Taxes Books

Michael Graetz and Ian Shapiro successfully explain the history of the estate tax, the lobbying battles over it, and the shift from consensus to its repeal in their book Death by a Thousand Cuts. By investigating a range of opinions from Congressmen to farmers, the authors effectively portray how the pro-estate tax side underestimated the ability of organization, group affiliation, and passion to bring about the repeal of a tax that had been accepted without contest for generations. The authors criticize the efforts of large groups and Democratic congressman to organize against the repeal - by illuminating the fact that there was too little organization. While the book provides an accurate and thorough account of the lobbying process that helped lead to the repeal of the estate tax, it provides much unnecessary detail and is obvious in its bias against the repeal of the tax.

For readers who are uneducated in the history of opinions on taxes, Graetz and Shapiro thoroughly describe the evolution of progressive taxation. While not clearly defined in the book, progressive taxation can be explained as a tax that increases as a person's income increases. They describe the shift of opinion on the estate tax when the Republicans made estate tax reform part of their "Contract with America." (Graetz and Shapiro, 15) By using rhetorical frames and spins, pro-repeal groups were able to effectively present the estate tax not as a tax only affecting 2.4% of the wealthy, but as a "death" tax that could potentially "punish" family businesses and farmers by double-taxing their hard earned money. In other words, the authors show how the pro-repealists were successful in presenting the tax in a way that best supported their cause. The authors do a good job showing how much influence organized interest groups can have on government decisions. While the repeal of the estate tax might not necessarily have been a practical crusade, it was a passionate one that eventually won out against the greater good of society and economy, in the opinion of the authors. By putting direct pressure on members of the legislature, pro-repeal groups built a coalition including large numbers of business owners, gays, and the working class, thus encouraging politicians that it would be beneficial to represent and support their cause. With a few wealthy elites being represented by large groups of non-estate tax payers, effective lobbying became the force behind the tax repeal. While the estate tax may have actually benefited some people who worked for its repeal, a pluralistic system prevailed and ended up benefiting the few elites who represented only a fraction of the masses. For an ordinary reader or college student who is unaware of how effective lobbying can be in enhancing American democracy, the authors do a great job portraying the process.

The authors also do a good job providing simple facts on the tax, such as its ability to tax the deceased estate up to 55% and the subsequent $24 billion in government revenue. While they covered some of the services and people who benefit from the tax, they could have been more specific in displaying the direct economic benefits of keeping the estate tax around. If the authors favor the tax, which seems to be the bias throughout the book, why do they not put more effort into displaying its benefits? Despite this lack of information, the authors do a good job explaining the basic components of the tax for readers unknowledgeable on the subject.

When writing about such a widely debated topic, the authors would have benefited by being more cautious in displaying their bias towards keeping the tax around. It tends to distract from their entire argument. From the very beginning, they describe the pro-repeal group's goals as being ones of "conviction and anger" in place of "practicality" (Graetz and Shapiro, 23). While this might be true, blatantly stating their bias against the pro-repeal argument is a good way of losing the reader's trust. Instead of making readers cope with the bias, the author's argument would have been stronger if they would have merely shown the impracticality of the pro-repealists.

The authors also include much un-needed information in the book that tends to get repetitive and boring. Describing all characters by their eye color or ability to cook tends to lose its appeal by the sixteenth chapter when the authors describe Bob Johnson and the paintings covering his walls and his casual way of dressing in black pants and a black polo sweater. Is all this information necessary?

Overall, the book provides good background details on the estate tax and displays the ability of interest groups to change the American government. Graetz and Shapiro successfully provide readers with an educating, enjoyable read that was easy to follow and understand. While it could have been improved by eliminating the obvious bias and the un-needed details, it provides a good look at American government and the power of group affiliation in reaching a goal - whether practical or not.

As its subtitle indicates, the book is about the nitty-gritty details of how the near-repeal of the estate tax got enacted into law. The authors discuss tax policy only tangentially: their focus is on who did what and why. Some actors on both sides acted out of idealistic (or, if you prefer, ideological) motives, many out of self-interested motives. According to the book, the pro-repeal forces were shrewd and far-sighted, whereas the anti-repeal forces were slow and weak. For example, charities have a strong interest in preservation of the estate tax, but were not effective in opposition to repeal, because they did not want to offend their donors and boards of directors. Having finished the book, I now believe I understand what happened. I even understand why the estate tax dies in 2010 and then springs back to life in 2011, a situation that seems insane, but which is a perfectly logical consequence of arcane Senate procedural rules interacting with the fact that the pro-repeal forces had no hope of mustering 60 votes in the Senate.

My grandfather was born in the rural South in 1885. With little help from family and no help from his government, he put himself through college. He married, became a dairy farmer and sired seven children which he brought up and thoroughly educated (all seven went to college)during the Great Depression. Of those seven children, his four sons all became his working partners and one son lived and raised his own family on the family farm.
My grandfather worked HARD, all of his life, to buy and build up a large and prosperous farm. He had 21 grandchildren and numerous great-grandchildren. One grandson was born with Down's Syndrome and will need costly, special care as he grows older. As an intelligent and well educated man, it is interesting to note that Grandfather started out his adult life as an ardent, LOYAL (his word) Democrat, serving in county politics as a Democrat. Toward the end of his life he switched to the Republican party where most of his progeny now reside.
When this fine, decent man died at the age of 99, his family was death taxed at the exact same rate as Bill Gates, the Kennedys, Steven Spielberg, Warren Buffett, and every other billionaire roaming around today espousing the fine merits of the death tax.
This is the paradox surrounding those Liberals who defend the death tax: family farms ARE being shut down, cut up and sold to pay the death tax. In turn, those family farms are being bought up by developers who are then doing what the Liberal establishment deems so evil: destroying wetlands and natural habitats for wildlife, wreaking havoc with vast tracts of woodlands thus creating increased sprawl or, in John Denver's famous words "more scars upon the land".
All of this because of the supposedly egalitarian notion that the death tax is a well deserved tax for the super rich.
The only thing I have to say about the death tax is this: if we children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren had wanted to sell half of the family farm (which we did NOT wish to do), we would have preferred to have been able to do so and then actually KEEP the proceeds of the sale rather than turn those proceeds over to the federal government.

