Taxing Ourselves

A Citizen's Guide to the
Great Debate Over Tax Reform

By Joel Slemrod and Jon Bakija
MIT Press, $25

ISBN 0262193752

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Every day is tax day

Review by Michael Pellecchia

The U.S. has had the same basic income tax structure since 1913, but a lot has changed. Only seven percent of the population had to file tax returns between 1913 and 1939. In 1944 the percentage was 44 percent. No wonder taxation has become a hot button for voters. And we may be on the verge of a major overhaul of our tax system sometime in the next decade. This would upset a lot of apple carts, some visible, some less so.

The authors are trying to perform a service in offering perspective on where our tax system has come from and where it is going. It is an important task, for we are taught little about taxes in school, and the news media reports are heavy on spin and thin on objective analysis. Again -- no wonder.

One may not always agree with these authors' analysis of the situation, but they are to be commended for clarifying the tax reform issues that will affect us all, and making their work available to the general public in this new book.

Michael Pellecchia writes about business and finance books each month He can be reached at michael_pellecchia@bookpage.com.

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