Anne Alstott Publishes Student Guide on Taxation

Anne Alstott ’87, the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor in Taxation, is the author of Taxation in Six Concepts: A Student’s Guide (CCH Inc., 2015). The book boils down the law of taxation to just six concepts—valuation, net income, realization, tax deferral, substance over form, and income-shifting—and uses them to unpack leading cases and real-world transactions.

Alstott describes the impetus behind her book: “Tax law has an undeserved reputation as dry and corporate.  In fact, tax is – in all seriousness – fascinating.
In the United States, more so than in any other developed country, the tax law hosts many of the government’s most important social and economic policies.”  She goes on, “Many people think that tax is terribly hard to understand, but in fact, the subject is theoretically coherent and even logical, once you grasp a handful of basic concepts.”

Taxation in Six Concepts, Alstott explains, provides a short and readable guide for law and business students.  The book not only explains the major cases taught in a typical Federal Income Tax class but also applies the six concepts to illustrate tax planning for transactions in securities and real estate.

Anne Alstott is an expert in taxation and social policy. She was named a professor at Yale Law School in 1997 and originally named the Jacquin D. Bierman Professor of Taxation in 2004. She served as deputy dean in 2002 and 2004 and has won the Yale Law Women teaching award three times. From 2008 to 2011, she was the Manley O. Hudson Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.  She returned to YLS in 2011. Her previous books include No Exit: What Parents Owe Children and What Society Owes Parents (Oxford University Press, 2004) and The Stakeholder Society (with Bruce Ackerman, Yale University Press, 1999). She holds an A.B., summa cum laude, in economics from Georgetown University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.