The paper must have a single thesis, neither trivial nor too ambitious. The paper must not (i) merely describe a situation or set of facts or (ii) simply identify a
problem or issue that deserves more attention. Examples of excessively ambi-
tious theses: (a) Oregon should replace its income tax with a sales tax;
(b) California must repeal the Proposition 13 limits on property tax increases;
(c) A business that places cookies on the computers of customers is outside the
protections of Public Law 86-272, which generally limits an out-of-state seller’s
liability for a State income tax imposed by a customer residing in the State.
More plausible student theses: (a) The City of Salem should enact a modified
version of the payroll tax that was rejected in a November 2023 referendum;
(b) Oregon can and should (or cannot and must not attempt to) impose its
State income tax on Washington residents for remote done in Washington State
for an Oregon employer; (c) an assessment of the role of magistrates in the
Oregon Tax Court.
The final paper should introduce the subject and relevant literature, then present your analysis, making sure to identify and evaluate arguments counter to
your thesis. (It is not plausible to maintain that no relevant counterarguments
have been or might be advanced, so this element of the paper should not be
dismissed in a paragraph or two.) Clearly state the topic and thesis of your paper on the first page (in addition to the abstract, although you may paraphrase
parts of the abstract) and, at the end of the paper, summarize your arguments
in about a page.
Sources should include mostly conventional scholarly references such as (i) books, articles in
refereed journals or law reviews (Journal of Finance, Northwestern Law
Review, etc.) (most sources in JSTOR and HeinOnline) (ii) traditional print
media (the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, the New York Times, Chicago
Tribune—you may research and cite only online editions of these) and
(iii) their online counterparts (https://www.bloomberg.com/) and (iv) primary
sources such as statutes, regulations and other government documents,
caselaw, financial data (stock and bond prices, for example)
