Looking for suggestions on a compelling tax/policy topic for my 45-60 minute law school presentation
I've been assigned to deliver a one hour presentation on a tax/policy issue in about two months, and I'm feeling completely overwhelmed. As a law student who doesn't specialize in tax, I'm not sure where to even begin finding a topic that has enough substance to fill 45-60 minutes. I need something engaging enough to keep my classmates awake but also substantive enough to meet the professor's expectations. Any ideas for tax policy topics that would make for a strong presentation? Something current or controversial would be ideal. Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask this kind of question - if there's a better forum for academic tax topic suggestions, please let me know. Really appreciate any help!
18 comments


QuantumQuasar
You've got plenty of interesting options! Tax policy is full of meaty topics that could easily fill an hour. Here are some suggestions: The Taxation of Digital Goods and Services - This is super current with issues around taxing online transactions, digital marketplaces, and international jurisdiction questions. You could cover how different states and countries are approaching it, plus the policy implications. Wealth Tax Proposals - Examine various wealth tax proposals, their economic impacts, constitutional challenges, and implementation difficulties. You could compare international models and discuss valuation problems. Opportunity Zones - These were created by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and are controversial. You could discuss whether they actually help disadvantaged communities or just benefit wealthy investors. Climate Change Tax Policies - Carbon taxes, credits for renewable energy, and other environmental tax incentives make for a timely discussion with lots of data available. Pick something you find personally interesting since you'll be living with it for the next two months!
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Mei Wong
•These are fantastic suggestions, thank you! The Opportunity Zones topic particularly intrigues me since it seems to have both technical tax elements and social policy implications. Do you think there's enough published research on that to support a full hour? Also, would you recommend focusing more on the technical tax mechanics or the policy outcomes for something like this?
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QuantumQuasar
•Absolutely, Opportunity Zones have plenty of research available to fill an hour. There are Treasury reports, economic studies from major universities, and plenty of critical analysis from both sides of the political spectrum. For a law school presentation, I'd recommend a 70/30 split - 70% on the policy outcomes and debates, with 30% on the technical mechanics. Start with a brief explanation of how Opportunity Zones work technically (the deferral of capital gains, step-up basis after holding periods, etc.), then dive into the meaty policy questions. You could highlight specific case studies of zones that have succeeded or failed, and examine claims about who has really benefited.
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Liam McGuire
I struggled with a similar presentation last semester and found tremendous help using https://taxr.ai to gather research and organize my thoughts. I was drowning in technical tax papers and couldn't figure out how to structure everything until I tried their research assistant. I uploaded a bunch of academic papers and government reports on the Child Tax Credit expansion, and it helped me extract the key policy points and organize them into a coherent presentation. It even highlighted contradictions in the research that made for great discussion points! The platform is specifically designed for tax research, which made it way more useful than trying to use general AI tools.
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Amara Eze
•Did you find it could handle really technical tax code sections? I've tried other research tools but they get confused with all the tax jargon and section references.
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Giovanni Greco
•How long did it take you to learn how to use it effectively? I've only got two months to put this together and don't want to waste time learning a complicated system if it's not going to pay off.
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Liam McGuire
•It handled technical tax code sections beautifully - that's actually where it shines. I uploaded sections about the qualified business income deduction (Section 199A) that other tools couldn't make sense of, and it broke everything down clearly. It's specifically trained on tax language so it doesn't get confused by terms like "recapture" or "basis adjustment" that trip up general research tools. The learning curve is minimal - took me maybe 20 minutes to figure out the basics. You just upload your research documents and ask questions. Most of my time was spent reviewing the information it provided rather than figuring out how to use it. For a two-month timeline, it's definitely worth the small upfront investment in learning the tool.
