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AI and the Regulation of Tax Return Preparers
No full textTax return preparers play a pivotal role for millions of taxpayers, and their number ranges in the hundreds of thousands. Despite preparers’ importance in the tax return submission process and their numerical size, they are largely unregulated. Because of this lack of oversight, a significant number of tax return preparers put their own financial interests and those of their clients ahead of the government’s financial interests.
In the past, there have been calls for increased regulatory oversight to keep wayward practitioners’ actions in check. Therefore, a decade and a half ago, Congress, in conjunction with the Treasury Department, mandated that every paid tax return preparer secure a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) and affix it to the face of the tax returns that they prepare.
Enter artificial intelligence (AI)—with its unparalleled ability to process and analyze an immense amount of data—combined with electronic tax return filings. With immediate access to PTINs and other information or characteristics associated with such returns, AI is ideally situated to identify tax return preparers who are derelict in their professional duties. Once identified, the Internal Revenue Service can hold these practitioners accountable for their mistakes and misdeeds.
Unlike the prior academic papers that have championed regulatory oversight well beyond PTIN registration (e.g., mandatory annual education courses and exams), this analysis stands apart. Instead, it recognizes AI’s power and what it can accomplish if properly brought to bear to the problem of unregulated tax return preparers. Seizing this opportunity would most likely result in increased tax compliance, the collection of billions more in revenue without raising taxes, and a narrowing of the tax gap (i.e., the difference between what taxpayers pay in tax and what they owe). Furthermore, the foregoing may be accomplished without adding needless administrative burdens
Towards an Understanding of Tax Complexity
No full textThe study of tax complexity has reached consensus on two things. First, complexity pervades the U.S. tax system. And second, it is notalways clear what tax complexity means. Indeed, it is common practice for tax complexity scholarship to note the absence of a universal tax complexity definition and then conduct its inquiry without one. A universal definition of tax complexity has proven elusive because tax complexity means many different (although often related) things. This has made the tax policy analysis of complexity challenging. As an alternative to a definition, this Article proposes a framework with four elements for considering tax complexity—(1) an activity, (2) something that changes the ease with which that activity may be understood, (3) an effect on the person trying to understand that activity and (4) additional structure isolating the key tradeoffs and identifying what normative inputs are necessary to compare policy options. This Article demonstrates how much (if not all) of the tax complexity literature fits into this framework and how this framework may improve tax policy analysis. Ultimately, this framework facilitates clearer discussions of tax complexity and comparisons between tax systems in complex environments
Osteobiographical Study of Tomás Carrasquilla
No full textIn this article, we evaluate the skeleton of the Colombian author Tomás Carrasquilla for signs of pathologies and physical traumas to better understand his health conditions and his experience of pain throughout the course of his life. We apply life history and biographic techniques to historical bioarcheological research, analyzing various archival sources as well as the skeleton of Carrasquilla, who was a pluripathological patient who simultaneously experienced metabolic and vascular pathologies. Upon evaluating the author’s skeleton, we found multiple bone fractures that incapacitated him but were not registered in his clinical history. Moreover, we found four significant life events that modified the trajectory of his bone morphology. His osteobiography, combined with social science techniques and focuses, increases the interpretive capacity of Carrasquilla’s ailments and allows us to reevaluate and better understand his life as an outstanding historic figure. Thus, this study contributes to the redefinition and increase of the sociocultural value of Carrasquilla as a historic figure.
