Taxation Law Books

Let me first admit up front that I have not read this book. I have only read the section that pertains to me.

I do not know if this book makes a persuasive argument or not, but there are two mistakes in the section in which the agency of which I am the current chairman is cited.

First, and foremost, the redevelopment plan in question has nothing to do with housing. This book is an attempt to capitalize on many homeowners' natural revolt at the thought that municipalities can take over private homes just for the sake of economic development or someone's idea of "progress." Nothing could be further from the case in Bristol. Our redevelopment plan had nothing to do with economic development. It had nothing to do with housing, or displacing homeowners. It had nothing to do with "progress."

The Bristol redevelopment plan had to do with the elimination of blight, that is properties who were neglected for decades and were a blot on the downtown. What was asked of the property owners was simply to bring their commercial properties, none of which were inhabited, in compliance with community standards, a common sense standard devoid of gimmickry or legal gobbledygook. Any rational person could look at these properties and determine their inadequacy without the benefit of an advanced engineering diploma or a law degree.

Regardless of the merits of the Kelo v. New London Supreme Court decision, our redevelopment plan in Bristol had nothing in common with that situation. As a matter of fact, our public policy in Bristol is precisely that we do NOT condemn homes by invoking eminent domain, even to combat blight, much less for economic development.

The second mistake is rather minor but illustrative of sloppy work. The town of Bristol referred to on page 182 is in Rhode Island, not Connecticut, a mistake obviously due to the fact that the Kelo case was in Connecticut. Close, but no cigar.

On the positive side, the author spelled my name correctly and quoted me correctly.

Never buy an income tax study guid that old, esp for $45+. The lecture itself is reasonably thorough and author's voice was acceptable, but half the information was outrageously out of date. Having said that, I used it to catch up on income tax stuff in preparation for a corporate tax class, and that worked out okay.

I purchased this one after a brief flip-through, thinking it presented a good overview of intellectual property law woven through a framework of unfair competition law.

That's not the right way to describe this book. It's really a nutshell about unfair competition law (the foreword reveals that the book used to be called "Unfair Trade Practices in a Nutshell"). Intellectual property law is discussed, but only inasmuch as it relates to unfair competition law. Lots of IP is left out--the section about patents, for instance, says very little about best mode, statutory bar, and other basic concepts, other than defining them in a sentence or two.

While this is still a useful guide for business lawyers and law students, the title is very misleading. If you want a decent guide to IP, get the other nutshell on intellectual property.

As an owner of a small business, I'm always reading and keeping up with the tax laws, and ways to implement legal tax avoidance strategies. I have read quite a few books on the subject. Mr. Fellman's book is technically accurate, however I had trouble with his "joking" style of writing. I suppose he is trying to make a dry subject more interesting, but I found the style to be condescending and that it sometimes made the material more confusing than it is. Yes, the tax laws are tangled, but I prefer to read without the joking, questionairre format. A more readable, straightforward book on the subject is Robert Cooke's Doing Business Tax Free. Also, for a true in-depth reference volume of the small business owner's tax avoidance options, I found it helpful to skim & reference the very thick, but very informative, How to Pay Zero Taxes by Jeff Schepper.

If you are doing a Phd dissertation on the topic of licensing intellectual property, this could be the right book for you. If you are looking for a practical, day-to-day overview of these concepts and how to leverage IP assets for your business, I would not recommend this book. I'm still looking!

The authors do a decent enough job of covering the Offer in Compromise (OIC)process, but are light on the "insights and strategies".

Out of a roughly 400-page book, I expected more than 75 pages of original material.

The appendices begin at about page 80 and carry on through the rest of the book.

Personally, I think most of us can access that information on the IRS websight. Still, though, it's nice to have it all in one bound volume; it's just that I didn't expect so little original material.

It's obvious that the authors have a lot of experience and knowledge in the area of OICs, and they express it in the first 75 pages. However, even a lot of this writing is just telling me what I already know - such as "line 27 is for cash assets" or "valuations are subjective".

I still got some good info out of the book, so with my motto:

"If you get one or two good pieces of information from a book and increase your knowledge, then you didn't waste all of your time"

I guess it wasn't a complete waste of money.

