William A. Klein

Timing in Personal Taxation

In recent decades, fundamental questions relating to the fairness and economic effects of rules for timing in personal taxation have received far less attention than they deserve.1 This lack of attention may be attributable in part to a failure to recognize the pervasiveness of such questions and their importance (which is magnified by high interest rates). Certain aspects of the total problem, such as the proper allowance for depreciation under an income tax, have received considerable attention, perhaps at the expense of broader and deeper inquiry. And perhaps we have shied away from fundamental issues because, accepting as immutable the form of personal taxation to which we have become accustomed (a tax based on income), we have found those issues intractable.