Tax Policy Seminar LAW-843

This seminar is devoted to the following theme: what should be the relationship between brute luck, going all the way back to the accidents of where we are born, when we are born, and to whom we are born, and public policies – particularly federal fiscal policies (taxing and spending). Like it or not, we swim in a sea of luck. Sometimes the currents of good fortune propel us forward, while at others the incoming tide of bad luck makes progress almost impossible.We can’t undo every instance of bad luck, but we can design public programs based on the principles of insurance that mitigate cases of systematic bad luck that deprive Americans of genuine equality of opportunity. The result is not just a fairer America, but greater economic growth, more broadly shared.