Read a recap of this event
Tax law is scheduled to change significantly at the end of 2025, setting the stage for rigorous policy debates. If policymakers use the opportunity effectively, Congress can both improve tax policy and help to stabilize the fiscal trajectory. That will require maintaining focus on the priorities of raising additional revenue, making the tax system more progressive, and ensuring that tax policy is efficiently aligned with high-level fiscal policy goals.
On Wednesday, September 27, 2023, The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution convened leaders and experts to discuss the past and the future of tax policy in the United States. The event will featured fireside chat between former Speaker Paul Ryan, Peter Orszag of Lazard, and moderator Catherine Rampell of The Washington Post.
The forum also included two discussions featuring Kimberly Clausing (University of California, Los Angeles), Wendy Edelberg (The Hamilton Project), Ben Harris (Brookings), Kyle Pomerleau (American Enterprise Institute), Nirupama Rao (University of Michigan), and Natasha Sarin (Yale University).
The event coincided with the release of a wide-ranging tax reform proposal, by Clausing and Sarin, that would raise significant revenue, improve progressivity, and better align the U.S. with global tax policy. In addition, The Hamilton Project released an essay offering principles for assessing proposed reforms.
For updates on the event, viewers followed @HamiltonProj and joined the conversation using #TaxPolicy to ask questions or emailed [email protected].
1:00 p.m. | Welcome
Robert E. Rubin, Former U.S. Treasury Secretary; Co-Chair Emeritus, Council on Foreign Relations
1:05 p.m. | Fireside chat
Peter Orszag, CEO of Financial Advisory, Lazard Freres & Co LLC
The Honorable Paul Ryan, Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
Moderator: Catherine Rampell, Opinion Columnist, The Washington Post
1:40 p.m. | Discussion: The future of tax policy
Natasha Sarin, Associate Professor of Law, Yale Law School
Moderator: Wendy Edelberg, Director, The Hamilton Project, Senior Fellow, Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution
2:00 p.m. | Roundtable discussion: Exploring policy options, trade-offs, and consequences
Kimberly Clausing, Eric M. Zolt Chair in Tax Law and Policy, University of California, Los Angeles School of Law
Kyle Pomerleau, Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
Nirupama Rao, Assistant Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Moderator: Ben Harris, Vice President and Director of Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution
