BIO

Dennis J. Ventry, Jr. is the Visiting Scholar in Taxation at UCLA School of Law and Assistant Professor of Law at American University, Washington College of Law (beginning Fall 2006). His research interests include tax policy, public finance, family taxation, the taxation of same-sex couples, tax expenditures for low-income individuals, estate and gift taxation, and tax shelters. He is the author of Tax Justice: The Ongoing Debate, with Joseph J. Thorndike (Urban Institute Press, 2002). Currently, he is completing a book on the history of U.S. family taxation, as well as two articles describing the cultural and institutional history of tax shelters in the United States with particular emphasis on ethical standards and guidelines among tax lawyers. In addition, Ventry is involved in the legal effort to secure for California domestic partners the same treatment under the federal income tax as that reserved for husbands and wives. Ventry received his Ph.D. (economic and legal history) from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his J.D. from New York University School of Law.