Customer Reviews

Take the Rich off Welfare

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This is the most comprehensive summary of tax write-offs, subsidies and other welfare schemes favoring the affluent and powerful that I have ever encountered. Well documented! Should enrage the average tax payer.

The next time some smug nabob starts muttering under his/her breath about the drain on our economy caused by the proverbial `welfare mother' (you know, the one that's driving the Cadillac), you can put em' in their place armed with the wealth of info contained in this short but well written little book.

As `Take the Rich Off Welfare' aptly points out, welfare really does suck a lot of money from our treasury, but it's not the poor and needy in this country that benefits from this bonanza. As a matter of fact the word `wealthfare' is more applicable, because that's who's really benefiting- the wealthy.

Very brief, but meticulously researched and with sources to back up every fact, `Take the Rich off Welfare' is a great introduction to the big wide world of graft in America. If you've ever been curious about who has their foot in the back door of the treasury- check out this fine book.

Hope he updates this after Bush leaves office since there'll be much more governmental waste to report on! Tis book made me laugh, cry and want to vomit at many occasions to hear about the wasteful spending and tax breaks for the rich and superrich in America. I'm a social worker and proud advocate for social equality, and reading this makes my heart hurt for all of America's poor and the rich in our country who live the high life at their expense.

The reader below has missed the point. This is a marvelous book that would be beneficial for every American to read.

Taxes are never just to raise revenue, there are always politics involved for preferential treatments. So there will always be those who benefit from tax policies, even if it is called "revenue neutral" (tax the poor more to tax the rich less). The authors list a number of policies that provide benefits for the rich; they call that "wealth fare". This book lists various policies and their costs; you'll rarely find this in your local newspaper. The authors believe its wrong for the rich to steal from the poor (p.8). Lower corporate taxes resulted in huge Federal deficits and higher taxes for the rest of us (p.10).

Government subsidies are fixed amounts of money listed in the budget. Tax breaks receive little scrutiny and are open-ended (p.12). "Military Waste and Fraud" wastes $172 billion a year. But this can provide benefits to the districts of powerful Congressmen, a form of transfer payments. These made the Southwest bloom and the Northeast a "rust belt". Overpriced items may be "Hollywood accounting" for cost-overruns. Reagan and Congress lowered taxes on the rich by raising Social Security taxes on earned income (p.36). Raising the taxable limit could reduce this tax for most people. Page 39 explains the scam of accelerated depreciation. The capital gains tax is a subsidy to the super-rich (p.41). Lower capital gains taxes results in lower growth in the economy (p.44). Page 46 explains how the Federal Reserve damaged and destroyed the Savings & Loan banks. They needed help from Congress for this looting (pp.47-48). Like the other scams, the average taxpayer pays for this too (p.51).

There are some mistakes in this book. The "average full-time farmer is worth $700,000" (p.56). That's not as much as it sounds: 200 acres at $2,000 an acre, house and barns about $150,000, supplies and tools another $150,000 (your estimates may vary). That is for a small owner-operated business. While they may quibble about subsidies, food is cheaper in America than elsewhere, and you don't find people dying from hunger as in earlier times (p.57). [Isn't it cost-effective to have people die from excess feeding in their 60s than from TB or hunger by age 30?] Their price for a barrel of oil is far out of date (p.67). Page 73 explains why the credit for foreign taxes can ship US jobs abroad.

The authors want to tax municipal bonds because the wealthy benefit more (p.74). The real problem is that states continually borrow more and more to create this tax-free income; that's why states now have such huge debts. Federal salaries and pensions can be reduced to save money and taxes (p.81). Page 83 explains the scam of corporate owned life insurance! The diatribe against "nuclear subsidies" sounds like it was paid by Big Oil. Nuclear power is big in France, Japan, and Saudi Arabia; why not here? The minerals and oil depletion allowances are tax breaks disallowed to wage earners. Page 102 makes the mistake of claiming that tax breaks keep gasoline prices lower; actually the higher prices in Europe are due to higher taxes!

The authors document many types of government subsidies. But don't the same laws exist in many other countries? Various groups collude to create laws that benefit them or their businesses. It just depends on whether you want the greatest good for the greatest number.

This book is short and sweet, and does exactly what it sets out to do--provides the reader with scads of well-documented instances of graft, the magnitude of certain of which is extremely disconcerting. The media doesn't cover much of this, either. The book is well-organized with the most outrageous facts at the beginning, so you can literally read just the first 25 pages or so and come away informed about the biggest scams in the book (which are BIG). If this doesn't make you mad, you need to take your pulse.

This book is a sham...because the author fails to look at the whole economic picture.

for example the author claims on page 8 (Miscellaneous Corporate tax breaks)

"in the 1950s corporate tax rate was 54% and corporations paid nearly almost a third of all taxes, a signal tax
payer could support a family of four and afford a new house, a car, major appliances." In 2000 when corporate
tax rate ranges between 15% and 24% and corporate pay less then 10% of all income taxes, more than half of families
have 2 or more wage earners and businesses are laying off people left and right:"

Ok lets review what the author has claimed, he claims the low corporate tax rate has killed jobs...

No No and No
what he fails to add in the above paragraph is how High corporate tax rate actually killed the economy
and the attempts to lower the Corporate tax rate was an attempt to help sustain what we have left. You may think that sounds crazy
but as an example and proof take any product in your house and look where it was made.

did you see the word China? BINGO!!!!!!!! ------->>>>> MADE IN CHINA


in the 1950s we had what was called made in the USA ( American Pride) and that was before mass Globalization.
if you think Detroit and buffalo NY were ruined by lowering Corporate tax rate
this again...

