This week’s guests: Joel Slemrod and Michael Keen, authors of the new book “Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue.”

The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center (TPC) is holding a series of online conversations on policy responses to the COVID-19 economy. The discussions take place every other Thursday afternoon and feature varying perspectives on the historic economic challenges faced by the United States and the world and the best ways to address them. 

This week’s guests are Joel Slemrod, professor of public policy and economics at the University of Michigan and Michael Keen, deputy director of the International Monetary Fund’s Fiscal Affairs Department. They are co-authors of the new book Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue, an entertaining look at what they call the sometimes weird, sometimes gruesome, but always fascinating history of taxation from ancient times to today. They’ll talk with TPC senior fellow Howard Gleckman (@howard_gleckman) about tax history and how it applies to economic policy in the COVID-19 era.