As a tax attorney, I was excited to purchase this book and get a non-partisan, in-depth look at what was going on with respect to the estate tax. Michael Graetz has a stellar reputation as a law professor, so I was doubly excited.

I was very disappointed that the book's political bias appears on virtually every page. I think reasonable people can disagree on whether we should have an estate tax, but Graetz presents each and every proponent of repeal as a self-interested opportunist. I would have liked to have seen an unbiased account of what "really" goes on in Washington, but this book failed to satisfy.

If you're looking for a book that will confirm your love for the estate tax, and need a reason to pat yourself on the back, this is the book for you. If you are looking for a book that gives you an unbiased account of the world of politics, this book isn't for you. I found Showdown at Gucci Gulch much more interesting.

This book was written by two distinguished experts on tax policy and reviews the development of the campaign to end estate taxes at the federal level. In many cases it is quite informative. But compared to Jeffrey Birnbaum's book on the development of tax policy in Congress (Showdown at Guccci Gulch) is it quite light in a couple of areas.

The book begins with three questions - fundamentally, how did the coalition that formed get together, how did the repeal coalition successfully resist amendments, and finally how did an item like this (seemingly without a high level of support and which cost a lot of revenue and only affects a small number of people) not cause more generalized opposition to the Bush tax bill?

The book is excellent in some of its history (especially the chapter about the use of science in public policy) but is weaker in telling the story of how the current provision was adopted in a consistent manner. The description of the initial phases of the development of the coalition is pretty detailed. The coalition brought together some seemingly disparate interests.

Where the book falls down is in two areas. First, there are some amazing omissions in this book. Bill Gates' father was indeed a leader of the opposition - but at no place in the book does the narrative explain that Gates' father was an attorney who helped to structure estates and thus had a direct interest in the continuation of the tax. At the same time the authors keep coming back to themes - for example, a minor figure in the fight (farm owner Chester Thigpen) is highlighted more heavily than a key Senator like Max Baucus. I would also have liked to have these policy wonks think creatively about the elements of the estate tax which opponents might go forward with - when the inevitable fights come in the future. The opponents of repeal were inept - but how do they go forward? The last time the estate tax was eliminated (surprisingly not mentioned in the book) was in the 1954 revision - the problems which brought the tax back should be instructive to opponents of repeal.

The second area is the authors' limited understanding of how coalitions are built. This book should be more about the politics of the process. The concluding chapter decries the mix of research, politics and moral issues in the current political environment. Indeed, as one who writes about tax issues often, better research involvement could help the process. But the realities of politics that mix moral/philosophical issues and coalitions and evidence are what we should be thinking about.

So if you are interested in tax policy, this is a good book. But if you want to understand how tax policy is made in the real world - there are better books.

Helps You Make the Most Out of the 2001 Tax Law!

The new, 2002 version of this book deserves more than five stars.

As background for reading and considering this review, please be aware that I am an attorney, did well when I studied tax in law school, and employ a top CPA to help me do my tax planning and prepare my returns. Despite all of this background, I find it hard to keep up with the tax laws. Since I became a member of the bar, the number of pages in the Internal Revenue Code has doubled as have the number of pages of tax regulations.

I was inspired to read this book when a conversation with my CPA left me with 14 areas that I wanted to understand in much more detail. I could have asked him, but that would be very costly because he charges by the hour and would have to do research to find out what I wanted to know. Realizing from experience that working with the IRS code and regulations could take many hours, I hoped this book would serve as a time saver, and it did! I found the answers to my 14 questions in less than an hour, and also located several hundred dollars of potential tax savings that I need to discuss with my CPA. The experience was a very satisfying one.

The Federal tax laws changed in 2001, applying to both your 2001 tax return and to future years. Whenever Congress changes the tax law, you need to be alert. If you continue to do what you have done before, you may well make costly mistakes that could lead to extra taxes needing to be paid or even worse, owing money for penalties and interest.

The Ernst & Young Tax Guide 2002 is remarkably helpful in dealing with the 2001 tax law changes. The book opens with a summary of what changed, and gives you references to the sections where you can get more details for your 2001 return. The following section goes on to describe the other changes that will be phased in during 2002 and later years.

To test the guide, I also checked out the most difficult questions that I had had to deal with in the last 20 years, where I was pretty sure the law had not changed. Each of these questions was also accurately and succinctly described.

I was very impressed that I could look up answers in any one of many different ways. The actual 2001 tax forms and instructions are bound into the volume. So that was one starting point. There were also detailed chapters on common topics, from handling mutual funds to taxes on child-care providers. So I could start there. The index was also very complete, and I could dive in from that direction. In addition, the cross-references in the text were very complete and would send me to the right section of the right page.

If you prepare your own returns and have a somewhat complicated return, you will also benefit from the many worksheets in the book. If you are about to start working with an accountant, you will save time and money by using the many lists in the book for what to collect and how to organize it (a pile of paper in a shoe box is not the right way to go!).

You might think that it's too late to affect your 2001 taxes. Actually, you still have some choices open, such as whether or not to make contributions to IRAs between now and April 15. If you are going to be late in making your last estimated tax payment in January, you may also be able to avoid penalties by filing before February 1 and paying what you owe when you file.

May your future not tax you needlessly!

This is the best tax guide on the market. We use it in conjunction with TurboTax to do our taxes, which we file electronically. The tax guide comes in handy for in-depth review of some aspects as well as having a hard-copy throughout the year (well after taxes are filed) so that we can make informed tax decisions. It is a little pricey, but the ton of information and good examples make it worthwhile.

