Tuesday, February 8, 2011 - 4:10pm to Wednesday, February 9, 2011 - 5:55pm
Location: 
Solarium

The James Hausman Tax Law and Policy Workshop Series

 

presents

 

Neil Brooks

Osgoode Hall Law School 
 

The Case for Progressive Taxes: 
One More Time, with Feeling

 

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

4:10 – 6:00 PM

Solarium (room FA2), Falconer Hall

84 Queen’s Park

 

This presentation will review the central arguments made in a book I co-authored with Linda McQuaig, The Trouble with Billionaires (Toronto: Penguin, 2010): inequality matters; income and wealth have become dramatically more concentrated at the very top over the past three decades; this increase in the concentration of income and wealth was not the inevitable result of technological change and increased globalization, but was the result of political decisions (and indecisions); there is no theory of distributive or moral justice that would justify these increasing top incomes; this increasing inequality imposes social, economic and political costs on society and diminishes the quality of life of its citizens; the pursuit of a more equal society is not inconsistent with high levels of material well being; and, the tax system is a necessary and appropriate policy instrument for achieving a more socially acceptable distribution of income and wealth.

 

Neil Brooks has taught tax law and policy at Osgoode Hall Law School for over 35 years.  His research interests include tax law and policy, corporate and international tax, and financing the welfare state.

 

Refreshments will be served.

For more workshop information, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca.