Before federal policymakers could fully assess how the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT) might affect American businesses, Dr. Erin Henry of the University of Arkansas' Sam M. Walton College of Business was helping generate the evidence needed to understand its impact.
An associate professor of accounting and Doris M. Cook Chair, Henry studies tax policy and corporate taxation. Her work has included collaborations with the Internal Revenue Service and Congressional Budget Office.
One of her most significant recent projects focused on CAMT. Beginning in 2022, Henry and her co-authors used proprietary IRS tax return data to examine whether companies reporting more than $1 billion in book income were paying less taxable income than expected and what factors drove those differences. Their analysis projected that CAMT would affect a small number of corporations while increasing federal revenue.
In 2024, Henry was invited to Washington, D.C., to brief the White House Council of Economic Advisers, providing data that informed discussions about the policy's implementation and potential effects.
"I could not teach these topics the way I do without being directly involved in the research and policy discussions surrounding them," Henry said. "When we're discussing corporate tax policy, students aren't just learning the rules. They're seeing how those rules are debated, implemented and evaluated in real time."
By connecting policy research to classroom learning, Henry helps students understand not only how tax systems work, but also how evidence-based analysis informs the business and policy decisions that shape the broader economy.