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The Benefit and The Burden: Tax Reform-Why We Need It and What It Will Take
PDF Download The Benefit and The Burden: Tax Reform-Why We Need It and What It Will Take
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Review
"A lucid analysis... a provocative book... remarkably successful in interweaving the underlying economics of the US tax system with the political choices that have made it what it is."--"Financial Times""For a vivid picture on how evolving tax laws have wrecked America's fiscal standing, consult Bruce Bartlett's new book."--Froma Harrop, "The Providence Journal""A great introduction for anyone who doesn't really know much about the U.S. tax system and wants to learn the basics. It's clear, short, and a quick read."--Kevin Drum, "Mother Jones""[Bartlett] writes beautifully and seems to have no trouble avoiding getting caught up in the many complexities of tax policy."--Len Burman, "Forbes "and Professor of Economics at Syracuse"In a political system beset by ignorance and misinformation, delivering basic information to interested citizens is a worthy goal. And Bartlett does it very well."--Joseph J. Thorndike, "Tax Notes""Today we're living in a country deeply divided between winners and losers. Nowhere is that more evident than in our tax system--so distorted by loopholes, exemptions, credits, and deductions favoring the already rich and powerful that it no longer can raise the money needed to pay the government's bills. Among the people who saw this crisis coming was the conservative economist Bruce Bartlett... "The Benefit and the Burden "is a layman's guide through the jungle of a tax system that, thanks to rented politicians and anti-tax ideologues like Grover Norquist, enable the one percent to make off like bandits while our national debt soars sky-high."--Bill Moyers"[Bartlett's] analysis of tax burdens and policies in modern times is essential reading for anyone following the present debate about income inequality and taxation."--"Worth""If Obama wants to win this election, he needs to embrace radical tax reform. The shape and structure of sane reforms is already out there, as Bruce Bartlett explains."--Andrew Sullivan, "The Daily Beast""[Bartlett's] balanced, well-researched primer on America's tax system... is a refreshing entree to a difficult subject. The book's no-nonsense approach to tax policy proves surprisingly engaging."--"The Economist""Bruce Bartlett has waded into the debate on tax policy with a thoughtful argument for the necessity of reform."--Tom Pauken, "The American Conservative"
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About the Author
Bruce Bartlett is a columnist for the Economix blog of The New York Times, The Fiscal Times, and Tax Notes. Bartlett worked as staff director of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House, and as deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department during the George H.W. Bush administration.
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Product details
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (January 29, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1451646259
ISBN-13: 978-1451646252
Product Dimensions:
5.5 x 0.7 x 8.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review:
4.4 out of 5 stars
51 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#336,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Benefit and The Burden: Tax Reform Why We Need It and What it Will Take by Bruce Bartlett"The Benefit and The Burden" is a very solid, no-nonsense book that makes the compelling case for tax reform and what it will take to do so. In an even-handed, non-partisan manner Bruce Bartlett skillfully makes the US Tax System accessible to the masses. Bartlett's background in government economics and having worked on the staffs of Congressmen Ron Paul and Jack Kemp and as deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the Treasury Department during the George H.W. Bush administration, serves him well to write such a topical and important book. A book about tax reform can be dry and tedious to read at times but Bartlett's lucid and concise prose makes this book a worthwhile read. This educational 288-page book is composed of twenty-four chapters and broken out into the following three parts: Part I. The Basics, Part II. Some Problems, and Part III. The Future.Positives:1. Well-written, and exhaustively-researched book that is accessible to the masses.2. No-nonsense, lucid and concise prose. The author writes with conviction and expertise.3. Does a very good job of keeping the chapters short and intelligible.4. Educational and enlightening book that provides a basic foundation in understanding the US Tax System.5. Despite Bruce Bartlett's work in Republican administrations, he is even-handed and treats this topic with utmost respect and care. He does not shy away from criticizing any party.6. In general, the author provides persuasive arguments for his thesis.7. Good use of charts to illustrate points.8. The author tell you his biases right up front.9. A brief history of taxation.10. Explains the tax system process.11. Generally does a good job of defining terms and provides simplified examples.12. Does a very good job of differentiating between conservatives and liberals regarding tax reform.13. Reality versus perceptions.14. Some eye-opening facts, "A 2011calculation by the CBO concluded that the Bush tax cuts reduced federal revenues by $2.8 trillion between 2002 and 2011".15. The factors that contribute to economic growth. The purpose of investments.16. The basic ways that that income can be taxed.17. Distinctions between U.S. and foreign tax systems.18. Tax ideas from other countries. Interesting.19. The impact of tax credits.20. Understanding social welfare and how we compare to other countries.21. The goals of tax reform.22. Heath care policies.23. Real estate and tax policies.24. The impact of state and local taxes, surprisingly educational.25. Charitable contributions.26. The special problems of capital gains.27. The even bigger problem of corporations as it relates to tax policy.28. The critical goal of tax reform, how to improve the tax collection system. Interesting cases.29. A look at flat tax and the implications.30. A brief summary of tax reform proposals.31. The problem of debt.32. Value-added tax (VAT), a look at this interesting consumption tax. Arguments for and against it.33. The future of tax reform.34. A good summary of what the author would like to see happen and what he feels is the best scenario for tax reform.35. Tea Party criticism.36. The author provides extensive reading material and I mean extensive.Negatives:1. Despite the best intentions tax reform can be dry and tedious.2. Let's face it economics is a complex topic and some concepts will go over the heads of many readers.3. I would have liked an analysis of entitlement programs.4. A breakout of the budget by categories and an analysis would have been welcomed.5. A glossary of terms would have added value.6. A little humor never hurts.7. In order to keep the book to a manageable level, some topics were sacrificed.8. No direct links in Kindle.In summary, this was an educational and informative book. If you are interested in learning the basics of the US Tax System and tax reform this is a good book to start. Bartlett provides a plethora of resources for those who want to sink their teeth further into this topic and the information that he does provide is solid and well grounded. The book can be dry at times and some topics may be beyond the reach of the layperson but in general the author does a commendable job of making the book accessible and keeping the book concise. I learned a lot from this book and the author successfully addresses the main issues of his subject. If you are interested in this topic by all means get this book, I recommend it.Further suggestions: "Winner-Take-All Politics: How Washington Made the Rich Richer--and Turned Its Back on the Middle Class" by Jacob S. Hacker, "Screwed: The Undeclared War Against the Middle Class - And What We Can Do about It)" by Thom Hartmann, "The Monster: How a Gang of Predatory Lenders and Wall Street Bankers Fleeced America--and Spawned a Global Crisis" by Michael W. Hudson, "Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich - and Cheat Everybody Else" by David Cay Johnston, and "The Looting of America: How Wall Street's Game of Fantasy Finance Destroyed Our Jobs, Pensions, and Prosperity—and What We Can Do About It" by Les Leopold.