This is the tax guide to buy each year. Unfortunately, it comes out later than the others. Fortunately, that helps ensure it is more accurate and up-to-date.

We have been doing our own taxes for many years, for ourselves, some relatives and volunteering for low-income families. This is the reference we have next to us.

The past couple years we have done BOTH paper and computer tax filing. This book is still needed with BOTH.

Actually, they should call this book Taxes for Retards. I bought it with the hope that it would make doing my taxes a little bit easier this time around. No such luck.

Most of the matter covered in the book is of a very elementary nature - that much you can figure out just by reading the IRS publications for the relevant forms.

In most instances, i found that i had to go back to the irs publication whenever i had any doubt - the book only covered everything superficially.

if you had no idea that irs publishes instructions for all forms or are among the esteemed few who think taxes are optional and/or that the slavery deduction is real- this book is for you. for others who have a fairly good idea of what you are doing, save the ** bucks and spend them elsewhere.

When it comes to understanding and preparing tax returns, or understanding taxation in general, you cannot beat Ernst and Young. When Canada first implemented the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the company of Ernst and Young was among the first to come out with a publication fully explaining this often frustrating, mind-boggling and sometimes complicated tax. Their tax guides are commonly found in many accounting firms and contain excellent resource material. As one who provides information on taxation to my business management class, I have found the information contained here to be thorough and up to date. If I have a taxation question (taxation laws are forever changing,) the Ernst and Young Taxation Guide is the first place I search for the answer. This guide is an excellent book for the resource library and one any business office should have on hand.

A book that calls itself a guide should be full of information that the reader can take and use on his/her own. This book has a good overview of finances, but it does a poor job of relating one branch of finance to another. There is no building of knowledge for the reader, so it is as if you are reading a different book on each page. For a book issued by the Wall Street Journal, I was rather disappointed.

Most of us have some gaps in our understanding of personal finances. This approachable guide lays it out briefly and understandably. Since my attention span is short for this topic, this is the kind of guide I needed.
For instance, the two-page section on DEALING WITH A LENDER, shows a loan application form with 6 boxed explanations for parts of the form.
You won't learn everything you need to know in two-page bites, but it gets you briefed on everything from mutual funds, making a will, getting insurance, understanding credit card statements, 401(k) plans, your W-2 form, etc.
Once you grasp the basics, you can find a book specifically on wills or whatever you are dealing with at the moment.
Gaining control over your finances can start with this book!

This book is filled with illustrations and is great for beginners or for those who are more visual learners. I personally didn't find this book extremely helpful because I have a background in finance but the illustrations and information is helpful for tutoring and explaining some of the concepts. It is also a good review tool or handy reference guide when you have a quick question about finance matters. In addition the range of material covered is great. You won't find this much investment information in one place so concisely organized.

this book is a great introduction to personal finance, including banking, loans, investing, taxes, and retirement planning. it covers all of the basics, provides a nice, clear description of the processes and the structures of documents, and a glossary of important terms.

however, it's just an introduction. the book doesn't spend more than a few pages on any subtopic (ie the structure of a paycheck, the basics of a tax form). for details you'll have to go elsewhere, so keep that in mind.

as such, i'd reccomend this book to someone who is just learning the basics of money and the world of personal finance. it's a big world, you don't need to start with all of the details, so this is a good place to start. but very quickly you'll find you need more information, and you'll outgrow this book.

I've just graduated from college and wanted to learn how to not be poor anymore. I bought this book because I knew about Wall Street Journal's reputation for expertise and in-depth analysis of the economy etc. What I didn't expect was a book equivalent to a children's primer on personal finance. It's not bad, per se, it's just not what I expected from the Wall Street Journal.

The book covers a broad range of topics from paper money to mortgages to stocks and bonds. Unfortunately, the coverage is shallow, mostly giving definitions of what things are. The book consists of teen magazine-like layouts of pictures, graphs, and diagrams. Some of the information is helpful while some of it is interesting but trivial, and all of it is in colorful, bite-sized portions. While it's entertaining and easy-to-understand, it's also quite "fluff"-y at times.

It's a good introduction to personal finance for someone who doesn't know much about how money works beyond how to buy things. It may be ok for new high school or college grads, either as a reference or a first book on personal finance but it's not at the level for anyone who actually wants to start investing and already knows the basics. Ironically, it seems to be below the level of Wall Street Journal readers. I have since given my copy away. For someone who already knows the basics but wants a introduction to investing, I enjoyed "The First Book of Investing: The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Building Wealth Safely" by Samuel Case. It's the only other book on investing I've read (I bought it on sale on a whim), but it was clear and informative, albeit a little optimistic.

Back in 1999, I decided to do some estate planning. I decided to buy about 5 books to first learn the basics of estate planning......then see an estate planning attorney to set up my estate plan.

Of the five books that I read on estate planning, Kraemer's book was by far the best book. The main reason I liked Kraemer's book was his use of example flow charts, which show what happens to the money as each spouse dies. These flow charts also allow you to easily calculate the estate tax due at each step of the process.

The other books were very dry and boring.......and without the flow chart approach...it was not clear to me how bypass trusts work.

I highly recommend Kraemer's book as the best book on estate planning.......primarily due to the flow charts.

Kraemer also explains that the use of disclaimers can be a good thing.......and a good way to deal with the changing estate tax laws.

Kraemer's book allowed me to understand the basics of estate planning and bypass trusts. I was able to save time and money then working with an estate planning attorney to set up our bypass trusts.

Other good books on investing which may help you build a large enough estate so you get to worry about the problem of estate planning are shown below:

Index Mutual Funds: How to Simplify Your Financial Life and Beat the Pro's
The Richest Man in Babylon
Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
The Millionaire Next Door
The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio
A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition
The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life
The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing

Kraemer's Estate Planner can motivate you to begin what you have been putting off for a long time by helping you understand your way through the maze of complex legal and tax issues, leading you step-by-step through your decision-making process to solve your estate planning challenges.

