Download or read book Our Selfish Tax Laws written by Anthony C. Infanti and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why tax law is not just a pocketbook issue but a reflection of what and whom we, as a society, value. Most of us think of tax as a pocketbook issue: how much we owe, how much we'll get back, how much we can deduct. In Our Selfish Tax Laws, Anthony Infanti takes a broader view, considering not just how taxes affect us individually but how the tax system reflects our culture and society. He finds that American tax laws validate and benefit those who already possess power and privilege while starkly reflecting the lines of difference and discrimination in American society based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, immigration status, and disability. Infanti argues that instead of focusing our tax reform discussions on which loopholes to close or which deductions to allow, we should consider how to make our tax system reflect American ideals of inclusivity rather than institutionalizing exclusion. After describing the theoretical and intellectual underpinnings of his argument, Infanti offers two comparative case studies, examining the treatment of housing tax expenditures and the unit of taxation in the United States, Canada, France, and Spain to show how tax law reflects its social and cultural context. Then, drawing on his own work and that of other critical tax scholars, Infanti explains how the discourse surrounding tax reform masks the many ways that the American tax system rewards and reifies privilege. To counter this, Infanti urges us to work together to create a society with a tax system that respects and values all Americans.
Download or read book Toward Fundamental Tax Reform written by Kevin A. Hassett and published by A E I Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tax experts across the political spectrum agree that the current rate structure is not rational and that potential gains from reform could be remarkable. Accordingly, tax reform is widely viewed as desirable. However, there is not a clear consensus on what reforms are most desirable or feasible. In Toward Fundamental Tax Reform, eleven leading tax scholars, including a Nobel Prize winner, outline their ideas about tax reform. The original essays provide readers with concise but varying perspectives on the possibilities of tax reform. They also focus attention on key questions in the scholarly debate: Would a different tax code dramatically alter the functioning of the economy? How much damage does the current law do? Can relatively small changes to the tax code deliver most of the benefits of more dramatic reforms like the flat tax? Are political forces that oppose efficient tax systems simply too powerful to overcome? Will tax reform inevitably harm the poor? Can a tax reform, if enacted, be sustained?
Download or read book The Benefit and The Burden written by Bruce Bartlett and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-01-24 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thoughtful and surprising argument for American tax reform, arguably the most overdue political debate facing the nation, from one of the most respected political and economic thinkers, advisers, and writers of our time. THE UNITED STATES TAX CODE HAS UNDERGONE NO SERIOUS REFORM SINCE 1986. Since then, loopholes, exemptions, credits, and deductions have distorted its clarity, increased its inequity, and frustrated our ability to govern ourselves. By tracing the history of our own tax system and assessing the way other countries have solved similar problems, Bruce Bartlett explores the surprising answers to all these issues, giving a sense of the tax code’s many benefits—and its inevitable burdens. From one of the most respected political and economic thinkers, advisers, and writers of our time, The Benefit and the Burden is a thoughtful and surprising argument for American tax reform.
Download or read book Sensible Tax Reform written by Christopher M. Korth and published by Morgan James Publishing. This book was released on 2014-03-04 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Internal Revenue Code of the American government is badly broken. Its more than seventy-seven thousand pages have created a tax system that is not understood by the businesses and individuals that must abide by it. Perhaps even worse, it is also not understood by either the Congressmen who wrote it or the Internal Revenue Service that is supposed to enforce it. What originated as a system for financing the federal government has devolved into a confusing system for what Newt Gingrich described as both left-wing and right-wing “social engineering.” Our Internal Revenue Code has been corrupted beyond repair. It needs to be completely revised. Many economists believe that a new federal tax system based upon consumption would be far superior to the current one based upon income. Simpler, more just, and much healthier for the economy, this type of system would: -sharply increase both personal income and business profits-encourage saving-discourage borrowing -be much easier to implement than an income-based tax system -save and create millions of jobs in this country Sensible Tax Reform—Simple, Just and Effective is a comprehensive yet relatively simple tax-reform proposal based primarily upon a federal consumption tax. The STR plan will completely replace our existing income-based federal tax system with a revolutionary new one. Businesses will pay no federal income or payroll taxes. Individuals will pay no payroll taxes (i.e., Social Security and Medicare), and few will pay any income taxes either. STR will open excellent opportunities for Americans to improve their standards of living and for our companies to regain the competitive vigor lost to the weak economy of recent years.
