Dennis J. Ventry, Jr.

Position Title

Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law

2133 King Hall

Professor Ventry is an expert in tax policy, tax practice, tax administration, legal and professional ethics, whistleblower law, state public records acts, family taxation, and U.S. economic and legal history. He is the author of dozens of articles, a leading casebook, book chapters, and an edited volume. Professor Ventry is regularly cited in the tax press and popular media for his expertise on the effects of taxation on the U.S. economy and society. He provides frequent commentary and opinion pieces to the popular press, including the ATLANTIC, FORBES, LOS ANGELES TIMES, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, NEW YORKER, NEW YORK TIMES, PROPUBLICA, SLATE, VICE, VOX, WALL STREET JOURNAL, and WASHINGTON POST.

In addition, Professor Ventry remains active in tax reform efforts at both the state and federal levels through his scholarship and commentary, public testimony and amici curiae briefs, and meeting with officials, legislators, and legislative staff. Professor Ventry also served as Chair and Vice-Chair of the IRS Advisory Council (IRSAC), a federally-chartered advisory committee that advises the Commissioner of Internal Revenue on tax administration issues.

Ventry’s current research interests focus on tax filing and administration, tax practice and policy, professional responsibility and standards of care, whistleblower statutes and programs, state Public Records Acts (PRAs), and tax expenditure analysis.

Education and Degree(s)

B.A. History, with a specialization in Business Administration, UCLA, 1993
M.A. History, UC Santa Barbara, 1996
Ph.D. History (Economic and Legal), UC Santa Barbara, 2001
J.D. New York University School of Law, 2004

Honors and Awards

Martin Luther King, Jr. Hall Research Scholar (2009-Present)
Faculty Affiliate, Center for Poverty Research, UC Davis (2013-Present)
Chair, Academic Senate Library Committee, UC Davis (2014-Present)
Member (Appointed Position), IRS Advisory Council (IRSAC) (2016-Present)
Member (Appointed Position), Office of Professional Responsibility Sub-Group, IRSAC (2016-Present)
Assistant Professor, American University, Washington College of Law (2006-08)
Visiting Scholar in Taxation, UCLA School of Law, Program in Business Law & Policy (2005-06)
Associate, O'Melveny & Myers LLP, Newport Beach, CA (2004-05)
Lawrence Lederman/Milbank Tweed Fellow in Law and Business, NYU School of Law (2003-04)
Samuel I. Golieb Fellow in Legal History, NYU School of Law (2001-02)
Doctoral Research Fellow, The Brookings Institution (2000-01)
Visiting Fellow, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University (1999-2000)
Research and Teaching Fellow, University of California Washington Center (1996 & 1998)
Tax History Research Fellow, Tax Analysts (1996-99)

Research Interests & Expertise

Taxation
Tax Practice
Tax Filing and Administration
Tax Policy
Legal and Professional Ethics
Whistleblower Statutes and Programs
Public Records Acts
Tax Expenditure Analysis
Distributive Justice
Family Taxation
and U.S. Economic, Tax, Legal, and Gender History

Membership and Service

Chair, Vice-Chair & Member, IRS Advisory Council (2016-18)
Chair, Vice-Chair & Member, University Committee on Library and Scholarly Communication (2015-Present)
Member, UC Negotiating Team for Large Academic Publishers (2018-Present)
Member, Elsevier Strategy and Negotiation Task Force (2018-Present)
Member, Project TRANSFORM (2018-Present)
Organizer, Open Access Tipping Point Workshop Planning Group (2019)
Member, UC Office of Scholarly Communication (2019-Present).
Member, Systemwide Library and Scholarly Information Advisory Committee (2019-Present)
Member, University Committee on Academic Computing and Communications (2019-Present)
Reviewer, President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (2019-Present)
Chair & Member, Academic Senate Library Committee, UC Davis (2014-17)
Member, Library Space Planning Steering Committee, UC Davis (2016-17)
Law Faculty Representative, Academic Senate, UC Davis (2012-14, 2016)
Member, Recruitment Advisory Committee, Scholarly Communications Officer, University Library, UC Davis (2016).
Chair & Member, Library Advisory Committee, UC Davis School of Law (2015-Present)
Member, Loan Repayment Assistance Program, UC Davis School of Law (2014-Present)
Co-Faculty Advisor, Tax Certificate Program, UC Davis School of Law (2016-Present)
Co-Faculty Advisor, Tax Law Society, UC Davis School of Law (2010-Present)
Member, Faculty Job Satisfaction Survey Committee, UC Davis School of Law (2015-16)
Member, Faculty Appointments Committee, UC Davis School of Law (2012-13)
Member, Educational Policy Committee, UC Davis School of Law (2011-12)
Member, Admissions Committee, UC Davis School of Law (2010-11)
Member, Technology Committee, UC Davis School of Law (2011-13)
Member, Website Design Committee, UC Davis School of Law (2011-13)
Member, Academic Appeals Committee, UC Davis School of Law (2012-13)
Member, Selection Committee, Assistant Dean for Career Services, UC Davis School of Law (2011)
Member, Selection Committee, Associate Director of Career Services, UC Davis School of Law (2011-12)
Member, Academic Advisory Board for the Tannenwald Foundation (2012-Present)
Member, Multistate Tax Commission, Tax Undercollection Class Action and Tax Overcollection False Claims Act Work (2014-2015)

