Ruth Mason

  • Edwin S. Cohen Distinguished Professor of Law and Taxation
  • Class of 1941 Research Professor of Law
  • Director, Virginia Center for Tax Law

Ruth Mason joined the University of Virginia School of Law faculty in 2013.

Her research focuses on federalism and the dormant Commerce Clause and cross-border taxation. Mason’s work on comparative fiscal federalism has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and in an advocate general’s opinion for the Court of Justice of the European Union.

A recipient of the University Research Award, Mason’s articles are forthcoming or have appeared in top U.S. law reviews, including the Yale Law Journal, California Law Review, Duke Law Review, NYU Law Review and Virginia Law Review, as well as top peer-reviewed specialty journals, including the Tax Law Review and British Tax Review. Mason also has contributed to Foreign Affairs and regularly contributes to Tax Notes. The chair lecture she gave on being named the Edwin S. Cohen Distinguished Professor of Law and Taxation at UVA was published in the American Journal of International Law and accompanied by an online symposium organized by AJIL Unbound.  

Mason lectures on tax topics around the world. She delivered the 2023 IFA Canada Lecture, on the topic of EU state aid. She also delivered the 2018 Amsterdam Distinguished Lecture in Taxation, which will be published in the Oxford Yearbook of European Law. She has been a visiting professor at several institutions, including Yale Law School, the University of Paris (Panthéon-Sorbonne), the Vienna University of Economics and the Business and the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation. Mason has served as national reporter for the United States to the International Fiscal Association (IFA), and she is a member of the American Law Institute.

Mason supervises doctoral students, teaches taxation and serves as faculty adviser to UVA’s tax moot court team, which has won three international championships. She co-founded and co-hosts the Oxford-Virginia Legal Dialogs, an online seminar series that is open to the public and dedicated to forging ties between tax and other legal disciplines. In 2023, she was named faculty director of the Virginia Center for Tax Law.

 

Education

  • J.D.
    Harvard Law School
    2001
  • B.A.
    Columbia University
    1997

Highlighted Works

Bibb Balancing: Regulatory Mismatches Under the Dormant Commerce Clause (with Michael S. Knoll), 91 George Washington Law Review 1 (2023).

Solidarity Federalism (with Erin F. Delaney), 98 Notre Dame Law Review 618–670 (2023).

The Transformation of International Tax, 114 American Journal of International Law 353-402 (2020).

Identifying Illegal Subsidies, 69 American University Law Review 479-564 (2019).

The Economic Foundation of the Dormant Commerce Clause (with Michael S. Knoll), 103 Virginia Law Review 309-354 (2017).

Citizenship Taxation, 89 Southern California Law Review 169-239 (2016).

Delegating Up: State Conformity with the Federal Tax Base, 62 Duke Law Journal 1267-1348 (2013).

What is Tax Discrimination? (with Michael S. Knoll), 121 Yale Law Journal 1014-1117 (2012).

Federalism and the Taxing Power, 99 California Law Review 975-1036 (2011).

Tax Expenditures and Global Labor Mobility, 84 NYU Law Review 1540-1622 (2009).

Made in America for European Tax: The Internal Consistency Test, 49 Boston College Law Review 1277-1326 (2008).

Flunking the ECJ's Tax Discrimination Test, 46 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 72-132 (2007).

U.S. Tax Treaty Policy and the European Court of Justice, 59 Tax Law Review 65-132 (2005).

Complete List of Works

Forthcoming

Bounded Extraterritoriality (with Michael S. Knoll), Michigan Law Review (2023).
Does the Prohibition of State Aid Limit Tax Competition?, Oxford Yearbook of European Law (2023).

Books

Thinker, Teacher, Traveler: Reimagining International Tax (edited with Georg Kofler & Alexander Rust), IBFD (2021).

Book Chapters

Tax Discrimination (with Elizabeth Adams & Michael Knoll), in Research Handbook on International Taxation, Edward Elgar, 44–63 (2020).

