From ZUEL News (Student Correspondent & Photographer Wang Shaohuang) At 9:30 a.m., March 29, 2019, the lecture on the theme of optimal tax theory, sponsored by the School of Public Finance and Taxation (SPFT) and the Institute of Income Distribution and Public Finance, and co-sponsored by the Graduate Student Association of SPFT, was successfully held in Conference Room 603 of the North Wing of Wenquan Building. This lecture was given by Prof. Jonathan Hamilton. And several students and faculty from SPFT participated in it.
Mr. Jonathan Hamilton is currently a professor of economics at the University of Florida and has several positions in academia: former Dean of the Department of Economics at the University of Florida, a leading member of the Southern Economic Association, former President of the Southern Economic Association, editor-in-chief and advisor to several SSCI journals, and a prolific author of numerous papers in leading international journals.
At the beginning of the lecture, Prof. Jonathan gave a brief introduction to the negative income tax and then went on to talk about the AFDC program (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) introduced in the 1950s, mentioning that there were no tax provisions for families with children and the 100% marginal tax on income. Then, Professor Jonathan gave a chronological lecture on classic systems such as the Nixon Family Assistance Program, the Tax Credit and Tax Plan for Labor Income, and Moffett's Welfare Stigma. He referred to the current series of economic policies and tax plans of President Donald Trump and commented that his approach to creating American jobs is actually destroying American jobs, expressing his hope that this situation will not last in the future.
Finally, Prof. Jonathan concluded the talk by saying that we are back to "deserving poverty," that both the EITC and categorical programs are here to stay, and that more information is needed to determine if non-participants are on the "right" side. Prof. Jonathan's presentation was well received by the faculty. After the presentation, the faculty asked questions about the differences between the US and China's tax systems and VAT. And Prof. Jonathan answered them in detail with humorous language. The lecture was successfully concluded with warm applause in the end.