San Antonio College Library

Stressing the narrowness of the U.S. tax base, the author argues that conservatives and liberals could agree on a more equitable tax code if it included more income and then taxed it at lower, moderately progressive rates. The book explores the values reflected in tax law, examines the effectiveness of tax incentives, analyzes specific exclusions (home mortgage interest, pension plans, and capital gains), and compares income tax with a "flat tax,"...

Annotation

Everyone knows that the current tax system is unfair. Some of the richest people in America pay no tax, while a huge share of the tax burden falls on the rest of us. The tax code is far too complex, with volumes of rules that no ordinary person could possibly comprehend. Some conservatives have called for a so-called flat tax, but a flat tax is not necessarily simple, and "flat" means "more" for most taxpayers. McCaffery proposes to tax spending,...

This book looks at the way we tax the poor in the United States, particularly in the American South, where poor families are often subject to income taxes, and where regressive sales taxes apply even to food for home consumption. The authors argue that these policies contribute in unrecognized ways to poverty related problems like obesity, early mortality, the high school dropout rates, teen pregnancy, and crime. They show how, decades before California's...

Although proposals for "flat" taxes have received a good deal of attention, a majority of Americans say that, for reasons of fairness, they favor a progressive tax. The USA Tax: A Progressive Consumption Tax presents an alternative to both the present tax system and a flat tax. The USA (unlimited savings allowance) tax is a progressive consumption tax that differs fundamentally from our current tax structure in that it taxes consumption rather than...

Compilation of 24 essays on tax policy to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the series Studies of Government Finance.