Individual Assigments

Individual Assignment: Conduct a policy analysis of any tax topic that is of interest to you.
Use the following template to structure the analysis and argument for your policy paper. Make
sure to follow each step in the template for your analysis. You can use course readings or
independent research. The paper should be a minimum of 5 pages and not exceed a similarity
score of 20% on Turnitin. Use APA citations.
Do not leave this to the last minute.
Tax Policy Report
Core Components:
• Define the problem or issue. State your issue and explain the importance of your issue.
Remember, you are addressing this policy report to a decisionmaker. You want to answer the
“Who cares?” question early on.
• Analyze—do not merely present—the articles and data.
Step 1: Discuss your research findings.
• If you are producing recommendations, explain the need for change and analyze the
options and tradeoffs and assess their feasibility.
What are the pros and cons? What is feasible? What are the predictable outcomes?
Make sure to show how you arrived at recommendations through analysis of qualitative or
quantitative data. Draw careful conclusions that make sense of the research and do not
misrepresent it. Your data should come from authoritative sources as part of your tax research.
Also, be careful not to plagiarize.
Step 2: Address—and when appropriate rebut—counterarguments, caveats,
alternative interpretations, and reservations to your findings or recommendations.
•Your credibility as a policy analyst relies on your ability to locate and account for
counterargument. You should be especially sensitive to the likely counterarguments that a
decision-maker would face in implementing or acting on your recommendations or findings.
Step 3: Feasibility of Implementation
• Suggest next steps and the implications of the findings or recommendations. You
may briefly address the feasibility of next steps or explore the implications of your
analysis.
Step 4: Conclusion
• State your final recommendations. Provide specific recommendations or findings in response
to specific problems and avoid generalizations.
Distill the conclusions succinctly in a concluding section and remind the decisionmaker of the
big picture, the overall goal, the necessity of the policy change or of the
urgency for action. This answers the “Who cares?” question that reminds the reader of
the value of the research and recommendations. Given that you are targeting a decision maker,
you should think about and address the decisionmaker’s primary concerns.