Buffett First Friday Lunch: Modernizing the French & US Tax Systems

Join the Buffett Institute for a faculty research lunchtime talk series on the first Friday of every month. Faculty members give a half-hour talk intended for a broad, multidisciplinary audience of Northwestern students, faculty and staff, followed by a conversational Q&A. Lunch is provided beginning at 12:15 p.m.

Tax law is complicated for humans, because it contains complex, interlocking, computational-heavy rules. But what is hard for humans can be easy for computers. And indeed, both France and the United States depend on computers and algorithms to implement tax and benefits law. Both countries, however, use outmoded computational approaches to tax administration. This talk will describe a joint project of French and U.S. researchers to create a new programming language, designed specifically for implementing tax and benefits law. The talk will also describe how the project has created its culture and norms to permit computer scientists and technologists to use technology to actually improve the administration of government, in particular by respecting, depending on, and working closely with subject-matter experts.

Please note that 720 University Place is not an ADA-accessible space. Increasing physical access to buildings and facilities is a goal of the University, but not all buildings and venues have been updated.

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