Arizona State Univ. law professor Marjorie Kornhauser
Law prof's mission is to make tax policy interesting
September 15, 2009
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has received a lot of press for her "Our Courts" Web site, which uses interactive games to teach middle school students about the court system.
A professor at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law hopes to use a similar concept to engage young adults in a topic widely regarded as both unpleasant and painfully dull: taxes.
Marjorie Kornhauser, who teaches tax law, acknowledged that she confronts a huge hurdle when it comes to getting 20-somethings excited about tax policy — the way taxes are applied, what they are used for and how to devise a fair taxation system. Still, she believes it's important to try, and she's banking on college computer students to design Web-based games to draw in her target audience.
"People don't understand taxes. It's math. It's confusing," Kornhauser said. "If we can make it into something fun, I think people will go to the site. I might be wrong, but I want to try. You shouldn't leave it to the politicians. To have a better debate, you need more informed people."
The law school's Tax Literacy Project is still in its infancy. A class from ASU's School of Computing and Informatics is working on the game designs, tax-related videos and contests. Kornhauser is raising money for the site and hopes to secure major foundation support down the road.
The site won't be political, Kornhauser said. Rather, it will explain the tax system, emphasize the link between taxes and government spending and pose the question of how to make the tax system fairer. It won't offer a definitive answer to that last question, Kornhauser said, but with luck will get users thinking about that issue.
"I'm focusing on young adults, people who are starting their first jobs who haven't really paid taxes before, but it can apply to anyone," she said.
Karen Sloan can be reached at karen.sloan@incisivemedia.com.
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