Download or read book The Progress Toward a Better Tax System written by A. C. Pleydell and published by . This book was released on 1908 with total page 7 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Benefit and The Burden written by Bruce Bartlett and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-01-24 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A spirited and insightful examination of the need for American tax reform—arguably the most overdue political debate facing the nation—from one of the most legendary political thinkers, advisers, and writers of our time. A thoughtful and surprising argument for American tax reform, arguably the most overdue political debate facing the nation, from one of the most respected political and economic thinkers, advisers, and writers of our time. The United States Tax Code has undergone no serious reform since 1986. Since then, loopholes, exemptions, credits, and deductions have distorted its clarity, increased its inequity, and frustrated our ability to govern ourselves. At its core, any tax system is in place to raise the revenue needed to pay the government’s bills. But where that revenue should come from raises crucial questions: Should our tax code be progressive, with the wealthier paying more than the poor, and if so, to what extent? Should we tax income or consumption or both? Of the various ideas proposed by economists and politicians—from tax increases to tax cuts, from a VAT to a Fair Tax—what will work and won’t? By tracing the history of our own tax system and by assessing the way other countries have solved similar problems, Bartlett explores the surprising answers to all of these questions, giving a sense of the tax code’s many benefits—and its inevitable burdens. Tax reform will be a major issue debated in the years ahead. Growing budget deficits and the expiration of various tax cuts loom. Reform, once a philosophical dilemma, is turning into a practical crisis. By framing the various tax philosophies that dominate the debate, Bartlett explores the distributional, technical, and political advantages and costs of the various proposals and ideas that will come to dominate America’s political conversation in the years to come.
Download or read book Taxing Ourselves fifth edition written by Joel Slemrod and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2017-06-02 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The new edition of a popular guide to the key issues in tax reform, presented in a clear, nontechnical, and unbiased way. To follow the debate over tax reform, the interested citizen is often forced to choose between misleading sound bites and academic treatises. Taxing Ourselves bridges the gap between the oversimplified and the arcane, presenting the key issues clearly and without a political agenda. Tax policy experts Joel Slemrod and Jon Bakija lay out in accessible language what is known and not known about how taxes affect the economy and offer guidelines for evaluating tax systems—both the current tax system and proposals to reform it. This fifth edition has been extensively revised to incorporate the latest data, empirical evidence, and tax law. It offers new material on recent tax reform proposals, expanded coverage of international tax issues, and the latest enforcement initiatives. Offering historical perspectives, outlining the basic criteria by which tax policy should be judged (fairness, economic impact, enforceability), examining proposals for both radical change (replacement of the income tax with a flat tax or consumption tax) and incremental changes to the current system, and concluding with a voter's guide, the book provides readers with enough background to make informed judgments about how we should tax ourselves. Praise for earlier editions “An excellent book.” —Jeff Medrick, New York Times “A fair-minded exposition of a politically loaded subject.” —Kirkus Reviews
Download or read book Toward Tax Reform written by Tax Analysts (Firm : U.S.) and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book of advice for the President's tax reform panel includes essays by 32 prominent tax experts -- lawyers, economists, and academics from across the political spectrum.