China and other countries had cheap labor and since Unions became a mass disease in this country demanding
so much from companies
companies said "FINE, lets go where we have cheap labor, unregulated, low tax and growth opportunities.
( not saying un-regulation is good, but we are now over-regulated) To much tipping the boat to the other side
verses finding a middle medium to operate a company and some what satisfy the W2 worker....


The biggest destruction of wealth was caused by high corporate tax and employee demands..
Higher pay, more benefits ..All that is good and wonderful, how ever the demands have got to the point
where they actually killed the very jobs they loved and killed production . Just like anything, you drain it to much and you have nothing left.
Somewhere you have to sacrifice. A good name that comes to my mind is Walmart...People love the low prices
and mass buying power by those low prices but yet that came at a sacrifice. Which killed small local business (mom and pop shops)
and created cheap labor. When WalMart began it was a good job for the average housewife and high school student. Now people are doing Union rallies
to make being a cashier at Walmart a career . They want retirement packages, higher pay, health benefits etc...All from a cashier... OUCH watch what the industry does now..
Well we have online internet...wow why go to Walmart when I can order everything online and delivered to my house and with technology all those same cashiers will be replaced with self
check out. (which we already have and soon as robot check out lady get suer improved, you can say good bye cashier complainers,

I am just stating the facts.... Unless the Government buys Walmart out like General Motors and uses it as a tool to keep those W2 cashier employees happy all the way to the voting booth......

If you were in the company shoes would you keep your business here where 50% or more of your profit
went to Socialist Unions and high American Tax rates or would you take your business to a business friendly
country were cheap labor exist and low to almost no tax?


In 2004 congress posed corporate tax rate in order to lore companies back to the US and it almost worked .
Our huge false growth expansion fro the housing boom was due to people being employed in the building
real estate market and so for a while 9/11 was a memory and with free money for anyone who signed
there name on a loan could get one with a valid Social security number even though no proof of income,job
and credit score mattered. Well we all see what production can do in the US and profit everyone, however
it was all basically false, as we have seen with the collapse and almost Great Depression part 2. So now what?
As the author claims, how he wants corporate taxes raised. I almost choke as I read it. Yeah, that makes perfect sense,
tax what little we have here in the US at an even higher rate and see what jobs really go out the door.
China is becoming the best capitalist around.....
Does that make an ounce of sense? IS everyone supposed to work for the Government for a check? Isnt that basicly
where Obama is creating jobs, In the government. Some making 6 figure salaries .
What happened to the American dream, to start a business, be independent , help your fellow man form your own goodness verses
a Gov taking your money in high taxes so they can buy votes. W2 workers are nothing more then slaves and the propaganda
people like this author create to keep you the average JOE ignorant so your anger is directed at companies and not the GOV is amazing.

I use to get all angered at so called Corporate welfare till I started working for myself. Then I realized all of us should be angry together
at the Gov for selling us out both W2 and companies. But companies won't care cause they learned the system and that keeps them quiet
while the w2 worker has no choice. The W2 worker basically lives paycheck to paycheck . I know , I was one.

Wow look at Bethlehem steel, it use to be a bustling and blooming business, and made Buffalo NY great. Now it looks like a
desolate waste land and a sad reminder but an important one of what our Gov is really doing.
There are always two sides to every story and I think people need to start thinking for themselves before they point the figure.
I always go past the propaganda and look to the single point in history that caused the shift. In this case of job loss
it was form the Government greed to tax everything that was productive out of this country.

America does not produce or make hardly anything except Happy Meals and Movies....How sustainable is that?
Even the Movie industry may move out and is starting to. and Happy Meals are making us unhealthy and fat.


I think we need a fair tax system , one that everyone can understand and one that can compete with Globalization.
I pay my share of taxes ...But when our own Secretary of Treasury "Turbo TAX Tim Geithner" cheats on his returns
and Rengal, the one who writes tax law cheats , what kind of example are they saying?

And ohhh here is a good one, How about all the IRS agents whp fraudulently recently were caught using the
home $8000 tax home buyer credit multiple times for teh same person..

How am I , just the average tax payer and American citizen supposed to agree with the tax code and blame corporate companies
when the law makers of the tax code don't follow it themselves.

Look at Warren Buffet...The man whos says we need higher taxes on wealthy and then goes and tries to buy a companies bad debt for his own
tax deduction on his company. Is this wrong ? NO ...But it is wrong to be a hypocrite and preach how we as average independent small businesses
are being told how we need to pay higher taxes by the same person looking to fully use the loop holes.

Maybe the reason is if to many people got rich and America got to productive again, the rich would be blended in and not stand out
maybe all Americans would become prosperous and then people in power in congress would have a hard time bribing people for votes.

Truly as an average regular person as myself with not alot of money and is just like average Joe can see this makes me wonder how many
other little average Joes are waking up and smelling the Java, that something is truly wrong with this system.

Far as the book goes.... good information but twisted to fit someones angry point of view without presenting root causes......

If you look at the PHA in Philadelphia, you will find that most who receive welfare in various forms, ie. subsidized housing are working under the table.

I guess this is what passes for a thoughtful review of the tax code for a liberal. I'm sure the author has no desire to give "tax breaks" to individuals any more than those greedy corporations. Besides attacking expense deductions as a "tax break," the class-warfare demagoguery always ignores the ultimate beneficiary of tax breaks to corporations, which are the company's workers and its stockholder. Oh yeah, the stockholders are just greedy rich people anyway, right?