Tax professionals converge on King Hall for annual Summer Tax Institute

More than 80 tax professionals gathered June 17-20 at UC Davis School of Law’s King Hall for the 29th Summer Tax Institute. The intensive four-day course serves as a “boot camp in the fundamentals of state and local taxation,” UC Davis Law Professor Darien Shanske said.

Shanske, a state and local tax specialist, became the institute’s director this year after Gerald Goldberg, the event’s founder and former executive officer of California’s Franchise Tax Board, stepped down.

King Hall’s location 15 miles from the seat of state government in Sacramento makes it convenient for professionals from California’s taxing agencies. They comprise about half of institute participants, and include administrative law judges from the recently established Office of Tax Appeals.

“It’s exciting that we get to participate in the judges’ training,” Shanske said.

Other participants come from the private sector, creating a distinctive mix. Although there are courses similar to the Summer Tax Institute, most are “targeted mainly toward industry,” Shanske said. At the King Hall event, “the intermingling of people with different perspectives is unique and fun.”

Shanske and fellow UC Davis Law tax scholar Dennis J. Ventry, Jr. gave lunchtime lectures as part of the event, and University of Connecticut School of Law Professor Richard Pomp conducted an afternoon session. But the primary instructors are experienced practitioners, Shanske said.

Still, the Summer Tax Institute is among the more “academic” continuing-education programs for practitioners, Shanske said. (Three different tracks are offered based on type of tax and experience, and credits are available to both legal and accounting professionals).

“At our institute, we start with constitutional foundations, and learn the material from the ground up. So it really is an academic class.”

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