Publications

False Claims in CA’s Fight Over False Claims Act, 94 Tax Notes State 395 (2019), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3491996.

The Failed Free File Program Should Be Reformed, Not Codified, 160 Tax Notes Federal 317 (2018), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3219900.

Why Filing Taxes Isn’t Easy (with Joseph Bankman & Dan Hemel), Politico (July 18, 2018), https://www.politico.com/agenda/story/2018/07/18/tax-filing-congress-irs-000683.

Free File Providers Scam Taxpayers; Congress Shouldn’t Be Fooled, The Hill (July 6, 2018), https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/395762-free-file-providers-scam-taxpayers-congress-cant-be-fooled.

Federal 641 (2018), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3098291.

Caveat IRS: Problems with Abandoning the Full Deduction Rule (with Joseph Bankman, David Gamage, Jacob Goldin, Daniel J. Hemel, Darien Shanske, Kirk J. Stark, Manoj Viswanathan), 159 Tax Notes Federal 807 (2018), https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3204962.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers : Bad News for Employers, Lawyers, and Internal Compliance, Jurist (Mar. 22, 2018), https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2018/03/realty-trust-inc-v-somers/.

Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council, 2018 Public Report (Nov. 2018), https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p5316.pdf.

State Responses to Federal Tax Reform: Charitable Tax Credits (with Joseph Bankman, David Gamage, Jacob Goldin, Daniel J. Hemel, Darien Shanske, Kirk J. Stark, Manoj Viswanathan), 159 Tax Notes

Stitches for Snitches: Lawyers as Whistleblowers, 50 UC DAVIS LAW REVIEW ___ (April 2017).

Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council, 2017 Public Report (Nov. 2017), https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/2017-irsac-public-report.pdf.

Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council, 2016 Public Report (Nov. 2016), https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/2016irsacfinalreport.pdf.

Review Essay of Ajay K. Mehrotra, MAKING THE MODERN FISCAL STATE: LAW, POLITICS, AND THE RISE OF PROGRESSIVE TAXATION, 1887-1929 (2013), 46 JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY HISTORY 29 (SUMMER 2015).

Probability, Professionalism, and Protecting Taxpayers, 68 TAX LAWYER 83 (Fall 2014).

Not Just Whistling Dixie: The Case for Tax Whistleblowers in the States, 59 VILLANOVA LAW REVIEW (2014).

Misinformed and Misled About the Benefits of the Mortgage Interest Deduction, 16 CITYSCAPE 219 (2014).

The Fake Third Rail of Tax Reform, 135 TAX NOTES 181 (2012).

Americans Don’t Hate Taxes, They Hate Paying Taxes, 44 U.B.C. LAW REVIEW 835 (2011).

Saving Seaborn: Ownership Not Marriage as the Basis of Family Taxation, 86 INDIANA LAW JOURNAL 1459 (2011).

The Accidental Deduction: A History and Critique of the Tax Subsidy for Mortgage Interest, 73 LAW AND CONTEMPORARY PROBLEMS 233 (2009)

Intuit’s Nine Lies Kill State E-Filing Programs and Keep “Free” File Alive, 57 STATE TAX NOTES 555 (2010)

A Primer on Tax Work Product for Federal Courts, 123 TAX NOTES 875 (2009).

Protecting Abusive Tax Avoidance, 120 TAX NOTES 857 (2008)

Cooperative Tax Regulation, 41 CONNECTICUT LAW REVIEW 431 (2008).