Begin with the 9-page Inheritance Information Form on page 186--completing it will be a real eye-opener for you and a God-send for those destined to sort through your estate after you are gone.

The book is also logically divided with Part One taking you through preparatory personal and tax considerations, clearly outlining actions with guidelines to successful estate planning with solid information to demystify tax planning; Part Two discussing possible estate plan options for you to consider to create trusts and avoid probate; and Part three exploring personal values decisions that move beyond money and property into elder care, living wills, and funeral instructions.

This book is a lot like a recipe book: you determine the value of your assets and that will tell you exactly the documents you need to protect your estate. This is what makes this book stand out--you know exactly what you need and can save a lot of time and money by not having to pay a lawyer to determine this. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what they need before they start getting billed by the lawyers.

This book does not belong in the "real Estate" classification

This was the least helpful of the estate planning books I've recently read. It did have a lot of helpful information but the book is full of fluff, lot's of it. If you cut out the fluff there might be 50 pages worth of useful and helpful data. There are much better books on the topic of estate planning available. My opinion is that if you don't already have this book in your estate planning library, then you don't need it. Your money will be better spent elsewhere.

I recommend this book to anyone, even though the tax cuts Paul Krugman argues against have already come. Krugman, who is a New York Time od-ed writer and also a policy professor at Princeton, presents clear reasons why the Bush tax cuts are not a good idea.

Conservatives will find the book biased, which it is since Krugman is pretty democratic. Although conservatives might be able to argue the political philosophy of progressive versus regressive taxes, they will find it very difficult to challenge the numbers that Krugman presents. The end conclusion is that Bush has used "fuzzy math" to propose a tax cut and that the money is just not there for such a huge cut. Krugman is right.

Even though the cuts have already come, this book is a great (and quick) read because it gives a clear explanation of social security, medicare, and other issues related to the national budget. Clear, concise, and easy to understand.

This book needs to be read by every voting American, even those who support the Bush tax cut. Author Paul Krugman clearly explains the economic and political environments in which this tax plan takes place and concludes, first, that the tax cut is not only a bad idea but might have serious consequences as the Social Security/Medicare system becomes strapped and second, that "at every stage of the debate Bush and his people have tried to obscure what they were really proposing."
"Fuzzy Math" is a book written for intelligent lay people. I personally read it in two sittings (it's only 122 short pages), then, thinking that I must have missed smething, went back and read it again. It turns out I missed nothing. Krugman breaks down complex economic concepts and explains them with great lucidity and a little bit of wit. It's really an easy read.
Krugman begins by explaining how Bush arrived at his tax cut as the centerpiece of his campaign, first as an antidote to Steve Forbes' "Flat Tax" crusade and second, to secure the support of the far right elements of the Republican Party. He then describes the efficacy of tax cuts as an economic tool, particularly as they might be used to stimulate a sluggish economy (never an issue for Bush until the economy suddenly turned sour). He concludes that this is best left to the Federal Reserve Board's manipulation of interest rates. He further compares "demand side" tax reductions, aimed primarily at consumers, with "supply side" cuts which are directed toward potential producers and demonstrates that despite the Reagan rhetoric, the economic recovery of the early '80's was demand side driven and that a real supply side expansion occurred during the late '90's happened despite Bill Clinton's upper bracket tax increase.
Nexy Krugman explains the Federal Budget, beginning with where the money goes and then where it comes from. He explains that we've gone from being a "military state" to a "retirement state". He admittedly caricatures that, based on federal spending "the federal government has become a large retirement community that does some military stuff and a bit of humanitarian stuff on the side". He also explains that our national retirement program is not fully funded (as is a private pension plan). Instead the current group of retirees is living off the contributions of the current group of workers and that enormous problems will begin when the number of retirees begins to swell as the number of workers begins to shrink (about 2011). This is aleo why privatization of Social Security/Medicare is a bad idea: it will simply pull the rug out from under the feet of the current group of retirees. He discusses the origins of the recent budget surplus andhow it was tied to the recent economic boom.
He then breaks down the Bush tax cut, explaining who gets what. Using figures from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and Citizens for Tax Justice (stats from conservative think tanks are unavailable) he concludes that about 40% of American families will get nothing or very little while the top 1% will collect about 45% of the benefits. He analyzes the Treasury Department's statistics in light of this data and exposes the hucksterism involved in the official Bush line. Unfortunately this is the only piont at which Krugman cites sources although he uses statistics elsewhere in this book. More citations would have given the book a little more authority.
Finally he proposes an alternative, a "smaller, faster, cheaper, better" cut that will get money into the hands of consumers faster and will be "front loaded" (benefits sooner) as opposed to Bush's "back loaded" (most benefits arrive much later) and so will have an immediate effect on the economy.
Krugman concludes with a swipe at the "utter dishonesty of the sales campaign".
There is no reason why every American citizen should not read this book. It explains what's going on in the tax debate and does so clearly and simply. In fact, bookshelves in any participatory democracy should be full of books like this.