Download or read book Taxing Ourselves fourth edition written by Joel Slemrod and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2008-02-08 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The fourth edition of a popular guide to the key issues in tax reform, discussing the current system and alternative proposals clearly and without a political agenda. As Albert Einstein may or may not have said, "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." Indeed, to follow the debate over tax reform, the interested citizen is forced to choose between misleading sound bites and academic treatises. Taxing Ourselves bridges the gap between the two by discussing the key issues clearly and without a political agenda: Should the federal income tax be replaced with a flat tax or sales tax? Should it be left in place and reformed? Can tax cuts stimulate the economy, or will higher deficits undermine any economic benefit? Authors and tax policy experts Joel Slemrod and Jon Bakija lay out in accessible language what is known and not known about how taxes affect the economy, offer guidelines for evaluating tax systems, and provide enough information to assess both the current income tax system and the leading proposals to reform or replace it (including the flat tax and the consumption tax). The fourth edition of this popular guide has been extensively revised to incorporate the latest information, covering such recent developments as the Bush administration's tax cuts (which expire in 2011) and the alternatives proposed by the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. Slemrod and Bakija provide us with the knowledge and the tools—including an invaluable voter's guide to the tax policy debate—to make our own informed choices about how we should tax ourselves.
Download or read book Assessing Tax Reform written by Henry Aaron and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reform of the United States tax system has become a central political issue. Assessing Tax Reform is a concise, nontechnical book to help general readers and students understand the tax reform issues Congress is now debating. Henry Aaron and Harvey Galper lay out the major alternative proposals and analyze principles of taxation that can be used for judging them. They explore the issues surrounding a move to a comprehensive income tax, a cash-flow tax, and the value-added tax or other consumption-based taxes. They show the conflicts and opportunities resulting from large current government deficits and the move for tax reform. In addition to clarifying the problems that must be solved if large-scale, long-term reform is to be achieved, the authors describe alternative strategies for increasing revenues quickly. They also present their own program for a fair, efficient, and less complex tax structure. They conclude with an examination of the political pitfalls that continue to make any major improvements in the tax system hard to enact.
Download or read book Toward Tax Reform written by and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book General Tax Reform Objectives and approaches to tax reform and simplification written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Ways and Means and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The FAST Plan for Tax Reform written by Donald E. Phillipson and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2013 with total page 495 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although nearly everyone involved with our federal taxation system agrees that simplification of this system is a positive and even necessary step, achieving it has proven to be difficult. Exploring the issue from start to finish, this detailed blueprint to tax reform offers real solutions to the real problems of our taxation system. Author Donald E. Phillipson, a lawyer who has studied the tax code for years, reveals facts about deficit spending and the national debt and examines alternative taxation approaches. He explores problems with current tax subsidies and individual income, corporation income, and estate taxes and presents new solutions to those problems. Phillipson also offers new perspectives on the total federal tax obligations of individuals and relationships among taxes on individual income, corporation income, and estates and gifts. Our taxation system desperately needs reform that takes into account the function of the system as a whole. This study demonstrates that such reform is possible and that taxes can be fair, accountable, and simple--without the creation of new tax collection structures.
Download or read book Tax Reform written by James John Jurinski and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-04-13 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An authoritative but accessible reference, this book enables anyone to truly understand both the background and operation of the U.S. tax system and current tax reform proposals. Dissatisfaction with high taxes is literally an American tradition; indeed, the American Revolution that led to the founding of the United States started as a tax revolt. Today, widespread displeasure with our tax system continues, as demonstrated by the strong anti-tax position of the recent Tea Party movement. Tax Reform: A Reference Handbook, Second Edition introduces lay readers to taxes in general, the U.S. tax system in particular, and the issues involved in reforming the system. Details regarding past tax reform measures are provided to lend relevance and perspective to recent tax reform proposals, such as replacing the income tax (and the IRS) with a federal sales tax. The author stresses political rather than technical issues, and presents all viewpoints on this hotly debated topic fairly.
Download or read book Pathways to Tax Reform written by Stanley S. Surrey and published by Cambridge : Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1973 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stanley Surrey's book is the first to analyze all the 'expenditure' aspects of the tax laws and to indicate their amounts and their effects on the country. It provides the mechanism for a proper re-examination of hidden tax expenditures and explores pathways toward eliminating both the tax escapes and inefficient and wasteful means of governmental subsidization which these expenditures now produce.
Download or read book Tax Reform for Fairness Simplicity and Economic Growth written by United States. Department of the Treasury. Office of the Secretary and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Problems to Keep in Mind when it Comes to Tax Reform written by William Fellner and published by . This book was released on 1977 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
