EVANSTON, Ill. --- Many details of the GOP’s tax plan are still unknown, and Republicans are under pressure to pass tax reform this year. From corporate tax reform to the payroll tax, the following professors are available to comment on various aspects of the plan.

Charlotte Crane, professor of law at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, is an expert in the area of tax law. Her areas of expertise include corporate taxation, tax policy, federal taxation and state and local taxation. She can be reached at [email protected] or 312-503-4528.

Quote from Professor Crane
“Corporate tax reform is absolutely necessary -- not because corporations are in fact paying too much in taxes, but instead, because the current taxation of business is totally incoherent,” Crane said.

“Because of the structure of business taxation, no one who doesn’t have to is putting new capital into entities subject to the corporate tax. Instead they are using ever more byzantine structures, including limited liability companies and limited partnerships. The legal nature of these entities makes monitoring their tax compliance virtually impossible. President Trump’s plan would help remedy this situation -- but only if it is enacted in a way that does what needs to be done: eliminate pass-through taxation for larger businesses.” 

Ben Harris is a visiting associate professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and was formerly the chief economist to Vice President Joe Biden. Read his recent article: “Here’s the biggest missing piece in GOP tax plan.” He can be reached at benjamin.harris@kellogg.northwestern.edu.

Quote from Professor Harris
“A payroll tax cut is better for the economy than a corporate tax cut. This can be done either directly or by giving an income tax refund based on earnings. These are the most direct ways to ensure that workers keep more of their paychecks.”

Monica Prasad is a professor of sociology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern. Her areas of interest include comparative historical sociology, economic sociology and political sociology. She has published books and articles on the rise of neoliberalism, the development of tax systems, the effects of carbon taxes and the persistence of poverty in America. She can be reached at [email protected] or 847-491-3899.

Quote from Professor Prasad
“For all of his idiosyncracies, in tax policy President Trump is proving to be a mainstream Republican. His tax plan cuts taxes for the wealthiest 1 percent and businesses, and he hopes this will stimulate economic growth. Surprisingly, the plan does not do much to close loopholes. The likely outcome is more deficit, but the details remain to be filled out.”

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