Hammer Forum

Who Pays Taxes?

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Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist David Cay Johnston and tax law scholar Edward Kleinbard discuss the misconceptions and realities of who exactly is paying U.S. federal income taxes. Johnston, a 13-year veteran of the New York Times, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2001 for uncovering loopholes and inequities in the U.S. tax code. His books include the bestseller Perfectly Legal, and a new book, The Fine Print: How Big Companies Use “Plain English” to Rob You Blind. Kleinbard is a professor at USC’s Gould School of Law and the former chief of staff of the U.S. Congress Joint Committee on Taxation. His work focuses on the taxation of capital income, international tax issues, and the intersection of tax policy and contemporary politics.

This ongoing series of timely, thought-provoking events addresses current social and political issues.
Hammer Forum is moderated by Ian Masters, journalist, author, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, and host of the radio programs Background Briefing, Sundays at 11AM, and The Daily Briefing, Monday through Thursday at 5PM, on KPFK 90.7 FM.

Hammer Forum is made possible in part by Bronya and Andrew Galef. 

All Hammer public programs are free and made possible by a major gift from the Dream Fund at UCLA.

Generous support is also provided by Susan Bay Nimoy and Leonard Nimoy, the Simms/Mann Family Foundation, The Brotman Foundation of California, Good Works Foundation and Laura Donnelley, and all Hammer members.