The Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy brings to the
University of Maine campus each year a person of national stature to
speak on topics in public affairs, in honor of Maine Senator
Margaret Chase Smith. Recent speakers have included economist
and taxation specialist Matthew
Murray, internationally known economist John Kenneth Galbraith,
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith, former Maine
Governor and U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie, and former Massachusetts
Governor and past presidential candidate Michael Dukakis.
"Analyzing
State Tax Systems"
October 13, 2000
 Dr. Matthew N. Murray is Chairman and Associate
Professor of Economics, and Associate Director, Center for Business
and Economic Research, in the College of Business Administration at
the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
The Center for Business and Economic Research conducts
research on national and state economic trends for the University of
Tennessee, state agencies and public and private organizations. The
Center collects, analyzes, and disseminates data on the demography and
economy of Tennessee.
In this lecture, Dr. Murray discussed the scope of
a state tax reform initiative, determination of policy goals,
identification of key policy tradeoffs, and establishment of a process
to facilitate formulation of tax policy.
Dr. Murray’s recent research has focused heavily on
the sales tax, including compliance problems with the current state sales tax; the administration and compliance
issues associated with a national retail sales tax; the optimal
structure of the sales tax; the roles of the sales tax in influencing
the location of retail trade; and the implications of
telecommunications and electronic commerce for the existing state and
local sales tax. Other research interests include tax evasion and tax
avoidance, regional economic development and education. He has
published several articles on tax issues. Selected publications
include "Urban Malls, Tax Base Migration and State
Intergovernmental Aid" in Public Finance Review,
"Would Tax Evasion and Tax Avoidance Undermine a National Retail
Sales Tax" in Tax Policy & the Real World,
"Fiscal Incentives and Local Economic and Fiscal
Performance" in Local Government Tax & Land Use Policies
in the U.S., "The Sales Tax and Electronic Commerce: So What’s
New" in National Tax Journal, "Using State Policies
to Promote Economic Development" presented at the Eighty-sixth
Annual Conference of the National Tax Association, and "Economic
Development: Do State and Local Government Policies Matter" in Economic
Adaptation: Alternatives for Rural America. He has traveled to
numerous countries, including Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Egypt and
Jamaica to evaluate and advise on tax issues.
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