John Brooks is a distinguished legal scholar specializing in tax law, public finance, and social insurance, with a particular emphasis on federal fiscal and budget policy. His extensive research also delves into tax history and the constitutional law of taxation, establishing him as a leading voice in these critical areas. Beyond traditional tax policy, John Brooks’s expertise extends to related fiscal domains, notably the federal student loan program, showcasing his comprehensive understanding of government fiscal tools.
Professor Brooks’s insightful work has been published in prominent law journals such as the Georgetown Law Journal, Washington University Law Review, and Tax Law Review, among others. His perspectives are also sought after by major media outlets; he has contributed to public discourse through articles in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the L.A. Times, as well as Politico and The American Prospect. Currently, John Brooks is engaged in writing a book under contract with Yale University Press, focusing on American “hidden” social welfare spending, promising further contributions to the field. His expertise is regularly consulted by legislators, lawyers, and advocates on both tax and student loan issues, reflecting the practical relevance and impact of his academic work.
Before joining Fordham University in 2022, John Brooks served as a faculty member at Georgetown University Law Center for a decade. His early career included a Climenko Fellowship and Lectureship on Law at Harvard Law School, an associate position in the tax department at Ropes & Gray in Boston, and a clerkship for Judge Norhan H. Stahl of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
John Brooks’s academic foundation is built upon an A.B. from Harvard College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. During his time at Harvard Law, he was recognized as an Olin Fellow in Law & Economics and received the prestigious Sidney I. Roberts prize for his outstanding paper on taxation, highlighting his early promise and expertise in the field.
Representative Publications:
- Moore Questions, Some Answers: Fixing the Personal Tax System Despite Constitutional Constraints, 28 Fla. Tax Rev. ___ (forthcoming 2025) (with David Gamage and Edward J. McCaffery)
- The Original Meaning of the Sixteenth Amendment, 102 Wash. U. L. Rev 1 (2024) (with David Gamage)
- *The (Non)Taxation of Student Debt Cancellation: Statutory Misinterpretation and Normative Conflict,* 77 Nat’l Tax J. 623 (2024)
- Taxation and the Constitution, Reconsidered, 76 Tax L. Rev. 75 (2022) (with David Gamage)
- Tax Now or Tax Never: Political Optionality and the Case for Current-Assessment Tax Reform, 100 N.C. L. Rev. 482 (2021) (with David Gamage)
- The Tax Treatment of Student Loan Discharge and Cancellation, Student Borrower Protection Center Report (Nov. 2020)
- Redesigning Education Finance: How Student Loans Outgrew the “Debt” Paradigm, 109 Geo. L.J 5 (2020) (with Adam Levitin)
- Why a Wealth Tax is Definitely Constitutional, SSRN Working Paper (Jan. 9, 2020) (with David Gamage)
- Curing the Cost Disease: Legal Education, Legal Services, and the Role of Income-Contingent Loans, 68 J. Legal Educ. 521 (2019) (solicited)
- The Definitions of Income, 71 Tax L. Rev. 253 (2018)
- The Case for More Debt: Expanding College Affordability by Expanding Income-Driven Repayment, 2018 Utah L. Rev. 847 (2018) (solicited)
- Cross-Subsidies: Government’s Hidden Pocketbook , 106 Geo L.J. 1229 (2018)(with Brian Galle and Brendan Maher)
- Quasi-Public Spending, 104 Geo. L.J. 1057 (2016)
- The Missing Tax Benefit of Donor-Advised Funds, 150 Tax Notes 1013 (Feb. 29, 2016)
- Income-Driven Repayment and the Public Financing of Higher Education, 104 Geo. L.J. 229 (2016)
- Fiscal Federalism as Risk-Sharing: The Insurance Role of Redistributive Taxation, 68 Tax L. Rev. 201 (2014)
- Taxation, Risk, and Portfolio Choice: The Treatment of Returns to Risk Under a Normative Income Tax, 66 Tax L. Rev. 255 (2013)
- Doing Too Much: The Standard Deduction and the Conflict Between Progressivity and Simplification, 2 Colum. J. Tax. L. 203 (2011)
