Tax Panel Announces Witness List For Second Meeting On Thursday

WASHINGTON, DC - Senators Connie Mack and John Breaux, Chairman and Vice -Chairman of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, today announced the witness list for the Panel's second meeting, on Thursday, March 3, 2005. The witnesses will provide the panel additional perspectives on tax reform, as well as a description of the problems presented by complexity in the tax system. Biographical information for each witness is attached.

WITNESS LIST

The Honorable Alan Greenspan
Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

The Honorable James A. Baker, III
Former Secretary of State and Former Secretary of the Treasury

Panel I:  View from the Internal Revenue Service
Testimony of the Honorable Mark W. Everson. Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service

Panel II:  The Impact of Complexity on Taxpayers
Testimony of Nina E. Olson, National Taxpayer Advocate

Testimony of Joel B. Slemrod, Paul W. McCracken Collegiate Professor of Business Administration and the Director, Office of Tax Policy Research at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business

Panel III:  The Alternative Minimum Tax
Testimony of Leonard Burman, Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute and co-director of the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

Testimony of Claudia Hill, EA, MBA, Owner and Principal, Tax Mam, Inc., Cupertino, CA

The meeting will be held on Thursday, March 3, 2005, at 9:30 AM in the Jack Morton Auditorium, Media and Public Affairs Building, The George Washington University, 805 21st Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20052

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Biographical Information for Witnesses Scheduled to Participate
in the Second Meeting of
The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform March 3, 2005

Alan Greenspan is Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and Chairman of the Federal Open Market Committee. He served President Ronald Reagan as Chairman of the National Commission on Social Security Reform and as a member of the President's Economic Policy Advisory Board. Under President Gerald Ford, he was the Chairman of the President's Council of Economic Advisers. He has been a member of Time Magazine's Board of Economists, senior advisor to the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity, and a consultant to the Congressional Budget Office. He received a B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. in economics from New York University.

James A. Baker, III, is honorary chairman of the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University. Mr. Baker was the White House Chief of Staff under President Ronald Reagan from 1981 to 1985. He served as the 67th Secretary of the Treasury from 1985 to 1988 under President Reagan. As Treasury Secretary, Baker was also chairman of the President's Economic Policy Council. He served as the 61st Secretary of State from January 1989 through August 1992 under President George Bush. Mr. Baker is presently a senior partner in the law firm of Baker Botts and a senior counselor to The Carlyle Group.

Mark Everson is the Commissioner of Internal Revenue. Mr. Everson also served as Deputy Director for management and controller of the office of Federal Financial Management for the Office of Management and Budget. He also chaired the President's Management Council. During the Reagan administration, he held several positions at the U.S. Information Agency and the Department of Justice. He received his B.A. in history from Yale University and M.S. in accounting from the New York University Business School.

Nina Olson is the National Taxpayer Advocate. She is the founder and former executive director of the Community Tax Law Project, the first independent low-income taxpayer clinic in the United States. She served as the chair of the ABA Section of Taxation Low-Income Taxpayers Committee as well as the Pro Se/Pro Bono Task Force of the ABA Tax Section's Court Procedure Committee. In addition, Nina has served as chair of the Virginia State Bar's Special Committee on Access to Legal Services. She has been an adjunct professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, the College of William and Mary School of Law, and the University of Richmond School of Law. She received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College, her J.D. from North Carolina Central University School of Law, and L.L.M. in taxation from Georgetown University law Center.

Joel Slemrod is the Paul W. McCracken Collegiate Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy and the Director of the Office of Tax Policy Research of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. He is co-author with Jon Bakija of Taxing Ourselves: A Citizen's Guide to the Debate over Taxes, the third edition of which was published in 2004. Professor Slemrod was editor of the National Tax Journal, the leading academic journal devoted to the theory and practice of taxation, from 1992 to 1998. Previously, Professor Slemrod served as the senior staff economist for tax policy at the President's Council of Economic Advisers from 1984-85 and a National Fellow at the Hoover Institution from 1983-84. Professor Slemrod received an A.B. from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.

Leonard Burman is co-director of the Tax Policy Center, Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute, and Visiting Professor at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute. Professor Burman served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Analysis from 1998 to 2000, and as Senior Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office from 1988 to 1997. He is the author of a book, The Labyrinth of Capital Gains Tax Policy: A Guide for the Perplexed, and numerous articles, studies, and reports. He is also a commentator for Marketplace. His recent research has examined the individual alternative minimum tax, the estate tax, the changing role of taxation in social policy, and tax incentives for savings, retirement, and health insurance. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. from Wesleyan University.

Claudia Hill is a nationally recognized tax professional and frequent lecturer on taxation of individuals and representation before the Internal Revenue Service. For over 30 years, Ms. Hill has been owner and principal of Tax Mam, Inc., one of the 25 largest tax preparation firms in Silicon Valley, California, where she prepares hundreds of returns every year. She is Editor in Chief of the CCH, Inc., "Journal of Tax Practice & Procedure," and a Contributing Author of Practitioner's Publishing Company's "Guide to Dealing with the IRS." Ms. Hill is an Enrolled Agent and holds an M.B.A.

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