Federal Income Tax [Hardcover]

John F. Witte (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0299102009 | ISBN-13: 978-0299102005 | Publication Date: August 15, 1985

No program of the federal government has elicited so many calls for reform—and none has resisted reform efforts so consistently—as the income tax. In this book, John Witte provides the most detailed, clearly stated, accurate, and up-to-date exposition of the history of the federal income tax, while offering an acute analysis of the political factors that have shaped it over more than a century. This work is essential source material for all policy makers and policy analysts, and a lucid and comprehensive survey for students in public policy, public administration, budget and tax policy, political economy, and contemporary political theory. In short, Witte explains in graphic detail why the income tax remains in virtual chaos, and just what the prospects are of future reform.
    Witte’s analysis is based in the context of incremental/pluralist policy-making theory. He begins by outlining and analyzing incremental theory and income tax policy, and then surveys past and present theories in income taxation. The broad center of the book consists of a detailed legislative and political history of the development of the income tax from the Civil War through the Reagan policies of the 1980s. Witte then offers an analysis of the growth, distribution, and politics of approximately one hundred tax expenditure provisions, and he concludes with an appraisal of recorded public opinions on income tax issues between 1948 and 1979.
    Witte’s book, original in concept and boldly stated, will be essential reading not only for tax scholars, students, and professionals, but for all who are concerned with the form of American democracy and the political life of the nation.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 464 pages
• Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press (August 15, 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0299102009
• ISBN-13: 978-0299102005
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,842,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Incremental Income Tax History, May 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Federal Income Tax (Hardcover)

I really like this book. In many ways it is a book about how institutions change. Dr. Witte has simply decided to focus on tax institutions. He begins with a discussion of incrementalism, or the idea that very often-large changes cannot occur all at once. He then puts this into context within the academic theories of the best tax.

The bulk of the book though is historical. Through economic history, Dr. Witte, discusses the forces of ideology, interest, and pragmatism that shape tax policy. He shows that these forces affect both the tax rules and the meta-rules that shape them. [The history is very clear, although an historian might note that Witte tends to rely on secondary sources.] Finally, Witte notes that because have institutional structures that prevent anything but marginal changes, we are unlikely to get an ideal tax no matter how defined.

I would recommend this book strongly for people who are doing this type of research. My only complaint is that I would have preferred to see more discussion of the political entrepreneurs who shape the changes.