The Decline (And Fall?) Of The Income Tax

How has it happened that ordinary Americans have come to regard the federal income tax as unfair, and tax protesters as heroes rather than deadbeats? This trenchant and timely book locates the answers in both the substance of the Internal Revenue Code and the political process that created and feeds this monstrous law. It shows plainly how the income tax has been a political football in the battle over every major social problem or government program; how government allowed its complexities - and its inflationary bite - to grow with no thought of their impact on taxpayers; and, most of all, how a Congress dependent on PAC funds has become incapable of fashioning a tax system that does not end tax breaks for special interests. The book also looks closely at the various flat-tax and consumption-tax proposals now being considered, and reveals that these taxes are neither as fair nor as simple as their advocates claim. Discussing the income-tax system in rich, anecdotal context, this book also points the way to tax reforms that are simple, sensible, and fair.