The James Hausman Tax Law Policy and Workshop
Presents:
Diane M. Ring
Boston College Law School
FALLING SHORT IN THE DATA AGE
Wednesday February 5, 2020
12:30pm - 2:00pm
Falconer Hall, 84 Queen's Park
Solarium (FA2)
Abstract: Humans are imperfect and regularly fail to comply with the law, but the reality is that we often enjoy leeway to fall short of law’s requirements without consequences. This leeway to fall short and not be held accountable—which may arise from a confluence of information imperfections, resource constraints, politics, or luck—exists on top of formal legal provisions that provide leniency and discretion (such as tiered penalties or equitable provisions). Despite its significance in intermediating the relationship between humans and the law, the availability of informal leeway to fall short without sanction has often passed unnoticed and is undertheorized. This Article examines how increasing access to data and information will change the availability and shape of informal leeway in the law. We introduce a taxonomy of how leeway arises, outlining the reasons it exists and the different ways it is deployed. Applying this taxonomy, we show how increasingly ubiquitous data and information have caused and will continue to cause the availability of leeway to contract, and we highlight the risk that we will see disparate contraction for different populations. Building on these observations, we articulate a bounded defense of informal leeway to fall short of law’s requirements, despite the risks such leeway presents. We argue that, while leeway may compromise rule-of lawvalues, raise separation of powers concerns, and provide incentives for bad laws to stay on the books indefinitely, there are contexts in which it is valuable and where its loss could be problematic. We articulate policy solutions to help manage data-driven contraction of informal leeway while minimizing leeway’s risks. These include constructing data silos, limiting data collection, and redesigning underlying laws for the data age.
Bio: Diane M. Ring currently serves as the Associate Dean of Faculty, Professor of Law and the Dr. Thomas F. Carney Distinguished Scholar at BC Law. She researches and writes primarily in the field of international taxation, corporate taxation, and ethical issues in tax practice. Her recent work addresses issues including information exchange, tax leaks, international tax relations, sharing economy and human equity transactions, and ethics in international tax. Professor Ring was a consultant for the United Nation’s 2014 project on tax base protection for developing countries, and the U.N.'s 2013 project on treaty administration for developing countries. She was the U.S. National Reporter for the 2012 IFA Conference on the Debt Equity Conundrum, and the U.S. National Reporter for the 2004 IFA Conference on Double Nontaxation. She was the Assistant General Reporter for the 1995 IFA Conference on Financial Instruments and was a consultant to the IFA research project on the impact of technological and financial innovation on the taxation of income and activities. She is a Vice Chair for the Tax Section Committee of Teaching Taxation of the American Bar Association.
For further workshop information contact events.law@utoronto.ca