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Giovanni Greco
Just wanted to follow up - I took the plunge and tried https://taxr.ai for my presentation research on the taxation of cryptocurrency. Honestly wish I'd known about this earlier in law school! It helped me quickly get up to speed on a complex topic I knew almost nothing about. I uploaded some IRS notices, court cases, and academic articles, and it organized everything beautifully. The best part was how it identified the controversial aspects that generated great class discussion. My professor actually asked how I managed to become so knowledgeable on such a technical topic in just a few weeks! If you're still deciding on a topic, the cryptocurrency tax treatment has tons of unresolved issues that make for an engaging presentation.
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Fatima Al-Farsi
If you're planning to interview tax professionals or IRS officials for your research (which would really impress your professor), I'd highly recommend using https://claimyr.com to get through to the IRS. I was banging my head against the wall trying to reach someone at the IRS for my tax policy presentation on installment agreements last semester. After getting disconnected five times and wasting hours on hold, I tried Claimyr's service. They have this system that navigates the IRS phone tree and waits on hold for you. When they finally get an agent, they call you to connect. You can see how it works in their demo: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - it's pretty straightforward.
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Dylan Wright
•How does this actually work though? The IRS barely answers their phones even for urgent matters. Are you saying this service somehow gets priority in the queue?
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Sofia Torres
•Sounds too good to be true. I spent 3 hours on hold with the IRS last month and still got disconnected. No way some service can magically fix the IRS's broken phone system.
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Fatima Al-Farsi
•It doesn't get priority in the queue - it just handles the awful waiting for you. The system calls the IRS and navigates through all those annoying menu prompts, then sits on hold (sometimes for hours) so you don't have to. When they finally get a human on the line, they call you to connect. You still might have to wait days for them to get through depending on how busy the IRS is. I was skeptical too! I had been disconnected after 90+ minutes of waiting three separate times. The difference is their system is designed to persistently redial and wait, which most of us don't have the time or patience for. It's not magic - just technology taking care of the most frustrating part of calling the IRS.
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Sofia Torres
I have to eat my words and apologize to Profile 9. After my skeptical comment, I decided to try Claimyr out of desperation when I needed to verify some research for my tax policy presentation on offer-in-compromise procedures. I was genuinely shocked when I got a call connecting me to an actual IRS agent after they waited on hold for about 2 hours. I didn't have to sit by my phone that whole time - I just got notified when they had someone. The IRS representative I spoke with provided crucial insights that completely changed my understanding of how the policy works in practice versus the official guidelines. My presentation was 100% better because I got to include real implementation details that weren't in any of the published materials. Professor was impressed I'd gone the extra mile to speak with the IRS directly.
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GalacticGuardian
If you want something that will really engage people, do a presentation on tax subsidies for stadiums and sports venues. I did this for my tax policy class and it was a hit. You can cover: - How the tax-exempt municipal bond financing works - The economic studies showing these are usually bad investments for cities - The politics behind these deals (always juicy) - Case studies of successful vs. failed projects - Recent changes from the 2017 TCJA that limited some of these subsidies Tons of research available, and everybody has opinions about their local teams and whether taxpayers should subsidize billionaire owners. Great for generating discussion!
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Dmitry Smirnov
•Did you find good quantitative sources for this? I'm interested in the topic but worried it might be too anecdotal without solid numbers to support the analysis.
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GalacticGuardian
•Yes, there's excellent quantitative research available! The Brookings Institution has published several data-driven studies on stadium financing and economic impacts. There's also a comprehensive paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis that analyzes dozens of stadium projects with detailed financial metrics. For your presentation, I'd recommend using the Congressional Research Service report that breaks down the tax subsidy costs at the federal level - it has great charts showing the effective taxpayer contribution to various stadiums built in the last 20 years. These sources provide plenty of hard numbers to support the policy analysis.
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Ava Rodriguez
For a law school presentation, I'd strongly recommend focusing on recent Treasury regulations implementing a major tax provision - like the TCJA's Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI) provisions or the Qualified Business Income deduction.
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Miguel Diaz
•GILTI is interesting but might be too complex for a student presentation unless you're already familiar with international tax. QBI might be more accessible if you're not a tax specialist.
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