The Past, Present, and Future of Critical Tax Theory: A Conversation

Abstract

This essay endeavors to document and to preserve the story of the origins of the book Taxing America (NYU Press 1997) edited by Karen B. Brown and Mary Louise Fellows. The publication of that text was a key milestone in the development of critical tax theory as an intellectual discipline. By identifying and bringing together lawyers and scholars with an interest in the political and discriminatory aspects of tax law, Professors Brown and Fellows created one of the first working groups of critical tax theorists. In this essay, the book's two editors reflect on the book's intellectual antecedents and its material creation. The editors describe the book's reception and influence. Together the essay's three authors consider the future of critical tax theory.

Keywords: tax, critical tax, politics, critical theory, theory, taxation

JEL Classification: K34, K19, K1