Whistleblowers and Qui Tam for Tax, 61 TAX LAWYER 357 (2008)

Save the Economic Substance Doctrine from Congress, 118 TAX NOTES 1405 (2008)

Welfare By Any Other Name: Tax Transfers and the EITC, 56 AMERICAN UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW 1261 (2007) (expanded version of prepared symposium remarks, reflected in the citation immediately below)

TAX JUSTICE: THE ONGOING DEBATE, (with Joseph J. Thorndike eds. 2002)

Equity vs. Efficiency and the U.S. Tax System in Historical Perspective, in TAX JUSTICE: THE ONGOING DEBATE 25 (Joseph J. Thorndike & Dennis J. Ventry, Jr. eds., 2002)

The Collision of Tax and Welfare Politics: The Political History of the Earned Income Tax Credit, in MAKING WORK PAY: THE EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT AND ITS IMPACT ON AMERICAN FAMILIES 15 (Bruce Meyer & Douglas Holtz-Eakin eds., 2001)

Welfare by Any Other Name: How We Can 'Save' the EITC, 114 TAX NOTES 955 (2007)

Tax Politics and the New Substantial Understatement Penalty, 113 TAX NOTES 98 (2006)

IRS Penalty Report: A Call for Objective Standards, 112 TAX NOTES 1183 (2006)

Vices and Virtues of an Objective Reporting Standard, 112 TAX NOTES 1085 (2006)

Filling the Ethical Void: Treasury's 1986 Circular 230 Proposal, 112 TAX NOTES 691 (2006)

Lowering the Bar: ABA Formal Opinion 85-352, 112 TAX NOTES 69 (2006)

No Joke: Circular 230 Is Here To Stay, 111 TAX NOTES 1409 (2006)

ABA Formal Opinion 346 and a New Statutory Penalty Regime, 111 TAX NOTES 1269 (2006)

ABA Formal Opinion 346 and a New Statutory Penalty Regime, 111 TAX NOTES 1141 (2006)

Reasonable Basis and Ethical Standards before 1980, 111 TAX NOTES 1047 (2006)

Tax Shelter Opinions Threatened the Tax System in the 1970s, 111 TAX NOTES 947 (2006)

Raising the Ethical Bar for Tax Lawyers: Why We Need Circular 230, 111 TAX NOTES 823 (2006)

No Income Splitting for Domestic Partners: How the IRS Erred, 110 TAX NOTES 1221 (2006)

State and Local Taxes: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Concerning Property Taxes, Sales and Use Taxes and State and Local Income Taxes, O'Melveny & Myers LLP (with Chris Campbell 2005)

Small Business Stock: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions Concerning Qualified Small Business Stock and Section 1244 Stock, O'Melveny & Myers LLP (with Winston Chang 2005)

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), in POVERTY IN THE UNITED STATES: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY, POLITICS AND POLICY (Alice O'Connor & Gwendolyn Mink eds., 2004)

TAX JUSTICE: THE ONGOING DEBATE, (with Joseph J. Thorndike eds. 2002)

Equity vs. Efficiency and the U.S. Tax System in Historical Perspective, in TAX JUSTICE: THE ONGOING DEBATE 25 (Joseph J. Thorndike & Dennis J. Ventry, Jr. eds., 2002)

The Collision of Tax and Welfare Politics: The Political History of the Earned Income Tax Credit, 1969-1999, 53 NATIONAL TAX JOURNAL 983 (2000)

Straight Talk About the "Death" Tax: Politics, Economics and Morality, 89 TAX NOTES 1159 (2000)

The Not-So-Hidden Welfare State, EH-Net and H-Net (2000), review of JULIAN E. ZELIZER, TAXING AMERICA: WILBUR D. MILLS, CONGRESS, AND THE STATE, 1945-1975 (1998)

Full Exposure: Tax Policy as Social Policy, 80 TAX NOTES 393 (1998), review of CHRISTOPHER HOWARD, THE HIDDEN WELFARE STATE: TAX EXPENDITURES AND SOCIAL POLICY IN THE UNITED STATES (1997)

Taxing Women: A Taxing Book, 79 TAX NOTES 905 (1998), review of EDWARD J. MCCAFFERY, TAXING WOMEN (1997)

The Negative Income Tax: An Intellectual History, 77 TAX NOTES 491 (1997)

"The Plan That Slogans Built": The Revenue Act of 1943, 76 TAX NOTES 1241 (with Joseph Thorndike 1997)

The Victory Tax of 1942, 75 TAX NOTES 1549 (1997)