The author examines federal tax policy over the past twenty years, through 1994, and shows how an assortment of players, politicians, and lawyers have made for erratic policy and a tangled tax system, and assesses the idea of a flat tax. UP.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
Pollack looks at tax policy in practice, especially the recent history of tax legislation. He emphasizes the inherent political character of any debate over taxes and observes that external events, such as wars, have far more effect on how we are taxed than academic theories. Scholars take note. --The Wall Street Journal
The Failure of U.S. Tax Policy is excellent reference material for policymakers, analysts, economists, educators, and students of national fiscal policy. Business, economics, and political science professors would do well to place it on their required reading list. --Perspectives on Political Science
This book has enormous intellectual and scholarly breadth. It makes significant contributions to our understanding of tax policy, political theory, and political economy. --John F. Witte, author of The Politics and Development of the Federal Income Tax --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
The Failure of U.S. Tax Policy is excellent reference material for policymakers, analysts, economists, educators, and students of national fiscal policy. Business, economics, and political science professors would do well to place it on their required reading list. --Perspectives on Political Science
This book has enormous intellectual and scholarly breadth. It makes significant contributions to our understanding of tax policy, political theory, and political economy. --John F. Witte, author of The Politics and Development of the Federal Income Tax --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
About the Author
A practicing tax attorney. Sheldon D. Pollack is also Assistant Professor of Business Law in the College of Business and Economics, with a joint appointment in the Department of Political Science, at the UNiversity of Delaware. His article on flat-tax proposals, which was a featured story in The New Republic in September 1995, appears in revised form as an appendix in this book. Similar proposals are being made again during the current political campaigns.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Useful addition to tax literature,
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This review is from: The Failure of U.S. Tax Policy: Revenue and Politics (Hardcover)
Mr. Pollack's book is an historical and critical review of the politics of the federal income tax. Because he focuses on tax complexity as a political phenomenom, the book is a highly useful addition to the tax literature, and is somewhat unique in its focus. Chapter 7, on the causes of tax complexity, is especially interesting reading. While the causes of tax complexity are well-known, Mr. Pollack does an excellent job of discussing the various causes and why these factors are so intractible. Also useful is his discussion of the tax reform criteria 'fairness' and 'vertical equity'. Pollack points out that these terms cannot be objectively defined- fairness and vertical equity are subjective concepts that continually add to the complexity of the tax code. By and large, the book maintains a dispassionate, impartial attitude toward the tax reform debate. The author adds a 'postscript' on the 'flat tax' that is, however, somewhat partisan, and, for that reason, disappointing. He rails against the 'fairness' of the flat tax, after the bulk of the book is devoted to emphasizing that 'fairness' is a subjective matter. He questions whether the flat tax would really be any simpler than the current income tax. The flat tax is a wage tax; how could it not be simpler? Finally, he notes that there would be significant transition issues to deal with in switching to a different system of collecting revenue. That's certainly correct, but hardly a compelling reason to stick with the current mess
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