Taxation is one of three main things that governments do.
These three forms of government activity are conceptually, and often practically, interchangeable. Tax policy is therefore an integral part, not just of fiscal policy, but of government policy more generally. This collision of disciplines takes place in a complex legal and administrative setting where wide-ranging rules must be devised and then will be interpreted in the field, often unreviewably, by millions of individuals. Due to the intense professional specialization that resulted from the adoption and growth of the federal income tax, broader dialogue between tax experts and other academics has often been hard to achieve and sustain. The baroque complexity of defining and taxing income, both in principle and in American practice, has tended to consume the efforts of tax specialists, while scaring away or disadvantaging generalists.