Media Advisory: Rice U. economist to testify before Congress Feb. 24

MEDIA ADVISORY

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Rice U. economist to testify before Congress Tuesday

HOUSTON – (Feb. 23, 2015) – Rice University economics and tax expert John Diamond will testify before the United States Senate Committee on Finance at 9 a.m. CST Feb. 24 in Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 215, Washington, D.C.

John Diamond

The committee, which is chaired by Senators Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and ranking member Ron Wyden, D-Ore., will hear testimony and have discussion on “Tax Reform, Growth and Efficiency.” The hearing will be webcast live here.

Who:  John Diamond, the Edward A. and Hermena Hancock Kelly Fellow in Public Finance at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy and an adjunct professor of economics.

What:Testimony to the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance.

When: 9 a.m. CST Feb. 24.

Where: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 215, Washington, D.C.

Diamond will discuss the general principles that should guide any effort in fundamental tax reform. Given the fiscal crisis facing the U.S., he will testify that fundamental reform must minimize the distortionary effects of taxation wherever feasible and seek to maximize long-run economic growth and to make simplicity a more important goal to achieve reductions in compliance and enforcement costs.

Others testifying include Michael Boskin, the T.M. Friedman Professor of Economics and senior fellow, Stanford University, Hoover Institution; Laura D’Andrea Tyson, professor of business and administration and economics, director, Institute for Business and Social Impact, University of California-Berkeley, Haas School of Business; and Jane G. Gravelle, senior specialist in economic policy, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

For more information or to schedule an interview with Diamond about his testimony, contact David Ruth, director of national media relations at Rice, at david@rice.edu or 713-348-6327.

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