I've initiated posting on SSRN my new short (7,000 words) article, "The 2008-09 Financial Crisis: Implications for Income Tax Reform," and will post the link when it's up.
The paper is based on PowerPoint slides for a talk I gave in Milan (or actually from NYC via skype) earlier this year, as per the preceding blog entry. It may appear next year in a conference volume relating to that session.
UPDATE: The link is here. Abstract is as follows:
Tax rules encouraging excessive debt, complex financial transactions, poorly designed incentive compensation for corporate managers, and highly leveraged home ownership all may have contributed to the financial crisis, but do not appear to have been among the primary causes. Even without a strong causal link, however, the preexisting case for tax reform at all these margins arguably is strengthened by the 2008 financial crisis, which suggests that tax rules not only fell short of classic neutrality benchmarks but generally leaned in precisely the wrong direction.
check out Mason Gaffney's take on this, at masongaffney.org He comes out of the tradition of Henry George, who had a lot of useful things to say about incentives, justice, taxation and freedom.
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