Martinez on the Mess That Is Tax Policy

Leo Martinez has published an article called Tax Policy, Rational Actors, and Other Myths, 40 Loyola U. Chi. L. J. 297 (2009), in which he bemoans the current state of tax policy in America. Indeed, he argues, "tax policy is a largely mythical concept, more akin to the Holy Grail than to anything else." "[S]elf-interest, irrationality, and ineptitude explain the vicissitudes of tax policy in the modern world," he writes. Neither legislatures, the executive branch, nor the courts have dealt competently with tax policy. Leo argues that everyone, not just the branches of government, and not just the experts, should take responsibility for shaping tax policy.