Taxation I

Professor Deborah A. Geier Room 12 M, T, Th 2:45 – 3:55

Required Texts:

(1) U.S. Federal Income Taxation of Individuals 2017 by Deborah A. Geier.

You can download this textbook for free from https://www.cali.org/books/us-federal-income-taxation-individuals. 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 (approximately $35) by going to LB 115 (just off the law school atrium) on weekdays before 5:00.

(2) Access to the Internal Revenue Code & Regulations in class. I shall be using Selected Federal Taxation—Statutes and Regulations (West 2018 ed.) (ISBN 978-1-68328-807-7). For the first time this year, I have added hyperlinks to the electronic versions of my textbook (including the pdf version), which means that you can click on code sections and treasury regulations directly from your e-textbook. For those with a hard copy of the textbook in class, you can simply type the code section (e.g., IRC 61) or treasury regulation (e.g., TR 1.61-2) into your browser’s search box, and the first item to come up will be the Legal Information Institute’s version of the code section or regulation. The LII is hosted by Cornell law school, and it is the source that I used for the hyperlinks in my e-textbook.

One word of warning, however. You will not be able to access the internet during the final exam, 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 paste some Code and Regulation provisions in a saved file, as you will have access to your files (though not the internet) during the final exam. (I permit access to your files 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 your decision regarding 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.

James Surowiecki, “E-Book vs. P-Book,” The New Yorker, July 29, 2013, at 23 (emphasis added). Another study concluded that “students who read texts in print scored significantly better on the reading comprehension test than students who read the texts digitally.” http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0883035512001127. See also http://sciencenordic.com/paper-beats-computer-screens and http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/aug/19/readers-absorb-less-kindles....

I also want students to know that I do NOT receive any royalties with respect to this textbook.

Class 1:

Please read the Preface, Introduction, and the Introduction to Unit I of your textbook.