John O. Fox

Visiting Professor of Complex Organizations

Specialization
United States tax policy; poverty in the United States

An expert on United States tax policy, John O. Fox is the author of If Americans Really Understood the Income Tax (Westview Press, 2001). Fox developed the arguments for this book over many years in conjunction with his tax policy seminar at Mount Holyoke. His book Ten Tax Questions the Candidates Don't Want You to Ask (2004) challenged candidates to address major inequities in the tax laws.

Fox's editorials on tax issues have appeared in the Washington Post, Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and numerous other newspapers around the country. He also has been a frequent guest commentator on radio and television programs.

Currently, Fox teaches Winners and Losers: Taxation, Social Justice, and Economic Choices. In recent years he has also taught Poverty in the United States.

Fox practiced law in Washington, D.C., from 1964 to 2000, specializing in tax, business, and estate planning matters.

News Links

• "For tax justice, trim the ‘step up’," The Providence Journal, July 21, 2011
• "John O. Fox: For tax justice, trim the ‘step up’" The Providence Journal, July 21, 2011
• "Budget battle: Four points of advice from Ike," The Christian Science Monitor, March 31, 2011
• "John Fox Talks to WFCR about Tax Breaks," WFCR, March 29, 2011
• "Looking for spending cuts? Don't forget home mortgage deduction," The Baltimore Sun, January 25, 2011
• "John Fox to Talk Taxes in Film Screening," Office of Communications, January 24, 2011
• "Poverty: A Discussion Among the Seven Sisters," Huffington Post, October 29, 2009
• "Stop Subsidizing Health Insurance For The Wealthy" The Baltimore Sun, August 31, 2009
• "Clues to the Health Care Puzzle," The New York Times, June 9, 2009
• "MHC's Fox on Paying Taxes," Office of Communications, April 16, 2008 
• "10 Tax Questions the Candidates Don't Want You Ask," 10 Tax Questions the Candidates Don't Want You to Ask, March 27, 2008 
• "Taxes Are Dues for Membership in Society," Republican, October 29, 2006
• "John Fox: Tax Breaks Hurt Low-Income Students," Office of Communications, May 9, 2006 
• "Tax Breaks Hurt Low-Income Students," Hartford Courant, May 3, 2006
• "Fox in the Washington Post "For Singles, April Really Is the Cruelest Month"," Office of Communications, March 28, 2006
• "The Tax Break That Corporate Execs Don't Need," Office of Communications, March 24, 2006
• "A Tax Policy to Help Homeowners," Office of Communications, March 10, 2006 
• "A Tax Policy to Help Homeowners," Daily Hampshire Gazette, December 3-4, 2005
• "The Tax Break that Corporate Execs Don't Need," Washington Post, July 25, 2004
• "For Singles, April Really is the Cruelest Month," Washington Post, April 11, 2004
• "Don't Know Jack About Taxes," Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 9, 2004
• "The Wrong Prescription: We Should Help Needy Seniors First -- But We Can't Even Afford That," Washington Post, October 12, 2003
• "You Call This Relief? I Don't," Washington Post, May 18, 2003
• "Workers Who Spend More Are More Deserving of Relief," Boston Sunday Globe, February 24, 2003
• "Reality Check Must Conclude in a Demand for Higher Taxes," Boston Herald, October 21, 2002
• "Budget battle: Four points of advice from Ike," Christian Science Monitor, March30,2011