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WORLD ENDS; WOMEN, MINORITIES HARDEST HIT

November 13, 2006

The Tax Prof calls attention to a paper that says the tax law provision making non-physical personal injuries taxable - the provision overturned in Murphy - is racist and sexist. From the abstract for "I Think, Therefore I Am; I Feel, Therefore I Am Taxed: Déscartes, Tort Reform, and the Civil Rights Tax Relief Act":

Both section 104(a)(2) and the Civil Rights Tax Relief Act are premised on the assumption that physical and nonphysical injuries should be compensated (and taxed) differently. The paper explores the philosophical history of the distinction between the mind and the body, and argues that a distinction between physical and nonphysical harm – for the purposes of law – is a destructive dualism that has the effect of discriminating against women and minorities.

Last I looked, the plaintiffs bar looked pretty white and male. The pain these provisions cause those poor fellas shouldn't be ignored!

Really, the idea of worrying about whether this provision or that provision "has the effect of discriminating" is a fools errand. Until every racial and sex group has identical economic demographics, any tax law will discriminate against somebody. The earned income credit discriminates against old folks - they don't have kids. It discriminates against white folks - they're on average more likely to earn too much to qualify. Who cares? Either it's good tax policy or it's not; trying to fine-tune it based on racial effects is a step to madness.

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