Articles & Reviews

Bibb Balancing: Regulatory Mismatches Under the Dormant Commerce Clause (with Michael S. Knoll), 91 George Washington Law Review 1 (2023).
Solidarity Federalism (with Erin F. Delaney), 98 Notre Dame Law Review 618–670 (2023).
Ding-Dong! The EU Arm’s-Length Standard Is Dead, 108 Tax Notes International 1249 (2022).
National Pork is a Bibb Case, Not a Pike Case (with Michael S. Knoll), 91 George Washington Law Review Arguendo 1–13 (2022).
A Wrench in the GLOBE's Diabolical Machinery, 107 Tax Notes International 1391 (2022).
Has Cross-Border Arbitrage Met Its Match? (with Pascal Saint-Amans), 41 Virginia Tax Review (2021).
The 2021 Compromise, 172 Tax Notes Federal 569 (2021).
Special Report on EU State Aid: Part 8—State Aid: The General Court Decision in Apple (with Stephen Daly), 168 Tax Notes Federal 1791–1806 (2020).
Steiner v. Utah: Designing a Constitutional Remedy (with Michael S. Knoll), 95 Tax Notes State 845–850 (2020).
The Dormant Foreign Commerce Clause After Wynne (with Michael S. Knoll), 39 Virginia Tax Review 357–418 (2020).
The Legality of Digital Taxes in Europe (with Leopoldo Parada), 40 Virginia Tax Review 175–217 (2020).
The Transformation of International Tax, 114 American Journal of International Law 353–402 (2020).
Why the Supreme Court Should Grant Certiorari in Steiner v. Utah (with Michael S. Knoll), 95 Tax Notes State 377–388 (2020).
Company Size Matters (with Leopoldo Parada), 2019 British Tax Review 610–650 (2019).
Identifying Illegal Subsidies, 69 American University Law Review 479–564 (2019).
Digital Battlefront in the Tax Wars (with Leopoldo Parada), 92 Tax Notes International 1183–1197 (2018).
Dual Residents: A Sur-Reply to Zelinsky, 158 Tax Notes 269–272 (2018).
Implications of Wayfair, 46 Intertax 810–819 (2018).
New York’s Unconstitutional Tax Residence Rule (with Michael S. Knoll), 85 State Tax Notes 707–716 (2017).
Special Report on EU State Aid: Part 1—FAQ, 154 Tax Notes 451–462 (2017).
Special Report on EU State Aid: Part 3—Apple, 154 Tax Notes 735–751 (2017).
The Economic Foundation of the Dormant Commerce Clause (with Michael S. Knoll), 103 Virginia Law Review 309–354 (2017).
Citizenship Taxation, 89 Southern California Law Review 169–239 (2016).
Is the Philadelphia Wage Tax Unconstitutional? And If It Is, What Can and Should the City Do?, 164 University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online 163–178 (2016).
Comptroller v. Wynne: Internal Consistency, a National Marketplace, and Limits on State Sovereignty to Tax (with Michael S. Knoll), 163 University of Pennsylvania Law Review Online 267–283 (2015).
How the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Should Apply Wynne (with Michael S. Knoll), 78 State Tax Notes 921–928 (2015).
Wynne: It’s Not About Double Taxation (with Michael S. Knoll), 75 State Tax Notes 413–422 (2015).
Exporting FATCA (with Joshua D. Blank), 142 Tax Notes 1245–1250 (2014).
Waiting for Perseus: A Sur-Reply to Professors Graetz and Warren (with Michael S. Knoll), 67 Tax Law Review 375–452 (2014).
Delegating Up: State Conformity with the Federal Tax Base, 62 Duke Law Journal 1267–1348 (2013).
What is Tax Discrimination? (with Michael S. Knoll), 121 Yale Law Journal 1014–1117 (2012).
The Constitutional Limits of Taxing and Spending, 38 Administive & Regulatory Law News 2–3, 12 (2012).
Federalism and the Taxing Power, 99 California Law Review 975–1036 (2011).
Tax Discrimination and Capital Neutrality, 2 World Tax Journal 126 (2010).
Tax Expenditures and Global Labor Mobility, 84 NYU Law Review 1540–1622 (2009).
Made in America for European Tax: The Internal Consistency Test, 49 Boston College Law Review 1277–1326 (2008).
Constitutional Restraints on Corporate Tax Integration (with Walter Hellerstein & Georg W. Kofler), 62 Tax Law Review 1–66 (2008).
Double Taxation: A European "Switch in Time"? (with Georg W. Kofler), 14 Columbia Journal of European Law 63–98 (2007).
Flunking the ECJ's Tax Discrimination Test, 46 Columbia Journal of Transnational Law 72–132 (2007).
Common Markets, Common Tax Problems, 8 Florida Tax Review 599–628 (2007).
When Tax Treaty Derivative Benefits Provisions Don’t Apply, 43 Tax Notes International 563–567 (2006).
U.S. Tax Treaty Policy and the European Court of Justice, 59 Tax Law Review 65–132 (2005).

Reports & Datasets

U.S. Supreme Court Amici Curiae Brief in Support of Petitioner, South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. (with Alex Brill, Michael Knoll & Alan D. Viard)138 , S. Ct. 2080 (2018).

Op-Eds, Blogs, Shorter Works

Is it Kosher for California to Ban Out-of-State Pork? (with Michael S. Knoll), The Regulatory Review (December 5, 2022).
Is the Biggest Supreme Court Case This Term About Bacon? (with Michael S. Knoll), The Regulatory Review (November 14, 2022).
The Time Has Come for State Digital Taxes (with Darien Shanske), Daily Tax Report (May 29, 2020).
What the States Need from Congress Now Is Cold, Hard Cash (with Daniel Hemel & Gladriel Shobe), Time (April 14, 2020).

IN THE NEWS

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06/26/2019
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AT UVA LAW

Constitutional Comparisons on Commerce

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