This course discusses taxation policy in the United States and the making of federal tax legislation. It will particularly focus on the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to examine the political factors that influence federal tax policy, addressing such topics as how the political parties aligned for and against the tax proposals and why, the implications of the new law on both individual and corporate taxpayers, whether the 2017 act actually represents tax “reform,” and how has the legislative process that produced the Act has changed over the last 40 years. We will also address the effects of the 2017 Act for tax practitioners in the near and long term.