Subnational Government Competition

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1 JULY 2014 THE OFFICE OF TAX POLICY RESEARCH is a research office at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. OTPR supports and disseminates academic research on all aspects of the tax system, with the goal of informing discussion about the future course of policy. We are non-partisan and advocate no particular policies. Subnational Government Competition OTPR has already sponsored two conferences so far this year. In April, we teamed up with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (Center for Business and Economic Research) and the University of Georgia (Department of Economics) to convene leading academic economists and accountants to study competition in subnational governments and urban areas, and present their findings in an open conference. Conference planners David Agrawal, Bill Fox, and Joel Slemrod convened a great group that shared expertise and engaging discussion. The topic of competition was addressed in three complementary modules: (1) fiscal (tax) competition, (2) competition in urban areas, and (3) competition in education. The conference was held on April 25 and April 26 at the prestigious Howard H. Baker, Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Among the more than 70 people attending were participants from both American and Canadian academic institutions, as well as representatives from the Multistate Tax Commission, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and the Federal Reserve Board. Six of the papers presented will be published, subject to review, in an upcoming edition of the National Tax Journal. 1

2 Dinner was held at the University of Tennessee Neyland Stadium Skybox overlooking the city of Knoxville. Since statistics are very important to the tax crowd, please note that this conference had an anomalously large number of participants named David. Four of them are shown in the picture to the right (from left to right, David Figlio, David Wildasin, David Albouy, and David Agrawal). Also in attendance were David Merriman and W. David Bradford. OTPR is deeply indebted to the University of Tennessee organizers for helping to plan this event, as well as to their amazing student helpers. Student Helpers Julia, David, and Kristin Carrie, Betty, and Joan 2

3 M-TAXI 2014 The second conference, held on June 6 and June 7 at the Ross School of Business, was our third M-TAXI (Michigan Tax Invitational) alumni conference. We were delighted to welcome back OTPR-affiliated alumni Lillian Mills, University of Texas at Austin (1997), Claudio Agostini, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (2003), Naomi Feldman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (2004), Austin Nichols, Urban Institute (2005), Sara LaLumia, Williams College (2006), Alison Felix, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City (2007), Estelle Dauchy, New Economic School, Moscow (2007), James Sallee, University of Chicago (2008), Adam Cole, U.S. Department of the Treasury (2009), Shanti Ramnath, U.S. Department of the Treasury (2010), Laura Kawano, U.S. Department of the Treasury (2010), Sebastien Bradley, Drexel University (2011), Nathan Seegert, University of Utah, (2013), Jeffrey Hoopes, The Ohio State University (2013), and David Cashin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (2013), along with our current Ph.D. students. The papers covered such topics as: optimal taxation state and local taxation political economy inequality, mobility, and the top 1% tax systems, and corporate behavioral responses to taxation. In addition, we were honored to have Roger Gordon, Professor of Economics at the University of California, San Diego as our luncheon speaker. Roger worked closely with Joel and Jim when he was here at Michigan and referred to those collaborations in his talk entitled Implementing a Progressive Consumption Tax through Use of Registered Accounts: Economic Implications. 3

4 One of the highlights of M-TAXI 2014 was dinner at the Slemrod s the venue was perfect, the food was excellent, the company outstanding, and even the weather cooperated! Starring: OTPR Alumni OTPR is proud to announce that the newly appointed dean of the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School is Douglas Shackelford (1990 Michigan Ph.D. and OTPR alumnus). A UNC faculty member since 1990, Doug had served as associate dean of MBA at UNC since 2010, as well as senior associate dean for academic affairs from , and associate dean of the Master of Accounting Program from In addition, he is director of the UNC Tax Center, which he founded in According to UNC Chancellor Carol Folt, an international search was conducted but Ultimately, Doug became the clear choice to lead UNC Kenan-Flagler and ensure its continued success. Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost James W. Dean, Jr. called Doug a seasoned academic leader and an internally recognized scholar and business educator. He is a research associate in public economics at the National Bureau of Economic Research and has held visiting faculty positions at Stanford University, Universiteit Maastricht in the Netherlands, and Oxford University. 4

5 Claudio Agostini, OTPR International Affiliate and 2003 Michigan graduate, along with Claudia Martinez (another OTPR-affiliated who graduated in 2007), were awarded the 2013 International Institute of Public Finance Public Policy Award for their paper titled Tax Enforcement Effects on Diesel Tax Evasion in Chile: Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design. Tax reform is high on the discussion list of the Chilean government. Claudio has been quoted in numerous publications, interviewed on radio, and writes a monthly Op Ed in a financial newspaper titled Diario Financiero. His tax expertise is being quoted not only in Chile but in Bloomberg News online -- com/news/ /rich-deducting-groceries-in-chile-target-ofbachelet-plan-taxes.html. OTPR Family Tree As many of you know, last year OTPR started on a very ambitious project to populate our Family Tree. We are proud to say that Part 1 has been completed and includes all 41 of Joel s advisees through 2013, and their Ph.D. students, and their Ph.D. students, etc. In the upcoming year, we will be focusing on Part 2, which will include all of Jim s advisees stay tuned! BTW, if you have any updates to the 2013 version, please send them along to Mary at ceccanes@ umich.edu As we have mentioned before, we are always open to hearing about any collaboration ideas you may have regarding projects and/or conferences and to hear of your accomplishments so we can proudly mention them in our next newsletter. Nondiscrimination Policy Statement The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the Senior Director for Institutional Equity, and Title IX/Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Office of Institutional Equity, 2072 Administrative Services Building,, Michigan , , TTY For other University of Michigan information call List of Regents for University Publications Mark J. Berstein Farmington Hills Julia Donovan Darlow Laurence B. Deitch Bloomfield Hills Denise Ilitch Bingham Farms Olivia P. Maynard Goodrich Andrea Fischer Newman 5 Andrew C. Richner Grosse Pointe Park Katherine E. White Mary Sue Coleman (ex officio)