Leonard Burman

I am the Paul Volcker Professor of Behavioral Economics and a professor of public administration and international affairs at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute/Tax Policy Center (TPC), and a research associate at the Center for Policy Research. My research focuses on federal tax and budget policy. In 2002, I co-founded the TPC, which I directed until 2017. I served several stints in government, including as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Analysis at the US Treasury and Senior Analyst at the Congressional Budget Office. I was president of the National Tax Association (NTA) from 2010-2011, and 2016 recipient of the NTA’s Davie-Davis Award for Public Service. I am a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. I have a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. I am the coauthor with Joel Slemrod of Taxes in America: What Everyone Needs to Know, 2nd edittion (Oxford, 2020), author of The Labyrinth of Capital Gains Tax Policy: A Guide for the Perplexed (Brookings, 1999), and co-editor of Using Tax Breaks to Reform Health Insurance (Brookings, 2008) and Taxing Capital Income (Urban Institute, 2007). My commentaries have appeared in the Washington Post, New York Times, LA Times, Houston Chronicle, Newsday, Christian Science Monitor, Syracuse Post-Standard, CNNMoney, and the public radio programs Marketplace and Morning Edition. I have been interviewed on various national and regional news programs, including: CBS Sunday Morning, The NewsHour (PBS), Washington Journal (C-Span), Lou Dobbs Moneyline (CNN), Nightly Business Report (PBS), Capital Report (CNBC), Your World with Neil Cavuto (Fox), BBC World, all the network news programs as well as Bloomberg TV, CNNfn, CNN, CNBC, and Fox cable news programs. I have appeared as a radio guest on: Fresh Air (PBS), Kojo Nnamdi Show (WAMU), Diane Rehm Show (WAMU), Iowa Talks (WSUI), Midmorning (MPR), On Point (PBS), Conversations with Joy Cardin (WI public radio), and I've been interviewed on All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Marketplace, Capitol Press Room, and numerous regional stations. I have four adult kids, three adorable granddaughters, and am married to my college sweetheart, Missie Burman. I'm an avid bicyclist. I cycled across the United States in 2005 with my son, Paul, to raise money for Partners In Health, an incredible NGO that provides first-world health care to some of the poorest people in the world. (We raised $108,000.) I sing baritone in two choruses, the Syracuse Oratorio Society and Polyhymnia, and I love to cook.