Every policy-maker and voter should read this book. After months of Krugman's anti-tac-cut NY Times Op-Eds, I was sick of hearing about this debate. But "Fuzzy Math" literally changed my mind in one night. It is not only a guide to the Bush tax cut but also a layman's guide to general tax policy, tax law, the federal budget, and distributional issues. Not only that, but Krugman provides a novel theory (at least to me) on why anti-big-government ideologues prefer tax cuts for the rich disproportionately over tax cuts for the bottom 99%. Krugman also exposes many statistical and other tricks that policy-makers play on the public in order to promote their programs. In short, this book does so much so thoroughly, and I am amazed that Krugman fit it all into so few pages.

by Steven Piraino. You are probably familiar with the recently passed Bush tax bill. You may also be familiar with Paul Krugman of Princeton University (formerly of M.I.T.), whose "New Keynesian" musings appear regularly on The New York Times editorial page. Recently, Krugman published his own critique of the Bush tax cut in a short, popular book entitled Fuzzy Math. To the author's credit, this book is brief, well-organized and tightly argued. Instead of aggressively pushing his own left-of-center political views onto the reader, Krugman spends most of the book exposing inconsistencies in the Bush administration's tax-cut sales pitch. He summarizes his own conclusions rather nicely: "Bush and his people . . . are radically understating the cost of their plan while overstating the money available to pay that cost. They have pretended that a plan that mainly cuts taxes for the extremely well off is basically a middle-class tax cut . . . And they have falsely sold the plan as an appropriate answer to a short run economic slowdown, when it is almost perfectly designed not to deal with that sort of problem." Much of this book is difficult to criticize on its own terms, as all of Krugman's claims have some merit. The Bush tax cut probably is less progressive and more "costly" than the Bush administration would have us believe. And, if anything, Krugman is not skeptical enough about the antirecessionary merits of using a tax cut to put money into consumers' pockets. This does not mean, however, that there is not a legitimate case for reducing taxes. As Krugman himself says, ". . . there is a case for tax cuts . . . though it is not the case the Bush administration is making." Unfortunately, the "legitimate case" that Krugman makes (and rejects) is weak and incomplete. The "correct" case for tax cuts, Krugman argues, is that tax cuts are a way to "induce people to work harder, save more, and take bigger risks." He then goes on to dismiss this case on the grounds that these benefits are unlikely to be dramatic. While superficially plausible, this analysis obscures the very essence of taxation and its costs. It is true that heavy taxation causes a variety of behavioral distortions, such as discouraging work, innovation, and investment. However, these distortions are not the costs of taxation, as Krugman suggests. They are the means that individuals employ to reduce the costs of taxation as much as possible. Furthermore, taxes are not costly because they reduce production; taxes are costly because they force individuals to consume a mix of goods that is less desirable from the standpoint of their own subjective preferences. This happens for two reasons. First, individuals behave differently in order to avoid paying a certain tax. As a result, goods that are taxed are underproduced. It is irrelevant whether or not the resulting mix of goods involves less labor, risk-taking, and investment than the mix of goods that would be produced on the free market. The important point is that the new mix is inferior to the old mix in relation to individual wants. Second, taxes transfer the command over resources from the private sector to the public sector. This is costly from the standpoint of individual wants. In the private sector, waste is minimized through the discipline of profits and losses. In the public sector, however, politicians acquire resources based on their ability to speak in public, smear opponents, and reward well-organized pressure groups. As a result, the spending projects financed by taxation generally bear little, if any, relation to the desires of consumers. Value-productive private ventures are starved of capital so that a whole host of useless or nearly useless "public goods" can be (over)produced. Consider, for example, the state of Massachusetts's infamous Big Dig transportation project (now running some $12 billion over budget), or the interstate highway splurge of the 1950s, or the pork-laden federal space program. Private investors would never pony up the extravagant sums that were necessary to fund these dubious projects, yet the list of public boondoggles goes on and on. Krugman's book makes essentially no attempt to defend politics as a means of resource allocation, making only the blithe assertion that "it's a value judgment, but I don't accept the idea that our government is too big and should be made much smaller." Krugman has the right to his own value judgments, but economics does have something positive to say about the market system-and that is that all parties necessarily benefit from the rights to voluntary exchange and association. This system stands in sharp contrast with the current political system, wherein resources are allocated with almost boundless disregard for consumers' wants. Whatever else can be said for such a system, the science of economics offers little or nothing to recommend it. If the Bush tax cuts bring us miles, yards, or even inches further from this system, a sound understanding of economics clearly strengthens, not weakens, their appeal.

In "Fuzzy Math," Paul Krugman debunks the deceptive hype deployed on behalf of the tax cut of 2001. Krugman points out how so extravagant a tax cut will force serious reductions in services - most likely, to social security.

Four years later, pundits and analysts told Americans of the dire threat to social security - a threat those same pundits and analysts dismissed when defending the cuts. As Krugman suggested they would.

Still, some might be disappointed to find that Krugman is less prophetic than simply an academic applying basic economic observations in a realistic manner. By clarifying processes of taxation, spending, and budgeting, Krugman succeeds in clearing away fog and myth, offering a healthy handbook for economics to all American citizens.

This is the top of its class. One of our best sellers.

Great companion to: The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich

This book was disappointing. Most of the advice is obsolete, like "switch over to free checking." Huh? Free checking accounts came out almost a decade ago. Or "deduct business expenses from your taxable income." Well no kidding. If you already keep diligent finances, this book won't help you. It's for people who've been asleep their whole lives and need common-sense instructions (the same people who need instructions on how to use things like paper clips).

As a customer service worker myself, some of the advice made me cringe. For example, the author says to call your cell phone provider and constantly threaten to cancel so they'll give you a better plan. First of all, employees have business rules to follow and threats do absolutely nothing but make us roll our eyes. In fact, later we go to the break room and laugh about the stupid jerks who called and threatened us that day, especially if the customer has a long history of constantly returning things, cancelling service, re-signing up, like this author recommends doing. We can see EVERYTHING on an account (and we can also see any/all accounts associated with that name, regardless of different contact info), and every time a customer harasses us we literally take notes. We can also flag an account "bad customer." "Cust called demanding free shipping from expired catalog, threatened to shop elsewhere. Told him catalog exp 3 mos ago, cust very rude, hung up." The author views customer service employees as people "whose only care is getting off work later to go hang out with her friends at the mall." Ha! I WISH that was my only care. The only way we'll bend over backwards to help a customer is if something truly unfair happened, like the post office lost the package or if the credit card was charged twice. And I applaud Sprint for dropping all those bad customers, which made headlines recently.