Nosotros evaluamos el esqueleto del autor colombiano Tomás Carrasquilla en busca de patologías y traumas físicos para entender mejor sus condiciones de salud y su experiencia de dolor a lo largo de su vida. Aplicamos técnicas de historia de vida y biográficas a la investigación histórica y bioarqueológica, analizando diversas fuentes de archivo, así como el esqueleto de Carrasquilla, quien fue un paciente pluripatológico que experimentó simultáneamente patologías metabólicas y vasculares. Al evaluar el esqueleto del autor, encontramos múltiples fracturas óseas que lo incapacitaron, pero que no fueron registradas en su historia clínica. Además, encontramos cuatro eventos vitales significativos que modificaron la trayectoria de su morfología ósea. Su osteobiografía combinada con técnicas y enfoques de las ciencias sociales aumenta la capacidad interpretativa de las dolencias de Carrasquilla y nos permite reevaluar y comprender mejor su vida como una figura histórica destacada. De esta manera, este estudio contribuye a la redefinición y aumento del valor sociocultural de Carrasquilla como figura histórica
Detailed Recovery Methods Show the Complexity of Ancient Mortuary Practices in Later Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers of Southern-Central Africa
No full textThis article examines mortuary practices by terminal Pleistocene and Holocene hunter-gatherers from Malawi and eastern Zambia in southern-central Africa, with a focus on the evidence for secondary burial and postmortem body manipulation over the past ~16,000 years. Published regional archaeological literature documents widespread but variable reports of incomplete or isolated remains from these contexts. While pre-burial body exposure, post-burial manipulation, and/or secondary burial with selective removal or interment of certain body parts are possible explanations, inconsistent recovery and reporting of archaeological contexts and bone modifications makes it challenging to fully exclude taphonomic processes. The social significance of such practices in regional hunter-gatherer lifeways is also undertheorized because most remains were reported in appendices as element lists that focus on population characteristics. Here, we report human remains recovered between 2016 and 2019 through detailed archaeological excavations from five rock shelters in Malawi, which provide a way to investigate burial practices with high-resolution data sets. We recovered remains from 19 individuals, 16 of whom are represented only by isolated elements. Individuals found in primary burials have evidence for pre-burial loss or post-burial removal of elements that are not readily explained by non-anthropogenic processes. We interpret some of these patterns as likely evidence of mortuary treatments involving posthumous exposure, manipulation, and/or curation of body parts.
En este artículo se examinan las prácticas mortuorias de los cazadores-recolectores de Malawi y el este de Zambia en el centro-sur de África durante el Pleistoceno terminal y el Holoceno. Particularmente nos concentramos en la evidencia de entierro secundario y manipulación de cuerpos post-mortem durante los últimos ~16,000 años. La literatura arqueológica regional publicada documenta muchos entierros incompletos o aislados de diversas formas en estos contextos. La exposición del cuerpo antes del entierro, manipulación del cuerpo después del entierro, entierro secundario con remoción selectiva de restos óseos y/o entierro de ciertos partes del cuerpo son explicaciones posibles. Sin embargo, la recuperación y las modificaciones de los huesos en los informes de hallazgos arqueológicos son inconsistentes y eso dificulta la exclusión total de los procesos tafonómicos de los contextos de restos humanos. La importancia social de tales prácticas en los modos de vida regionales de los cazadores-recolectores también es poco teorizado, ya que la mayoría de los restos y hallazgos se describen en apéndices que se centran en las características de la población y solo hay listas de los elementos óseos. Aquí informamos sobre los restos humanos recuperados entre 2016 y 2019 a través de excavaciones arqueológicas detalladas de cinco refugios rocosos en Malawi, que proporcionan una manera de investigar las prácticas funerarias usando un conjunto de datos de alta resolución. Recuperamos restos de diecinueve individuos, dieciséis de los cuales están representados sólo por elementos aislados. Individuos encontrados en entierros primarios tienen evidencia de remoción de elementos óseos antes de ser enterrados o después del entierro que no se explican fácilmente a través de procesos no antropogénicos. Interpretamos que algunos de estos patrones son posibles evidencias de tratamientos mortuorios que involucran exposición póstuma, manipulación y/o curación de partes del cuerpo
Cremation at the Royal Necropolis of Salamis New Bioarchaeological Insights
No full textThis article provides an analysis of cremated human remains from the Royal Necropolis of Salamis, enabling new insights about a little-known funerary rite in Cyprus. Cremation was seldom practiced in Cyprus, never superseding inhumation as the primary funerary rite throughout the island’s history. Cremated human remains have received little scholarly attention, rarely being discussed in the bioarchaeological literature of Cyprus. Until now, legacy assemblages containing cremation burials like that of the Royal Necropolis of Salamis have been primarily interpreted from a contextual and artifactual perspective. The bioarchaeological data indicate that cremation at the Royal Necropolis of Salamis was not a standardized practice, as different individuals were subjected to very different conditions and processes, both during the cremation process and after. Unfortunately, a lack of comparative data from Cyprus does not allow for wider conclusions about the origin and purpose of the cremation rite and the biological characteristics of the cremated individual to be made at this point in time. Further research needs to be conducted on other contemporary cremation burials from Cyprus to determine whether patterns relating to cremation exist.
