Mccaffery, Edward J. 1958-

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McCAFFERY, Edward J. 1958-

PERSONAL: Born 1958. Education: Yale University, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1980; Harvard Law School, J.D. (Magna cum laude), 1985; University of Southern California, M.A., 1994.

ADDRESSES: Office—University of Southern California Law School, 699 Exposition Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90089. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Educator and author. Admitted to the Bar of the State of California, 1986; New Jersey Supreme Court, law clerk to Chief Justice Robert N. Wilentz, 1985-86; Tichell, Maltzman, Mark, Bass, Ohleyer & Mishel, associate attorney, 1986-89; Golden Gate University, lecturer, 1988-89; University of Southern California Law School, assistant professor, 1989-91, associate professor, 1991-94; professor, 1994-98; Maurice Jones, Jr. professor of law, 1998—. Yale Law School, visiting professor, 1993-94; California Institute of Technology, visiting professor, 1994—. University of Southern California Institute on Federal Taxation planning committee, executive director and chair, 1997—; University of Southern California—Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics, director.

MEMBER: American Economic Association, National Tax Association, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi.

WRITINGS:

Taxing Women, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 1997.

Fair Not Flat: How to Make the Tax System Better and Simpler, University of Chicago Press (Chicago, IL), 2002.

Contributor to numerous books, including Behavioral Economics and the Law, edited by Cass R. Sunstein, 2000; Encyclopedia of the American Constitution, 2nd edition, edited by Leonard W. Levy and Kenneth L. Karst, 2000; and Gender and American Politics: Women, Men, and the Political Process, Jyl Josephson and Sue Tolleson-Rinehart, editors, 2000.

Contributor to numerous magazines and journals, including Political Research Quarterly, National Tax Association Proceedings, National Tax Journal, Chapman Law Review, Women's Law Journal, and Philosophy and Public Affairs.

WORK IN PROGRESS: A New Undertaking of Property, for University of Chicago Press; book chapters and journal articles.

SIDELIGHTS: With a solid background in law, politics, and economics, Edward J. McCaffery is well-equipped to write—as he does—on such topics as death taxes, capital-gains taxes, pain and suffering damages, wealth-transfer taxation, election reform, and a plethora of related topics. He has also given testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance regarding estate tax, and the House Committee on Small Business's Subcommittee on Tax and Finance and Exports regarding death-tax reform. His books Taxing Women, and Fair not Flat: How to Make the Tax System Better and Simpler have been widely reviewed and critically acclaimed, even by those not necessarily agreeing with all his analyzes, philosophies, or suggested reforms.

Of Taxing Women, a reviewer for Publishers Weekly wrote, "Any contemporary woman who believes that strides toward gender equality are reflected in the tax laws of the U.S. should read this book." Analyzing Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" and the Christian Coalition's "Contract with the American Family," McCaffery argues that these social contracts have a specific political agenda which, simplistically put, is to keep women out of the workforce and at home with their families. Because the major elements of the tax system were instituted during an era when traditional family structures were the norm, tax laws rewarded the single-earner household, particularly one in which the woman was the stay-at-home-mom and homemaker and the man the breadwinner.

"The passage of time brought about some major changes in the status of women in the family and society," commented Rafat Fazeli in Signs. "However, the tax system remained virtually unchanged in its gender orientation. In reality, the rigidity of the tax system and its underdeveloped gender structure became a barrier to a richer and deeper equality." Briefly summarizing McCaffery's perspective, Michael McCrary wrote for Journal of Women's History, "However, the effects of the tax code for women vary depending on a family's income. Poor women are rewarded for being single parents, while women from affluent families are rewarded for remaining out of the labor force altogether. In contrast, middle-income women must choose between highly taxed, paid work or full-time homemaking with a subsequent rise in husbands' hours of work to compensate."

McCaffery uses statistics, charts, and personal anecdotes to support his theory as to why women are kept on the margins of economic life. He notes how the joint filing system considers women "secondary earners" that places them in their husband's usually higher tax bracket. "The average working wife in a middle-or upper-income household sees two-thirds of her salary lost to taxes and work-related expenses," writes McCaffery in his book, providing examples of women who could no longer afford to work once child-care costs were factored in. And he astutely points out that staying at home is a no-win situation, particularly devastating for older divorced women with little work experience, no pension, and no accumulation of social security benefits during their unemployed, married years. McCrary commented: "Arguing that the status quo is unacceptable, McCaffery identifies partial solutions to reduce gender inequality in taxation policies. These include separate filing for married couples, increased child care deductions, and tax breaks rather than penalties for spouses earning the lower of the two incomes (typically women)."

Fair Not Flat provides what Norm Hutcherson referred to in Library Journal as "an accessible and effective analysis of the present federal income tax and estate- and gift-tax system and proposes an innovative approach that would replace both with a consistent progressive consumption tax." McCaffery's basic premise is to tax spending instead of taxing income and savings. Bruce Bartlett wrote in the Wall Street Journal: "McCaffery believes that the rich are under-taxed on what they spend. Since unrealized capital gains are never taxed and because borrowing is not taxed as income, the wealthy can live lavishly, waste money on luxuries, shamelessly flaunt their wealth and pay few taxes."

Bartlett continued, "By contrast those in the middle class, struggling to save a few dollars for retirement or a child's education, are taxed mercilessly." There are income and payroll taxes and, when they can save, taxes on interest earned. McCaffery's solution—tax spending. A family of four, for example, would pay no taxes on their first $20,000 of expenditures, then 15 percent on the next $60,000. In addition, the relatively few families who spend more than $80,000 a year would be subject to a supplemental tax. In addition, necessities would be taxed less than ordinary and luxury items. "To be sure, Bill Gates could still escape taxation by saving all his money. But then he would have to live in the style of an ordinary American....On the other hand, if people want to borrow, splurge and live for today, they should pay a tax penalty for doing so."

McCaffery's plan would also eliminate death and estate taxes, because—obviously—dead people don't spend. Their heirs would therefore pay taxes, according to the prorated scale, as they spent their inheritance. And best of all, noted the author of the book's synopsis for the University of Chicago Press, "most Americans would not have to fill out tax returns."