Anyway, this book boasts "savings of over $100,000" but I couldn't find a single penny's worth of advice in it.

Morse uses a humorous, no-nonsense approach to help readers navigate the sea of credit card offers, tax refunds, cell phone rebates, and more everyday financial issues in the most advantageous way possible. He provides many valuable, never-before-revealed tips on how to make the most of your finances, and he sheds light on the often confusing policies of our major corporations, as well as on many of their shadier marketing ploys and full-blown scams. Whether it's with a lower interest rate or a free iPod, a newly discovered tax write-off or a free vacation, everyone will benefit from reading this book.

The title would have you think that you're being given access to a wealth of inside information that most people don't know about. Well, that's only true if you are just stepping out into the big world on your own, or if you've been living paycheck to paycheck and not paying attention. For anyone who understands the basics of finance and business, this book won't tell you anything you haven't heard many times before. It's reasonably well written, although a good edit would have caught many of the typos and grammatical gaffes. And there is information provided here that everyone should know. So if your eighteen year old is heading out to their first apartment, this would be a good going away gift. If you itemize your tax deductions, or operate your own business, you'll find this elementary level reading at best.

I read this book after the Evolution Diet- and I really like the style of writing. It's lighthearted, but very good informative. I'm going to do two of the technique right away including start an online business to get ad revenue and change my deductions to give me more money throughout the year, save that money, and make money on interest instead of giving it to the government before it's due. This was really smart I thought- why is it that we give the government our money through income tax all year without earning interest, but once we're late on our tax return, we're instantly charged interest. Very suspect! Morse shows how to capitalize on that.

All the reviews are right on except for Bertie's review below - this one time reviewer seems like he/she has a bad job and is taking it out on this guy.

I got this book with Scam Proof and that looks good too.

This would be an interesting read if there were any truth to it. It took me about 15 minutes to disprove the theories presented herein. It is amazing to me that 2 economics journalists could miss by this much unless they are deliberately trying to mislead readers.

The IRS compiles reports on income and tax payments for all Americans and makes them available to the public. A quick glance at one of the reports shows that earners in the top 10% income bracket pay over 55% of all taxes, which means the other 45% is distributed among the remaining 90% of taxpayers. The bottom 10% pays less than 5% of the overall tax burden.

One example the use heavily is a comparison of George and Barbara Bush's tax return from 1992 to some random middle class American. From this, they attempt to show that the random guy paid a higher percentage of his income in taxes than the Bushes did. What they fail to mention is that most of the Bush's income (almost $900,000) was from Barbara's book sales and that she donated almost all of (over $800,000) it to charity. Taking this into account, the Bushes paid a much higher tax rate than the random guy did.

I don't think this book is worth the paper on which it is written.

America, Who Stole the Dream, was a WONDERFUL READ. I find myself leaning more to the right, from a political perspective, but the authors arguments are EXCELLENT at times and they definitely bring up some great points.

This book is the most well argued book I have read about the current demise of the middle class in the U.S. After reading it I would definitely have to say that I have more concern about political decisions being made in Washington as the authors illustrate that consistently the politicians don't do the right thing for the country.

The authors bring up several concerns

1. Middle class demise via outsourcing of manufacturing to lower cost areas
2. Growing disparity of wealth (the rich own more in % terms)
3. The outsourcing of the `HIGH TECH JOBS' that are to be the savior of the country.
4. Commentary about various social programs set up and how ineffective they are.

In conclusion I would say this book was extremely well researched and I therefore give KUDOS to the authors. While I don't agree with everything they wrote I believe they have put forth an excellent piece of work.

My main contention with the book is that it focuses on the demise of manufacturing and low-end jobs, along with some high tech. The U.S. is expensive from a labor perspective. As we have outsourced much of our manufacturing we have been able to purchase products at cheaper prices in the U.S.. Imagine what some products would cost if we were paying for labor that was, in some cases, 10x higher than current wages in developing countries? NOWHERE in the book do the authors mention the BENEFIT to our standard of living because we can buy more with our dollars than we would be able to do so otherwise. In general, this book is WAY to the left so reader beware.

My background is a B.S. in Acct., an MBA in finance and current interests in economic and social policy development so I found this to be quite an interesting read.

I find the author's primary thesis of "rich individuals and corporations shirking their rightful burden of taxes" to be undermined by the simple fact that those very same rich shoulder an enormous share of the financial burden of taxation. The top 1% of wage earners pay over a third of all federal income taxes, and the top 10% pay almost two thirds. I'm a university professor earning about $40K a year, and it seems pretty obvious to me that the wealthy are supporting the lower earners in this country when it comes to their fair share of the federal budget. Does a wealthy person use the army or highways more than I do? Than why should they pay so much more? I understand the attempts of the wealthy (like anyone) to reduce their taxes, and since the wealthy are still shouldering so much of the burden of taxation, I have to assume that their attempts are not quite as successful as the author would have us believe. It seems to me that this book, while well written, is focused too much on the small "tax dodges" and not enough on the big picture, which is that the wealthy are already shouldering more than their fair share of the country's budget.

I'm going to prelude this by saying I haven't completed reading this book yet, but want to express my opinion on what I have read so far. While the information contained is rather interesting and eye-opening, I have to take much of what is said with a grain of salt. The primary reason is that I have come accross several basic math errors in the author's conclusions (the difference between a 19.8% rate and 18.1% rate is NOT 9%). It's also rather dry reading (though I somewhat expected that, considering the topic) and repetitive (did the author really need to provide the exact quotes of 15 different people all saying (effectively) the same thing to make his point?).

