The new 1 percent excise tax on stock buybacks, established by the Inflation Reduction Act, is designed to curtail incentives for corporations to use stock buybacks to boost share prices. The tax has generated many questions about how it will work, confusing practitioners and concerning taxpayers. What will qualify as a repurchase? How will special purpose acquisition companies be affected? And how will fair market value be determined? 

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Cara Griffith
President and CEO, Tax Analysts

As the moderator for our Taxing Issues webinars, Cara objectively analyzes issues and asks probing questions that challenge panelists to explain and defend their positions.

When she’s not moderating Taxing Issues webinars, Cara provides strategic oversight for Tax Analysts. She has led efforts to improve the Tax Notes suite of products and to aggressively pursue transparency in the administration of tax systems. Previously, Cara managed the editorial department, including the flagship daily news publications and weekly magazines. She has written for a broad range of tax policy publications, including Tax Notes State, The Tax Adviser, The Hedge Fund Law Report, and The Hill. She regularly speaks at tax conferences and other events, discussing a variety of technical tax issues as well as the need for transparency in tax administration.

Cara has a BA in political science and a BA in international studies from the University of Evansville and a JD from the George Washington University Law School.

Samantha Jacoby
Senior Tax Legal Analyst, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Samantha Jacoby is a senior tax legal analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ federal fiscal policy division. Before joining the center in 2018, she practiced tax law at two international law firms in New York and Washington. Previously, she worked as a policy and research analyst at the Solar Energy Industries Association, where she focused on the impact of tax incentives on the energy industry. 

Samantha earned a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She holds an MPP in public finance from American University and a BA in political science from the University of the Incarnate Word. 

Joel Rubinstein
Partner, White & Case

Joel Rubinstein is a partner at White & Case and a member of the firm’s capital markets practice.  He has particular expertise in advising issuers, underwriters, and investors on the IPOs of special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs), as well as SPACs, target companies, and investors in de-SPAC business combination transactions. He has been advising clients on SPAC transactions since 2005. Since 2020, he has represented clients in more than 100 SPAC IPOs, raising aggregate gross proceeds of more than $35 billion, and in more than 30 business combination transactions with an aggregate enterprise value of more than $60 billion. 

Joel is a graduate of Wayne State University and earned his JD from the University of Michigan Law School. He is admitted to practice before the New York State Bar. 

Alex Durante
Economist, Tax Foundation

Alex Durante is an economist at the Tax Foundation, focusing on federal tax policy and model development.  From 2015 to 2016, he served as a taxes and growth fellow at the foundation. 

From 2018 to 2019, he served as a staff economist on the Council of Economic Advisers, working primarily on trade policy and contributing economic analysis to the Economic Report to the President.  

 Durante holds a BS in economics from the College of New Jersey and an MS in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University.