About the UNC Tax Center
UNC Kenan-Flagler established the UNC Tax Center in 2001 to build bridges between tax scholars, policymakers and practitioners who share an interest in evidence-based tax research. Although interested in similar issues, the three groups typically have limited contact with each other. The UNC Tax Center has increased its interactions through such events as its annual tax symposium in Chapel Hill as well as joint conferences with the Brookings Institution, American Tax Policy Institute, National Bureau of Economics Research and National Tax Association. With its roots in the accounting area of a business school, the UNC Tax Center is designed to bring together accountants, economists, and attorneys, from academia, industry, and the government, who share a common interest in tax research.
Educating the next generation of tax professors is another goal of the UNC Tax Center. Accounting doctoral programs are producing too few graduates with research interests in taxation. The primary reason for the shortage is that only a handful of universities provide a PhD-level tax seminar for their students. Without exposure to tax research, doctoral students write dissertations in other areas of accounting (predominantly financial accounting) and enter the job market without preparation or interest in taxation. This is true even for those who had tax experience in public accounting or private industry before entering their doctoral program. To address the lack of PhD-level education in tax research, the UNC Tax Center holds an annual tax doctoral seminar each year for approximately 10-15 students from leading PhD programs.
The center is open to new ventures that involve important business issues in which taxes play a critical role. Private donations and corporate sponsors provide the center’s revenues. For inquiries about the UNC Tax Center, please email taxcenter@unc.edu.
We build bridges between tax scholars, policymakers and practitioners while increasing the visibility and contribution of accountants in tax policymaking.