2025 Harold C. Schott Lecture: America’s Love/Hate Relationship with Tax Protests

About the Lecture
Judge Learned Hand famously said, “Anyone may so arrange his affairs that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which will best pay the Treasury; there is not even a patriotic duty to increase one’s taxes.” However, this was in a judicial opinion where he struck down an unlawful tax evasion scheme. How we remember Hand’s statement reflects how we view ourselves: we tend to see the U.S. as condoning tax planning and evasion, but it’s time to reexamine that belief.

Americans’ support for tax protests varies; at times we endorse them, other times we oppose. Our stance often depends on whether we sympathize with the protesters or their cause. Today, this nuance is often lost, making tax cuts and protests seem more accepted because opposing them feels un-American. Yet, it is just as American to condemn tax protests as to support them.

About the Lecturer
Professor Stephanie Hunter McMahon has taught tax law and legal history at the University of Cincinnati College of Law since 2008, earning two teaching awards, the faculty excellence award, and a scholarship award. Her research focuses on the public’s perception of taxation, particularly relating to families and administrative law.

She authored Principles of Tax Policy for West’s Concise Hornbook Series and has recently studied the tax treatment of disadvantaged groups, including women seeking abortion and inmate labor.

Her work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as The Tax Lawyer, Florida Tax Review, and Virginia Tax Review, as well as student journals like Northwestern, Washington, and Michigan State Law Reviews. She holds a BA from Oglethorpe University, a JD from Harvard Law School, an MA and PhD in American history from the University of Virginia. Prior to academia, she practiced law at Cravath and Skadden in New York.