There is no final exam in this course. Instead, a written paper should be turned in by December 16th, the date on which an exam would have been given. The paper should be handed in at the Accounting Department Office in Sci 301 by the close of business that day or should be e-mailed as an attachment to rdaniels@sfsu.edu by midnight. If you e-mail it, please include your name in the filename.

There are two alternatives for the choice of topic:

(1) With my approval, you may choose any topic connected with the material covered in this course. Please give me the topic in writing so I may see if it is too broad or narrow before I approve it.

(2) Otherwise, you should choose a tax expenditure from the list given to you earlier, find the tax policy that underlies the tax expenditure and the rules that implement it, and compare such US policy and rules to those of another nation. For example, the Earned Income Credit implements a policy of reducing poverty through a tax subsidy for the working poor, especially those with children (see text, P. 15-56 and Tax Code Sec. 32). There are eligibility rules and rules that set a maximum limit on the credit and phase it out as income increases. Do any other countries have equivalent tax subsidies for the working poor with children? (Canada, for example, does.) What are the similarities and differences in the way the policy is implemented in other nations? What features are due to the different cultures involved, and what do both systems have in common? And so forth.

The target length for the papers is ten pages (double spaced, normal size type, adequate margins). If two or three students wish to collaborate on a group paper, there should be a corresponding increase in depth and detail (the target length for 2 authors would be 14 pages and for 3 would be 17 pages). If you can send me a draft by December 4th, I can return it to you with notes and proofreading comments by December 9th, so you can improve what is finally turned in on the 16th.