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Cost, benefit of taxing incarcerated workers topic of UC College of Law lecture

headshot of Sherry English By Sherry English
4 minute read June 12, 2023

Event Information (passed)

Date: - Location: Mercantile Library (414 Walnut Street, Ste. #1100, Cincinnati, OH 45202)

Generally, the concept of being taxed has a negative connotation. But paying taxes on income has its benefits; namely, it leads to access to the social safety net. Incarcerated workers, however, do not receive the benefit of taxation. Why is this so and what is the impact of this decision? What does it mean for incarcerated workers and their families? Stephanie Hunter McMahon, professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, will discuss these issues in her lecture “Prison Labor: Tax-Free and Benefit-Less”. This event, the 2023 Harold C. Schott lecture, will be held at 12:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 11, 2023, at the Mercantile Library (414 Walnut Street, Ste. #1100, Cincinnati, OH  45202).

CLE: 1 hour of general CLE has been approved for Kentucky; approval is pending for Ohio. This event is free and open to the public.

About the lecture

 Prisoners can be made to work because the Thirteenth Amendment permits their involuntary servitude and, for that work, prisoners are denied benefits that would be enjoyed by those not incarcerated. By carving out those who work behind bars from the social safety net, inmates, their families, and their communities are deprived of benefits otherwise widely distributed. These benefits include the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Social Security, Medicare, SSDI, and unemployment compensation. These exclusions apply even if inmates otherwise satisfy requirements for benefits and regardless of the type of prison employment. Instead of continuing this exclusion, Congress should extend federal benefits and condition federal funding on the extension of state benefits to incarcerated workers.

About the lecturer

Professor Stephanie McMahon

Professor Stephanie McMahon

Stephanie Hunter McMahon is Professor of Law at the University of Cincinnati College of Law where she has taught courses in tax law and legal history for 15 years. While doing so, she has won two of the college’s teaching awards, the university’s faculty excellence award, and its award for scholarship.

Much of her scholarship explores the relationship between taxation and the public’s perception of taxation, and the application of administrative law to tax. Professor McMahon’s interest in the development of tax policy led her to write Principles of Tax Policy for West’s Concise Hornbook Series. In the last two years, she has begun scholarship focusing on

the tax treatment of disadvantaged groups, both women seeking abortions in states that do not provide access to care and the discriminatory tax treatment of inmate labor.

Professor McMahon’s writings have been published in peer-reviewed journals, The Tax Lawyer (ABA journal), Florida Tax Review, and the Virginia Tax Review, as well as student-reviewed journals, such as Northwestern Law Review, Washington Law Review, and Michigan State Law Review. She received her BA from Oglethorpe University, JD from Harvard Law School, and MA and PhD from the University of Virginia. She began her practice as a tax attorney in the New York offices of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, followed by a position at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

About the University of Cincinnati College of Law

Founded in 1833, the University of Cincinnati College of Law has the distinction of being the first law school west of the Alleghenies. From humble beginnings 175 years ago in a room above Timothy Walker’s law offices to its home today, Cincinnati Law has been on the leading edge of legal education. Thousands of lawyers have graduated from the law school, and about one-third practice in the Greater Cincinnati community, working in all areas of the law. For more information about the College of Law, visit www.law.uc.edu.

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