Customer Reviews

Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes

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Not written for numbers people, but for those interested in public policy and the future shape of our society. Shows how the unseen -- or perhaps frequently unexamined -- hand of a major part of tax law has profound effects. Treats all aspects of the debate. Gives a fair history of a number of main points around the last century's debate about appropriate national taxation. Lucid, readable; reasoned but passionate. Great suggestions for further reading. And all this in fewer than 140 pages plus appendices. Deserves a Pulitzer.
I have been a tax accountant for over 25 years, with a professional interest in this subject, and I learned a great deal!

This extraordinary little book packs a gigantic punch. I'd love to summarize it here, but as soon as you buy the book, get straight to Chapter One. It's enough to make you sick in the stomach.

Is America a "democracy"? After Ch.1 you really wonder. A sample from p. 15: Around the turn of the century, shortly before WWI, the top 1 (one) per cent of the population owned 56.4% of the country's private wealth - at the same time, the authors tell us, "the wealthiest 10 [ten] per cent of households owned 90% of all wealth." Now, think about it: 90% of Americans together owned a mere 10% of the country! (And most of the country's wealth was in private hands, because the government at all levels owned very little of value. There wasn't even a national park in existence!) That's neither justice nor democracy.

American society started to improve since then, especially after the introduction of income tax. But things have again gone in the opposite direction in the last two decades, so that "the United States is now the most unequal society in the industrialized world." (p. 14)

This fact is borne out in the UN Human Development Report 2002. (I was surprised that this authoritative publication is NOT cited anywhere in this book.) This report gives the "Gini Index" for each country, among numerous other data. The Gini Index is not something out of Aladdin: It "measures inequality over the entire distribution of income or consumption. A value of 0 represents perfect equality, and a value of 100 perfect inequality." (p. 197) Ranked are these selected countries in the industrialized world: Denmark (24.7 - the least unequal society), Japan (24.8), other Scandinavian countries (including Finland) at around 26, then Germany (30.0), then English-speaking countries like my own Canada (31.5 - the lowest in this group), Australia (35.2 !!), the UK (36.8 - hardly news, what with their queen and lords), and finally the United States at 40.8. (France, the host of the French Revolution, is a surprising 32.7.) For comparison, developing China is 40.3 (beats the US by a hair - but not for long), India only 37.8 (I guess only a couple of people can be called rich there), and Russia is the most unequal of all at 48.7.....but then Russia is now run by a mafia of ruthless moneylords, much like America a century ago, when men like Rockefeller and Al Capone ran all the shows. (Still it is better than the gulag and secret police. And anything is better than communism.)

Getting rid of the estate tax won't help one bit. On the other hand, not repealing it in and of itself is just a small step in the right direction, hardly enough to stop the country from sliding down the slippery slope to a second Gilded Age. This book makes a very convincing argument why getting rid of the estate tax is truly a form of insanity the name of which is still not in the psychiatric textbooks. Bill Gates Sr.'s position is supported by his son (the world's richest man - mostly self-made). Warren Buffett, the world's second richest man (also self-made), disagrees with them only because he thinks the estate tax as it is does not go far enough. (He'd prefer to tax 100% of the super-rich's inheritance not given to charity.) This estate tax is absolutely, undoubtedly no "death tax" - as though everyone has to pay it, even the poor. Rather, it is really just "rich kids' tax"! Let's start calling the thing by its right name.

Andrew Carnegie is frequently quoted in this book, for good reasons. This mega-hero of the Gilded Age, who rose from abject poverty in a foreign country to become the richest man on earth, literally built America - with the steel from his furnaces, used in railroads and highrise buildings. He went even further than Buffett: "Any rich man [or woman, I assume] who doesn't give away his money to charity BEFORE he dies is a shame and a disgrace to society," as he said over and over. Carnegie certainly practised what he preached. (Before he died he gave away at least 95% of his worth, mostly to create free libraries for people too poor to have books.) Carnegie also believed in the estate tax: "Of all taxes this seems the wisest," in a memorable quote in this fine book.

At a time when many Americans worry about losing their jobs, when every citizen pays for the defense of the country, this is no time for the estate tax repeal - just so that the Forbes zillionaires own and control even more of the country while the rest have nothing or next to nothing. The supremely selfish, extremely greedy, totally irresponsible, unbelievably small-minded and short-sighted people who oppose the estate tax - and therefore dislike this book - hate and despise their fellow Americans more, and do more long term damage to America, than any Middle East terrorists because this kind of injustice (in Buffett's choice word) was what caused the downfall of Rome and is still yet another reason which encourages neo-Marxists everywhere.

This book is densely argued and extremely clearly presented. The 24 pages of sources in this slim little volume show the authors have done their homework, despite the omission I mentioned. Bill Gates Sr.'s authority is undeniable not only because he was already wealthy himself BEFORE his son became the world's richest human being (for at least the past ten years as far as I know), but also because he is himself a highly successful tax lawyer and in charge of one of the world's largest charitable foundations, the Gates Foundation. (One day it will be the world's largest.) If he doesn't know what he is talking about, I don't know who does. This book's Foreword is aptly written by the formidable Paul Volcker, former Fed Chairman.

I can't praise this book enough. It can go further though, as the public and private statements by Warren Buffett - a good friend of both Gates' - explain clearly why. Despite its admirable conciseness, this book can use a good general index at the end. (I want to be sure who said what when and why.)

