The plaudits keep coming for Professor Ray Madoff in the wake of her eye-opening book, The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy. She joins the likes of Idris Elba and MacKenzie Scott on the 2026 TIME100 Philanthropy list. The annual list, which Time selects as “the most influential people shaping the future of giving at a pivotal moment,” features Madoff as one of its Innovators of the Year for her incisive contributions to the current conversation around philanthropy.
Madoff, who co-founded the BC Law School Forum on Philanthropy and the Public Good, has received praise for the book from many corners. Also named one of the Best Books of 2025 by The New Yorker, it takes a critical look at the US tax code and the many ways in which it advantages the wealthy at the expense of the rest, with special emphasis on how rules around philanthropy can shield wealth from taxes while providing little societal benefit in return.