O presente artigo apresenta uma análise de restos humanos cremados da Necrópole Real de Salamina, permitindo novos conhecimentos sobre um rito funerário pouco conhecido no Chipre. A cremação era raramente praticada na ilha, nunca substituindo a inumação como o principal rito funerário ao longo de sua história. De maneira geral, os restos humanos cremados recebem pouca atenção acadêmica e, portanto, são pouco discutidos na literatura bioarqueológica, inclusive a do Chipre. Até agora, os conjuntos arqueológicos encontrados que contêm ossos cremados, como é o caso da Necrópole Real de Salamina, têm sido interpretadosprincipalmente de uma perspectiva contextual e artefatual, ficando à margem as potenciais observações derivadas de estudos bioarqueológicos. Neste caso, os dados bioarqueológicos indicam que a cremação não era uma prática normalizada, uma vez que diferentes indivíduos eram sujeitos a condições e processos muito diferentes, tanto durante a cremação como depois. Infelizmente, a falta de dados comparativos vindos do Chipre não permitem, neste momento, tirar conclusões mais amplas sobre a origem e o objetivo do rito de cremação e as caraterísticas biológicas dos indivíduos cremados. É necessário efetuar mais investigações sobre outros contextos de cremação contemporâneos locais para determinar se existem padrões relacionados às práticas de cremação
Accumulating and Negotiating Meaning(s) of Two Egyptian Women
No full textLegacy skeletal collections reflect the shifting historical meanings attributed by researchers to these collections and the individuals that comprise them. This article employs osteobiography and object itinerary as a methodological approach to combine the lived and posthumous experiences of two Egyptian women. This research exposes the meaning(s) accumulated over two individuals’ lives but also those following their death, highlighting the role researchers play in interpretations and understandings of the past. The two Egyptian individuals studied here were excavated by archaeologists funded by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met) in 1907 from the site of Lisht but ultimately traded to and curated by Earnest A. Hooten, the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University. Osteobiographies and object itineraries produced for these two individuals outline the ways in which their lived experiences influenced posthumous experiences for these women, including counteracting their abstraction in representations, where their material culture alone has dominated narratives. Of note, the differences uncovered for these two individuals, who did not live during the same time and would never have encountered one another except in death, have been tied to one another through their posthumous experiences
Modernity in the Malay Archipelago: Unraveling Empire and Europeanness in Hugh Clifford’s Sally (1904) and Louis Couperus’ De stille kracht (1900)
No full textAt the turn of the twentieth century, the British and Dutch colonized extensive parts of the Malay Archipelago. They justified imperial expansion by a belief in their supposed responsibility, as Europeans, to disseminate “modernity.” In this article, I compare two key colonial novels set in the region: Hugh Clifford’s Sally (1904) and Louis Couperus’ De stille kracht (1900). Both depict similar practices of colonial rule, but where Sally ends with the breakdown of its Malay protagonist, De stille kracht charts the downfall of its Dutch main character. Drawing on Ann Laura Stoler and Frederick Cooper’s work on the relationship between colony, metropole, and modernity, I argue that analysing Clifford’s and Couperus’ texts reveals fundamental differences between British and Dutch conceptions of empire. Conversely, by examining diverging British and Dutch literary representations of colonialism, we can gain new insights into how these neighboring nations developed different understandings of themselves as Europeans.
Notes on Contributors
No full textContributor biographies for volume 12, issue 2 (Fall 2024) of the Journal of Global Postcolonial Studies
Notes on Contributors
No full textContributor biographies for volume 13, number 2 (Fall 2025) of the Journal of Global Postcolonial Studie
Development and Validation of a Subadult Sex Estimation Method Using Pelvic Metrics
No full textThe goal of this research is to explore the utility of pelvic interlandmark distances (ILDs) collected from partially and fully fused subadult innominates in sex estimation. The individuals were from the contemporary US subset of the Subadult Virtual Anthropology Database (SVAD) and between the ages of eight and 20 years (n = 364). Thirty-four pelvic landmarks were placed on 364 left innominates from which 11 standard ILDs were calculated using the X, Y, and Z coordinates. Linear discriminant function analyses using training (75%) and testing (25%) subsets were performed using the ILDs. An additional variable, the ILIS (triradiate cartilage) fusion score, was also incorporated as a predictor variable to capture biological maturity. Total correct sex classifications ranged from 90.88% to 97.78%; correct sex classification of females ranged from 94.29% to 100%, and correct classification of males ranged from 87.95% to 98.18%. Testing and training subsets were comparable, and there was minimal sex bias. Accuracies are remarkably similar to adult sex estimation methods and are stronger than pelvic morphological subadult sex methods currently published. Large samples enabled exploration of metric data to reveal the utility of pelvic ILDs for subadult sex estimation. These results are transformative to the field, as we can now confidently estimate sex, with a high level of accuracy, on individuals with actively fusing innominate or a completely fused innominate, which is younger than previously assumed