Greetings, all! Tax I will meet on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 9:30 to 10:40 in Room 12.

Required Texts

• U.S. Federal Income Taxation of Individuals 2015 by Deborah A. Geier. You can download this textbook for free from www.cali.org/books/us-federal-income-taxation-individuals-2015. If you prefer to have a hard copy, as well, you can also purchase a double-sided printed and bound copy here at C-M at cost ($33) by going to LB 115 (just off the law school atrium) before 5:00.
• Access to the Internal Revenue Code & Regulations. In class, I shall be using Selected Federal Taxation—Statutes and Regulations (West 2016 ed.) (ISBN 978-1-63459-483-7). Alternatively, however, you may avoid this cost by accessing the Code sections and related Treasury Regulations that we shall study online. In particular, your Bloomberg Law account provides ready access under “Practice Centers—Tax.” In the first box on the right, select Internal Revenue Code or Treasury Regulations (depending on whether you seek to access the Code or the Regulations) and type the desired section in the second box next to it. The format that Bloomberg Law uses is easy to read, with the sorts of indentations and set-offs that you see in printed versions (including the Selected Sections book). You will not be able to access the internet during the final exam, however, so those of you choosing online access may wish to print out some of the Code sections and Treasury Regulations that you wish to have with you during the final exam. Alternatively, you can copy and save some Code and Regulation provisions in a file, as you will have access to your files (though not the internet) during the final exam. (I permit this so that students wishing to avoid the cost of printing out or purchasing the textbook can still access it during the exam, which is open book.)

I came across the following while reading, and I thought I’d share it in case it affects the decision of anyone trying to decide whether to purchase the print version of the textbook or to rely only on the (free) download version, reading it on a screen. (The same insight can apply to reading the Code & Regs only on a screen.)

But we do read things differently when they’re on a page rather than on a screen. A study this year found that people reading on a screen tended to skip around more and read less intensively, and plenty of research confirms that people tend to comprehend less of what they read on screen. The differences are small, but they may explain the persistent appeal of paper.

James Surowiecki, “E-Book vs. P-Book,” The New Yorker, July 29, 2013, at 23 (emphasis added). Also: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/19/readers-absorb-less-kindles-paper-study-plot-ereader-digitisation and http://sciencenordic.com/paper-beats-computer-screens and http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883035512001127

Optional Text

I honestly do not believe that any additional study aids are necessary beyond the textbook, as I intentionally provide more examples that walk students through how the law applies to facts than do most other textbooks. Nevertheless, I often find that students are not comfortable unless they spend money on some sort of study aid. If you are intent on spending money, the one listed below is better than most.

Federal Income Tax: Examples & Explanations by Bankman, Griffith, & Pratt (Aspen 6th ed. 2011) (ISBN 978-0-7355-9955-0)

First Class Assignment

Preface, Introduction, and the Introduction to Unit I.