Most controversial issues have two sides. The authors of this book present the arguments in favor of abolishing the estate tax in "the best light" by quoting at length and in context the abolition proponents' rationale. They then destroy these arguments by showing how and why they are based on false and often misleading "facts." They also make the case as to why an estate tax on those few accumulated fortunes which are, even under the pre-2001 law, subject to the tax is an important foundation stone of the American Experiment. I am not naive enough to believe that those who have made a career of opposing the estate tax will be swayed by the authors' book, but anyone with an open mind should be.

This brief book strongly explains how society will benefit from keeping an estate tax on the wealthy. It explains how the estate tax allows America to be a meritocratic place where the best and brightest rise to the top and can make the most positive social change. It explains how charity giving will increase during wealthy individual's lifetimes if they know they face a big tax at the end. It gives a brief history of the estate tax and why it was introduced in the first place. It exposes the hypocrisy of Bush's estate tax repeal that expires in 2010. All in all, it provides a very concise argument why we must give back to the society which enabled us to have the potential to become wealthy in the first place. I never thought I'd be able to read through a book on tax law without putting it down. This book is brilliant.

I had to read this book for a political science class I was taking over the summer, and I am glad the professor chose this book because I learned a lot about the estate/death tax. This book puts everything into prospective, and explains the pros and cons of the tax. If your interested on how the estate tax works and why we need it read this book.

Bill Gates Senior, who knows a thing or two about wealth, and Chuck Collins, co-founder of Responsible Wealth, have written a book examining one of the most contentious issues of the "me generation." Exemplified by the Gordon Gekko attitude of "greed is good" and Leona Helmsley's "Only little people pay taxes," there is an ongoing debate in this country about the responsibility (or lack thereof) of the super-wealthy to give back to the community, the country and the world. With MTV Cribs touting lavish selfish lifestyles and entertainment TV following every move of the trust fund princesses, it's no wonder that right-wing bloggers and talk radio pundits equate progressive taxation with socialism -- instead of one of the founding principles of this country, equal opportunity for all. The media empire moguls are only too happy to broadcast this misinformation, as Gates & Collins detail in their book, and ironically even some non-billionaires have now taken up the cause.

The truth is, economic disparity has widened since the Reagan/Bush/Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, and if nothing is done -- or worse, the tax burden is further shifted onto the poor as has been proposed -- then the results may mimic the last time economic disparity was this bad, in the late 1920s.

There's a lot of good information in this book, and it tries very hard to be fair to both sides of the debate. It is not however the best organized book I've ever read, jumping around from topic to topic within chapters and having no overall arc to the organization. The first chapter is a bramble of statistics, dollar amounts and percentages without a single chart to illustrate them. The middle of the book gets easier, but the book does not finish up with any grand conclusions. It could have been more fun but that does not detract from its importance.

This book not only explains why our economy is in the toilet, it lays an intelligent plan for fixing it!

Wealth and Our Commonwealth is a fascinating book on a current topic. It addresses a simple, yet important, question which arises from the demands for the USA to abolish the estate tax on the very rich. The question is:"What kind of society do we want to become?" (p. ix). The answer turns out to be that to remain a decent society, and under current budget deficit scenarios, the USA must not abolish the estate tax. "Eliminating the estate tax on America's multimillionaires will impose another form of `inheritance tax.' But this tax will take the form of the substantial debt that we will leave to all the children of the next generation" (p. xiv).

It is not hard to agree with the conclusion of the book in light of two facts. First, one of the authors is Bill Gates, Sr - the father of Microsoft's founder. Since abolishing the of an estate tax stands to benefit his son, one would think he would love it. Second, the book comes after a large group of millionaires and billionaires petitioned against "wholesale repeal of the estate tax" (p. 1), suggesting that there is wide support for the tax out there. Third, in the Foreword to the book Paul Volcker, ex-Chairman of the Fed, agrees with the book, although he cautions that budget deficits have spending and revenue sides to them. Despite the Laffer curve hypothesis, eliminating estate taxes simply reduces tax revenue and redistributes the tax burden toward the middle class. The estate tax law has a long history, lined by supporters and detractors on both sides.
A "showdown" is looming in the horizon, because supporters of the abolition of the estate tax seem to ignore that private wealth depends on the commonwealth, so that the rich, just like everyone else, owe society something. To be worthy an American is to care about others, especially the less fortunate and children other than your own. Thus a fair distribution of the equality of opportunities is the foundation of American democracy, and estate tax revenues have long played a significant role in this. In fact, it has prevented the emergence of an aristocratic dynasty.

There is a lot to like about this book, but too many words, like too many cooks, spoil the broth. Highly recommended!!

Amavilah, Author
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This review is excellent but I believe that those of us who live in Turtle Island will develop unified systematic responses only when we begin to honour the heritage of First Nations. The common wealth of First Nations was brought about through inclusive and comprehensive accounting practices, which valorized the contributions of all community members. This primary accounting including women's and social work took place in the Production Societies of each community. This accounting unified ownership for all members of the Production Societies. Wampum and other string currencies were issued across the 36 Confederacies of Turtle Island. People not only voted with their Wampum but spent it as currency as well. Ownership was progressive from the early status of an apprentice to the weighted Wampum 'share' holdings of the elder. What is missing in our capitalist and socialist worlds is their unity. Both systems hold part of the puzzle. Both developed as institutional fragments of a once integrated whole. The wonderful thing being that First Nations still hold many clues to understand this ancient system from aroung the world. You can imagine the difference between a whole culture of economic justice and merely a complaint department in a crooked department store. While Gates and Collins book is essential, it is through cultural indigenous economic design that we gain the involvement to make a difference. Western authors tend to keep us in critical analysis but still divided. Douglas Jack, eco-montreal@mcgill.ca (514) 695-3845