Customer Reviews

Federal Income Tax

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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.