Teaching State and Local Tax: Law Schools Still Not ... - TaxProf Blog

ViewpointFinal Note: Which School Is Best forState and Local Tax?I also examined the quality of the state and localtax offerings. As Tax Analysts found in our previoussurveys, overall the quality was high. Most schoolshad well-known and respected full-time faculty orpractitioners teaching. Most professors, from whatwe could discern, used well-regarded texts andteaching resources.The leader in the state and localtax field among academicinstitutions is unquestionably NewYork University.The leader in the state and local tax field amongacademic institutions is unquestionably New YorkUniversity. NYU lists three different state and localcourses — almost every other school with a courseoffers only one. And at least two of those NYUcourses are taught by the irrepressible Rick Pomp.Pomp, along with Wally Hellerstein, has dominatedthe field of state and local taxation for two decades.The only school that comes close is the GeorgetownUniversity Law Center. Georgetown offers twodifferent courses in state and local taxation; althoughthe courses are primarily designed for LLMstudents, they are generally open to juris doctorstudents as well. Georgetown has a close workingrelationship with the Council On State Taxation anduses some excellent practitioners (Phil Tatarowiczand Jeff Friedman) to teach.Most people who teach state and local tax realizethe difficulty of jamming so much information on awide variety of topics into a one-semester course. Ihave always thought law schools could offer separatecourses on constitutional limitations (for example,the commerce and due process clauses), corporateand franchise taxation, and consumptiontaxes. Yet in our survey, Tax Analysts could not findany schools other than NYU and Georgetown thatoffered two different courses.732 State Tax Notes, June 2, 2008