I have used Turbo Tax since 2002. It is 2006 and I would have thought they would pay more attention to navigation problems. Now I am compelled to say something. Inevitably, each year it is a different problem. They need a QA team. So I tell it to import my info from Fidelity, it seems to run fine. I am pleased. I could not get it to import from another firm, HarrisDirect. So I hit Done so I can enter things manually. Then I get a password for another firm so I try to go back to the import screen but it isn't there. So I hit import from the file menu. Then it puts me in HarrisDirect and will not let me out. When I hit Done, it appears to have lost my Fidelity info.

This is rediculus. I try calling but there is a 10 min wait. I try online chat but I get cut off.

This book is required for most college-level courses in individual income taxes, but it is the sloppiest, most poorly written textbook I've ever used. Where are the copy editors? The publisher could save at least 100 pages just by tightening up the verbose writing style. The book contains good information, but you want to pull your hair out with all the useless references to topics covered in later chapters, passive sentence structure, and needless extra words. Here is an example: "The cost of listed property that does not pass the more-than-50 percent business usage test in the year the property is placed in service must be recovered using the straight-line method." Even the IRS publications are better written than this book.

Poor Nelson Warwick's spelling errors are forgivable if not telling.

His misrepresentation of the facts (aka lies) are not.

I would welcome a well thought out, reasoned challenge to the factual merits of the FairTax plan. This however is not such a book.

I am an advocate of the Fair Tax. I am also willing to look at both sides of an issue before I decide for myself. I have read both of Boortz's books, plus the book by Al Ose on the Fair Tax. That is why I bought this book. I don't know who Mr. Warwick is but I suspect they shouldn't let him have anything sharper than a dull Crayon. This book is full of errors of all kinds, grammatical, mathematical, commonsensical, etc. I suspect he is an IRS agent in sheeps clothing. Do not buy this book! It is a pure waste of money

Using this guy's own spelling and grammar rules, I'd like to summarize him with one word: moreon!

I, a high school student, can't believe how many gramatical mistakes there are in this book. For instance in the last line of the second paragraph in chapter 1, he states "Blow to our economy, lost opportunities!!" I believe he forgot a question mark there. Latter on, he writes "well" instead of "will". He apparently wasn't a very good english student.

The book has a glossy finish and a cute cover.

Even back cover questions aren't gramatically correct. That foretold what was between the covers.

I wanted to see if there were any cogent arguments in the book. So, I took the example on page 25, and added a column for the treasury (be it IRS of a new treasury department). As I walked through it, I discovered the off the cuff numbers used and with no clear rationale.

The basic assumption that Mr. Warwick makes is that he is somehow able to judge what will happen, with no corroboration, when the tax code is changed. He may have some points in his head. They never make it to the reader, as they (if they exist) are masked by his cavalier comments and off hand remarks, loose math, and disregard for consistent logic.

If he has read H.R.25, it is not evident.

I found this book a disappointing waste of time and money.

WARNING: THIS BOOK IS NOT WRITTEN BY WILLIAM D. WARREN, RENOUNDED HUMORIST AND AUTHOR OF HOW TO DIE: OR THE GOOD GATSBY.
I saw this book for sale, and even though it was $100.00 I thought, 1000 pages by William D. Warren, who also goes by Wm. Douglas Warren, I will buy that for $100.00. No, no. It was a tragic mistake. While I was hoping for outrageous comedy and a laugh a minute narratives, all I got was a book about case studies and stuff legal issues. I guess I should have been tipped off by the name, but Warren is known for his subtleties, (as well as his not so subtleties), so I thought maybe it was just some joke I didn't get. NOPE! If you want a book about law and stuff, buy this one, but if you want a good book, buy How to Die: or The Good Gatsby.

The revised UCC has not been adopted by most states, and the Revised 9 is only adopted by less than 10 states to date. So depending on where you are from, this book may be either helpful or a bit frustrating. The previous buyer's review is missing this crucial bit of info.

I assume you're buying this book becasue you are taking Secured Transactions. I'm sorry. This book is bad. All of the cases deal with old 9 not revised 9 which is usually the current law. You'll read a case- understand it and then they'll say it all changed when they passed revised 9. Prepare to be confused. If you are a professor please be kind, don't force your students to use this book. Any other book has to be better.