San Antonio hosts 64th Annual Conference.

• Position: Chapter News - Conference notes

With the famed River Walk a stone's throw away, TEI members and guests gathered at the San Antonio Grand Hyatt for the 64th Annual Conference, from October 25 to 28. Speakers included top Treasury and IRS officials, well-respected practitioners, and experienced tax executives.

TEl President Nell Traubenberg welcomed the participants to the three-day conference on Monday morning, presiding over the opening plenary session featuring a preview of TEI's new website and an update on significant enhancements to the continuing education benefits provided by TEI. (See separate stories.)

The first day of the conference featured a presentation on Exceptionalism in American Tax Policy, an overview of the myriad ways that U.S. tax policies stand apart from most other countries of the world: the high corporate tax rate, worldwide taxation system, and the absence of a national consumption tax. In a thought-provoking summary, C. Clinton Stretch of Deloitte Tax highlighted the fiscal and budgetary challenges and choices confronting U.S. taxpayers and policymakers.

At the luncheon on the first day of the conference, new Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary for International Tax Affairs Stephen E. Shay suggested that the word "conceptionalism" might be a better than "exceptionalism" to describe U.S. tax policy. "It is important," Mr. Shay explained, "to look at our overall tax system in context. That really starts from the question, 'What do we fund as a government compared to other governments?'" He said that American tax policy should be judged in its uniquely American context.

In response to a question about whether the U.S. would or should add a value-added tax system, Mr. Shay said that evaluating the benefits of a VAT and designing and implementing such a system in the United States would be a long-term project. Barriers to the introduction of a VAT include designing it for a larger economy than has yet adopted such a system, accommodating state sales tax regimes, addressing progressivity, and providing resources for the tax's administration and compliance. He said it was unlikely that a VAT would receive substantial consideration without evidence that the United States cannot accomplish what it needs with existing revenue sources. While acknowledging that the discussion of a VAT has gone beyond academic circles, Mr. Shay suggested that any tax reform efforts would "focus on reforms of the income tax in all its various elements before--as a political...