the U.S. Congress, one of the most influential tax positions in the country. Prof. Yin has also been on the law faculty of the University of Florida and a visiting professor at NYU, Pennsylvania, and Brigham Young. He practiced law in Washington, D.C. and served as tax counsel to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Prof. Yin previously coordinated for the Senate Finance Committee a major project to reform and simplify the tax laws dealing with corporate-shareholder transactions, including corporate mergers, acquisitions, and reorganizations. From 1994 until 1999, he was reporter to the American Law Institute's federal tax project concerning income taxation of private business enterprises, such as closely held corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies. He has published numerous articles, book chapters, and other writings on tax policy and taxation. He is a member of the IRS Advisory Council and has been a consultant to a number of organizations, including the American Law Institute, the Department of Treasury, the U.S. Joint Committee on Taxation, the National Commission on Restructuring the IRS, and the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means.

Prof. Yin earned his J.D. from George Washington University (1977), an M.Ed. in early childhood education from the University of Florida (1972), and a B.A. in mathematics and economics from the University of Michigan (1970).

Category:

Education

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