I had a concern coming into this book that is was going to be pages of dull tax code jargon that kill any reading joy I might find in a book that bashes politicians. Luckily the authorýs wrote the book for the average Joe and left out the tax code. The basic premise of he book is that there is a special set of rules that the rich have had written into the tax code so that they do not pay the stated rates on the progressive tax system in the USA. This should not surprise most of us as it is the rich and corporations that spend the money with the politicians to get them elected, thus the back scratching has its fingers in the tax code. Now days it is hard to bring this charge up without all the ýClass Warfareý bias charges being tossed at you and this book is probably no exception. To me the authors did not seam to really be that bias, just real mad.

As an average Joe many parts of the book did make me a bit mad, just on the basic fairness point of view. They are good tidbits to have handy next time you are in a discussion with a person that pulls out the ýrich already pay most of the taxesý lines. With that said I did feel that the authors might have been reaching on some of thier complaints about corporations. Like most things it is a matter of degrees and in some parts I thought they went one or two steps over the line. My biggest complaint of the book was the number of person quote examples they used. It was nice to see two or three comments from some Senators on this or that tax bill, but the authors always seemed to use 10 ý 15. It was too much, we all know the politicians all read from the same talking points memos so to spell it out in a book using examples was overkill. Overall the book was interesting but not earth shattering.

An excellent book describing the political wars over U.S. tax policy. It covers the period 1861 to 1920, EXCEPT for the twenty year period 1873 to 1892. This period should have been Chapter Five, bumping that chapter and the subsequent chapters up one in the count.
One might assume that not much happened during this period, leading the author to simply jump ahead in the story. Actually, a lot happened: something which historians refer to as the Great Depression of 1873 - 1880! (Cannadine, in his biography of Mellon, 2006, describes the economic agony of this period in US History, pp 53+.)
Since this Depression immediately following the great tax reduction act of 1872 (curiously not mentioned by Cannadine), one immediately suspects cause and effect.
The 1872 tax reduction act eliminated the income tax and the inheritance tax, "eliminating the tax burden on the wealthiest Americans", and replacing them with a steep rise in tariffs, which mainly fell on the working class. Hmm.
Weisman is mysteriously silent about all of this. So did Weisman's publisher (or his newspaper editor) force him to be quiet about this?
In Cannadine's book, this Great Depression seems to come out of nowhere (within the US), so to speak. (Cannadine references a "panic in Vienna and Berlin", Mellon, p. 53). So Cannadine left out the 1872 Tax Reduction Act (cause?) and Weisman left out the 1873 start of a Great Depression (effect???). This all looks rather deliberate to me. Keep the working folks ignorant; hide the salient facts.

This is a truly decent book if your interested at all in history or economics. He really makes it easy to understand but puts a lot of stuff in there that doesn't fit. Its a good buy for about 5 bucks, other then that i wouldn't get it, unless you're interested in that sort of thing.

If I had been forced to guess under what presidential administration the nefarious "income tax" was enacted, I would have guessed that it happened under the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration - and probably in his first term. I would think this because in 1932 the nation was in big trouble - the Depression was raging. With a Great Depression raging one could presume that there would be a great majority of lesser-off when compared to better-off and in such a situation it would not be surprising that the majority of lesser-off in a democracy would vote themselves a share of what made the "better off" better off. But I was wrong.
This book tells you when, where, why and how and you get the bonus of reading an entertaining writer.

The book does a very good job describing a historical background between civil war and the end of first World War that led to the introduction and changes in the tax laws. It provides an interesting portraits of people involved in making these decisions. It is not an academic book and intended for mass audience since it's quite easy to read. The only issue I have with this book is that it seems that sometimes the author wanders away from the main subject of the book and although it is usually still interesting observations it doesn't always serve the purpose of this book. But even despite this the book is an easy and interesting read on complicated subject.

While some reviewers have indicated that this book, in addressing the topic of the history of the income tax, is not really taxing to read, the battles of the income tax tend to be some of the less interesting components of the story. Weisman does an excellent job of providing the historical context in which the battles over income tax take place, and it is this context that is much more interesting than some of the battles that took place in establishing the tax as a permanent component of the American government.

What is truly interesting about the battles over the income tax is the almost verbatim arguments that have occured against the tax, extending almost to the supply side economics argument popularized by the Regean campaign of 1980. This is fairly close to the arguments that were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Seeing that the basis of the tax argument, on either side hasn't changed much is enlightening when examining current policy debates.

Weisman also provides some interesting insights into the administrations of Roosevelt and Wilson and the politics that surrounded both of them, beyond the taxation issue. Especially noteworthy is Roosevelt's general feeling toward Wilson which extends beyond the issue of raising taxes.

Ultimately, for the discounted price the book is worth the time to read. Buying it at full price, it might not be as worth while.

This was a 5 star book when it came out and now it's a 1 star. Almost all the info in this book is now dated and obselete.

THIS BOOK GIVES YOU SIMPLE WAYS TO PRETECT YOU MONEY. PRETECT YOURSELF FORM LAWSUTES AND THE GOVERMENT. REQUIRED READING IF YOU WONT TO BULD WEALTH.

I guess I was able to benefit from this book by default . . . I am intrigued by the topic. Goldstein provided satisfactory information to give the reader a conceptual understanding about how one would use offshore investments to protect assets, acheive greater privacy and avoid taxes, howerver, this was only provided in the last 4-chapters of the book. I am still trying to figure out which group of elementary school children he wrote the first 3-chapters for. The redundancy of the first half of the book, and its inability to better conceal what can only be described was a simplistic pep-rally to motivate the mentally challenged reader to go offsohre was boarderline insulting--more condescending than listening to Al Gore pay lip service to the middle class. If you have no conceptual understaning whatsoever of offshore investing, this is something you may want to pick up. As for myself, I am going to thank Mr. Goldstein for the introduction and the opportunity of spending $30 and move on to a more comprehensive and more specific work on the subject.

