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It is an honor to be asked to this school, especially to give one of the Donahue Lectures. Professor Anthony Polito, a friend for whom I have been a guest teacher, suggested my name in part to introduce this series to taxation. Constitutional law, the usual fare, finds a more preconditioned audience. But that may be because——as a professor who taught me both subjects said——“——”A lot of people know or think they know a great deal about the Constitution, though they couldn’t quote you one sentence of it.”

By contrast, most people think they know nothing about tax, although it informs their lives. Tax influences your choice of renting or buying a home, selling or keeping stocks, how to save for retirement. On a professional level, understanding the way that tax looks at the world——the concepts in which it thinks——shows you how to analyze a transaction no matter what rules apply….

For more information about Mr. Kingson’s Donahue Lecture (which served as the basis for this article) please click here.