Asking the tough questions about America’s tax policies will be the topic focus on August 8 as Washington D.C. tax lawyer John Fox discusses Winners and Losers: Social Injustice and U. S. Income Tax Policy.   Fox, formerly a professor at Mount Holyoke College on U. S. tax policy and poverty in the U. S., has published articles in the Washington Post and the New York Times on the inequities and economic inefficiencies of our tax laws.

He will be joined by Fred McGinness, professor of History at Mount Holyoke, and together, will  examine current tax laws and suggest reforms that could help the poor in ways they help the rich. McGinness, an advocate for transparency in any bureaucracy, has taught courses on the public impact when government bureaucracies and large corporations don’t work for the common good.

Fox says our elected officials don’t want to talk about these issues even though many of them have read his book, If Americans Really Understood the Income Tax.  His follow-up book, Ten Tax Questions the Candidates Don’t Want You to Ask, has had a voice in the last three presidential elections.

Partial financial support for the programs has come from the cultural councils of Buckland, Charlemont and Shelburne, local agencies which are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.  While these dialogues are free, donations are welcomed but not required.