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95 Colum. L. Rev. 609 (1995)
Paint-by-Numbers Tax Lawmaking

handle is hein.journals/clr95 and id is 619 raw text is: PAINT-BY-NUMBERS TAX LAWMAKING Michaelj Graetz* Introduction .................................................... 609 I. The Relevant Staffs ........................................ 614 II. Distributional Tables ...................................... 617 A. Impossible Goals and Impractical Tasks ................ 619 B. Where Has Gini Gone? ................................ 620 C. Staff Disagreements in Constructing Distributional Tables ....................................... 624 1. Distributing Changes in Taxes vs. Changes in Burden . ......................................... 624 2. The Measurement of Income ...................... 634 3. The Unit of Analysis: Families, Couples, Individuals, or Households ..................................... 637 4. The Relevant Time Horizon ........................ 640 5. Tax Incidence Assumptions ........................ 640 D. Controversial Areas of Staff Agreement ................ 647 1. Tax Capitalization and Implicit Taxes .............. 647 2. Lifetime vs. Annual Income ........................ 651 3. Distributing Transfers as Well as Taxes ............. 657 4. Benefit Taxes and User Charges .................... 661 5. Mandates and Regulations ......................... 661 6. Federalism .......................................... 664 7. International Aspects ............................... 665 E. A Preliminary Conclusion Regarding Distribution Tables .................................... ; ............ 666 Ill. Revenue Estimates ........................................ 668 A. Overview of the Revenue Estimating Process ........... 668 B. Asking the Wrong Question ........................... 672 Conclusion ..................................................... 678 INTRODUCTION Although their meaning and contours have long been controversial, the general criteria for evaluating changes in tax law enjoy both stability and consensus. At least since Adam Smith, there has been virtually uni- versal agreement that the nation's tax law should be fair, economically efficient, and simple to comply with and to administer. Tax law changes * Justus S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law, Yale Law School. I want to thank William Andrews, David Bradford, Daniel Halperin, Louis Kaplow, Alvin Klevorick, Jeff Lehman, Reed Shuldiner, Alvin Warren, and participants in conferences and workshops at the American Enterprise Institute, the Harvard Law School, the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Yale Law School for helpful comments. I also want to thankJose Esteves for producing the graphs contained herein, Anand Raman for research assistance, and the American Enterprise Institute for financial assistance.

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