Tax Policy and the 14th Century Fresco (Miranda Stewart)

Miranda Stewart is a professor and the director of Tax Studies and the Tax Group at Melbourne Law School and also a fellow at the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute at Australian National University’s Crawford School of Public Policy. Her scholarship addresses an extraordinary range of topics related to tax policy, including transparency and economic development.

Her work takes up the challenge of envisioning tax laws that do more than just generate revenue. She sees those challenges depicted in a beautiful fresco painted by Ambrogio Lorenzetti in Siena Italy in the 14th century titled Allegory and effect of good and bad government. And painting may be just about the only thing Professor Stewart has not mastered: When she is not writing or teaching, she advises governments and think tanks about tax policy. Stewart and Dean talk about the connections she sees between how we govern ourselves and how we collect taxes.

This episode also features a recording by one of our students, Rommell from Metro Manila, Philippines, reading a quote from United States v. Murdock, 290 U.S. 389 (1933).

Resources

1. Professor Stewart’s biography
2. The Pencil Question article: Eric M. Zolt, "Prospects for Fundamental Tax Reform: United States vs. Japan," 83 Tax Notes 903 (1999).
3. Professor Stewart’s contributions to The Conversation
4. Professor Stewart's CV
5. The case featuring the student-read quote: United States v. Murdock