Many Americans wonder why anyone would want to take their money offshore. Some might reason that with news of the Dow rising to record levels, inflation being tamed, the unemployment rate standing at its lowest level in six years and the federal deficit being down sharply, that there is no real reason to go offshore. In spite of all the national good news, there are many legitimate reasons for moving money offshore. In a nutshell, all these reasons are based on the fact that offshore rules are different from domestic ones.

Since the French Revolution, the wealthy have moved money offshore to safeguard their assets, to make a decent return, and to avoid paying taxes on their gains. There are currently some 218 jurisdictions that offer these and other special incentives to foreign investors, and many are among the best places on Earth to vacation. For example, the Caymans, three lush islands 475 miles from Miami, do not levy taxes on personal or corporate income, capital gains or your overall wealth. On top of that, the islands' financial-privacy laws can protect your assets from creditors and people who might sue you. It is indeed no wonder why the main street of this tropical paradise is lined with branches of banks from New York City, Amsterdam and Geneva.

The US government frowns on you relocating your money offshore. If everyone could invest abroad and in secrecy and never pay a dime in taxes the federal government would go broke even faster than it already is doing. It is in no way illegal to take your money offshore, even though the government has done its part to try to persuade you to not do so. Although several reporting requirements have been instituted by the government for those who do go offshore, several excellent strategies have been developed to minimize or eliminate them, and for that matter to also minimize any tax effects that such a move might entail.

Furthermore, US citizens are generally required to report income from offshore investments and to pay taxes on this income. Once again, numerous strategies have been developed to eliminate these reporting requirements so that the government will not tax your earnings at a higher rate than if your money had never left home. It is important to understand that this excessive taxation is the government's way to discourage citizens from moving funds offshore because when you move your money offshore, the government loses control.

Some strategies include elements such as chartering your own foreign bank, insurance company, corporation, or establishing a foundation or trust. An offshore corporation, bank, or insurance company is as much a legal entity as you are.

Updated July 2006 - Book is now outdated.

Tue 13 Apr 2004 Street Wire
See (*BCSC) Street Wire
by Brent Mudry
Offshore financier, author and tax dodge promoter Terry L. Neal has pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service through a tax evasion scheme, largely relating to Exchange Bank and Trust, his Nevis-based brass plate bank which handled most of its clients' dealings
through the main downtown Vancouver branch of one of Canada's most reputable banks.

The real crooks are those in The State who are stealing money from taxpayers via taxes (robbery) and inflation (thievery). I'd suggest that these crooks in the massive organized crime family known as the US Government are maliciously prosecuting T.L. Neal. I'd also note that an accusation does not mean someone is guilty, and that even if that is so, it is completely irrelevant to the advice given in this book (Dr. Atkins died of a heart-attack; that in no way impacts the debate on the health of his dietary plan). We should praise T.L. Neal for trying to help the victims of taxes and inflation.

Jan 2, 2003... Offshore financier Terry L. Neal, in U.S. custody since last Friday in criminal tax evasion charges, has been denied bail on the basis of flight risk. In a brief hearing Thursday afternoon in Portland, Ore., duty Magistrate Don Ashmanskas in United States District Court for the District of Oregon cited Mr. Neal's extensive offshore dealings through Caribbean tax havens.

Mr. Neal was represented in court by defence counsel Ronald Hoevet of Hoevet Snyder & Boise, while the lead prosecutor is Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Ross. Mr. Neal was supported in court by numerous of his seven children and 19 grandchildren. Mr. Hoevet confirms a detention appeal hearing is set for Tuesday, Jan. 7, before Judge Garr King, and he will seek Mr. Neal's release on his own recognizance, possibly with a condition of electronic monitoring.

Magistrate Ashmanskas also unsealed a criminal arrest warrant, in which the Internal Revenue Service claims Mr. Neal neglected to declare more than $7-million in penny stock trading income from 1994 to 1996 through accounts in Vancouver, primarily now defunct brokerage C.M. Oliver and the downtown Vancouver branch of Bank of Montreal. (All figures are in U.S. dollars.) Mr. Neal made his first court appearance on Dec. 27 before Judge John Delkerks, hours after being arrested.

This book is an extremely well written, lucid, compelling introduction to the "whys", "hows", historical-foundation, and MORAL bases of using "passive resistance" (as opposed to armed rebellion) to reclaim *your* life and *our* country from the welfare state and the statists who have kidnapped our Constitution. ...

Well, I have been reading the book and it has been a very pleasant surprise. Mr. Neal doesn't merely present the technical aspects of various privacy options, he presents a brief but extremely complete and fascinating overview of the history of money, the thinking of this nation's Founding Fathers, and how the Fed creates dollars "out of thin air" in order to collect additional taxes by stealth and help keep everyone subjugated...

Is THIS government what you want for your children? Our Founding Fathers risked there lives to give us freedom: economic as well as religious and political. They said things such as "Give me liberty or give me death" and "That Government governs best which governs least". They would be appalled at how their work has been perverted and how oblivious most of us are to what has been done to their work.

This is an excellent, fascinating book. Buy it. If there was an option for ten stars, I would give it ten. When you get chances to vote AGAINST *both* the Republicans and the Democrats, take them. Both of these parties worship Big Goverment. If you get a safe chance to choke off the funding of government, do it. The only way to stop the growth of this monster is to take away its food. Our Founding Fathers knew what would happen if government got unobstructed access to unlimited tax monies, as it has now obtained. Quoting from Mr. Neal's book, "Thomas Paine summed up these feelings [of the Founders] when he said: 'The punishment of a member (of Congress) who should move for such a law [as fiat money] ought to be death.'" So how come the statists are alive and Mr. Neal is in jail?

The favorable review above of Larry Turpen must be seen in the light that Larry Turpen himself has just plead guilty to felony tax evasion.

Crooks of a feather flock together.

Aaron Young, the CEO of Laughlin International dba Laughlin Associates, also plead guilty along with Neal and will also be spending a year in federal prison