I found Bruce Bartlett's historical and structural analysis of the U.S. income tax to be informative, balanced and fair-minded. Given his impeccable conservative credentials (having worked with Reagan, Jack Kemp and Ron Paul), I was surprised to see him appear on Bill Moyers' PBS program several months ago (where I learned of this book and subsequently purchased it), but that interview suggested his book would be a clear and sober assessment of the prospects for U.S tax reform, and not a reflection of Grover Norquist-like intransigence and rigid ideology, and it is indeed a fair and balanced evaluation. Essentially, Bartlett seems to be pessimistic about the prospects for reducing spending on the government entitlement programs, and appears equally pessimistic about the prospects for meaningful income tax reform (in light of the power, Bartlett maintains, that Norquist's no-tax-increase pledge has on Republican members of Congress). He therefore proposes a consumption tax to replace / supplement the income tax to increase revenue and slow the growth of public debt and thereby maintain the stability of the U.S. economy.In the author's analysis of various economic issues pertaining to the U.S. income tax, he will appear to side with liberals on some issues, with conservatives on others, and with neither on some other issues, all contributing to the book's "objective" presentation. For liberals, he appears to favor a comprehensive definition of income and a "fair" tax structure that is based on a progressive rate structure; for conservatives, he favors (or appears to favor) increasing the level of capital losses applicable to ordinary income as a spur to entrepreneurship, and indexing capital gains, at least in principle, for inflation, to remove merely inflationary gains from taxable capital gains. There's even some discussion of either eliminating the corporate income tax (which increasingly accounts for a smaller percentage of federal tax revenue) or more closely integrating it into the individual income tax. Bartlett maintains, however, that some tax rate should apply to capital gains as capital gains meet the definition of comprehensive income, and he even discusses the prospects for taxing unrealized capital gains. He reminds us that increasing the capital gains tax rate in 1986 was the required compromise to enlist Democratic support for the substantial reduction in marginal tax rates on ordinary income in the enormously significant TRA of that year. Implied in the TRA of 1986 was an emerging consensus among liberals and conservatives (or at least among many liberal and conservative economists) that a more "optimal" income tax would exhibit lower marginal rates and a broader tax base. Lower marginal rates, and less tax preferences (a broader base) would be a more "efficient" and less-distortionary tax in that there would be less distortion and waste in the private economy from manipulating the tax system. Liberals would still favor a more progressive structure albeit with lower rates, and some conservatives would still favor a "flat" tax, but TRA 1986 showed that compromise was possible. Bartlett's pessimism (he would call it realism) indicates he sees no sign today of any emerging consensus among our two parties on tax reform, and a major (implicit) explanation is the ideological rigidity of today's tea-party and Grover Norquist-dominated Republican party, particularly at primary time.Of course another impediment to tax reform is the political clout of those groups wishing to preserve tax preferences and who thereby hinder the attempts to broaden the tax base. For example, the author indicates the difficulty it would take to eliminate the mortgage interest deduction in the face of the real estate industry and its Congressional friends. The elimination of the state income tax deduction would be opposed by forces in high-tax states like New York and California. A good many of these tax preferences are targeted toward specific economic sectors and industries. Economists call these tax subsidies "tax expenditures", and it's suggested that the government spending, which is what it amounts to, should be part of the appropriations process, where the annual level can be budgeted and monitored, rather than part of the tax system where it's permanently maintained in the absence of tax law changes. Thus, we're left with Bartlett's advocacy of a value-added (consumption) tax, that would tax, in the words of its proponets, what taxpayers "take from the economy" and not what they "contribute to the economy" (income). Nonetheless, even Bartlett acknowledges that the value-added tax has been politically unpopular in the U.S. (although widely used in advanced economies), is difficult to administer and particularly to implement, and is difficult to incorporate a progressive structure. For students of public finance, this was a rewarding book.
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