About the Authors
George K. Yin
George Yin holds the position of Edwin S. Cohen Distinguished Professor of Law & Taxation at the University of Virginia School of Law. He joined the faculty in 1994 after visiting from the University of Florida. From 2003-05, he served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation, one of the most influential tax positions in the country.
Yin taught school, was director of a child care center and worked as a computer programmer prior to attending law school. After law school, he clerked for a federal court, practiced law in Washington, D.C., and then served as tax counsel to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee before joining the law faculty at Florida. He also has been a visiting professor at NYU Law School, Pennsylvania and Brigham Young.
While at the Joint Committee, Yin assisted the Congress on a number of tax bills, including the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 (JGTRRA), the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 and the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. In addition, the staff expanded its ability to perform macroeconomic analyses of tax legislation and issued its first such analysis in connection with the House Ways and Means Committee's consideration of JGTRRA. The staff also completed a major report setting forth options to improve tax compliance and reform tax expenditures.
Yin previously coordinated for the Senate Finance Committee a major project to reform and simplify the tax laws dealing with corporate-shareholder transactions, including corporate mergers, acquisitions and reorganizations. Between 1994-99, he was reporter to the American Law Institute's federal tax project concerning the income taxation of private business enterprises, such as closely held corporations, partnerships and limited liability companies. He has served as a consultant to a number of organizations, including the ALI, the Department of Treasury, the U.S. Joint Committee on Taxation, the National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service and the Select Revenue Measures Subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means. He currently is a member of the IRS Advisory Council.
Education
B.A., University of Michigan, 1970
M.Ed., University of Florida, 1972
J.D., George Washington University Law School, 1977
Karen C. Burke
Karen C. Burke holds the position of Warren Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of San Diego School of Law. Prior to joining the faculty in 2001, Karen C. Burke was the Dorsey & Whitney Professor of Law at the University of Minnesota. After graduating from Stanford Law School, she clerked for Judge Robert E. Keeton of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and practiced law with the Boston firm of Sullivan & Worcester.
Professor Burke is a leading scholar in the area of corporate taxation, partnership taxation, and tax policy; her current research interests focus on statutory interpretation, tax shelters, and professional and ethical standards of tax practice. She is the author (or co-author) of five books, including Federal Taxation of Partnerships (with George K. Yin) (Aspen Law & Business, forthcoming 2009). Her recent articles include Turning Slogans into Tax Policy (with McCouch), Virginia Tax Review (2008), Taxing Hot Asset Sales, Florida Tax Review (2007), and Social Security Reform: Lessons from Private Pensions (with McCouch), Cornell Law Review (2007).
Professor Burke has taught as a visiting professor on the law faculties of Boston College, University of Miami, University of Pennsylvania, and Washington & Lee. She was a Consultant to the ALI Federal Income Tax Project on the Taxation of Private Business Enterprises and the Joint Committee on Taxation’s Tax Simplification Project.
Education
B.A. 1972, Smith College
M.A. 1975, Ph.D. 1979, Harvard University
J.D. 1982, Stanford University
LL.M. 1985, Boston University
