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Title: AMERICA: WHO REALLY PAYS THE TAXES? by Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele ISBN: 0-671-87157-9 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 01 March, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.29 (7 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting, but suspect
Comment: I'm going to prelude this by saying I haven't completed reading this book yet, but want to express my opinion on what I have read so far. While the information contained is rather interesting and eye-opening, I have to take much of what is said with a grain of salt. The primary reason is that I have come accross several basic math errors in the author's conclusions (the difference between a 19.8% rate and 18.1% rate is NOT 9%). It's also rather dry reading (though I somewhat expected that, considering the topic) and repetitive (did the author really need to provide the exact quotes of 15 different people all saying (effectively) the same thing to make his point?).
Rating: 4
Summary: More Like Who Does Not Pay Taxes
Comment: I had a concern coming into this book that is was going to be pages of dull tax code jargon that kill any reading joy I might find in a book that bashes politicians. Luckily the author's wrote the book for the average Joe and left out the tax code. The basic premise of he book is that there is a special set of rules that the rich have had written into the tax code so that they do not pay the stated rates on the progressive tax system in the USA. This should not surprise most of us as it is the rich and corporations that spend the money with the politicians to get them elected, thus the back scratching has its fingers in the tax code. Now days it is hard to bring this charge up without all the 'Class Warfare' bias charges being tossed at you and this book is probably no exception. To me the authors did not seam to really be that bias, just real mad.
As an average Joe many parts of the book did make me a bit mad, just on the basic fairness point of view. They are good tidbits to have handy next time you are in a discussion with a person that pulls out the 'rich already pay most of the taxes' lines. With that said I did feel that the authors might have been reaching on some of thier complaints about corporations. Like most things it is a matter of degrees and in some parts I thought they went one or two steps over the line. My biggest complaint of the book was the number of person quote examples they used. It was nice to see two or three comments from some Senators on this or that tax bill, but the authors always seemed to use 10 ' 15. It was too much, we all know the politicians all read from the same talking points memos so to spell it out in a book using examples was overkill. Overall the book was interesting but not earth shattering.
Rating: 5
Summary: Left winged or right winged this book is well researched
Comment: America, Who Stole the Dream, was a WONDERFUL READ. I find myself leaning more to the right, from a political perspective, but the authors arguments are EXCELLENT at times and they definitely bring up some great points.
This book is the most well argued book I have read about the current demise of the middle class in the U.S. After reading it I would definitely have to say that I have more concern about political decisions being made in Washington as the authors illustrate that consistently the politicians don't do the right thing for the country.
The authors bring up several concerns
1.Middle class demise via outsourcing of manufacturing to lower cost areas
2.Growing disparity of wealth (the rich own more in % terms)
3.The outsourcing of the 'HIGH TECH JOBS' that are to be the savior of the country.
4.Commentary about various social programs set up and how ineffective they are.
In conclusion I would say this book was extremely well researched and I therefore give KUDOS to the authors. While I don't agree with everything they wrote I believe they have put forth an excellent piece of work.
My main contention with the book is that it focuses on the demise of manufacturing and low-end jobs, along with some high tech. The U.S. is expensive from a labor perspective. As we have outsourced much of our manufacturing we have been able to purchase products at cheaper prices in the U.S.. Imagine what some products would cost if we were paying for labor that was, in some cases, 10x higher than current wages in developing countries? NOWHERE in the book do the authors mention the BENEFIT to our standard of living because we can buy more with our dollars than we would be able to do so otherwise. In general, this book is WAY to the left so reader beware.
My background is a B.S. in Acct., an MBA in finance and current interests in economic and social policy development so I found this to be quite an interesting read.
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Title: If Americans Really Understood the Income Tax: Uncovering Our Most Expensive Ignorance by John O. Fox ISBN: 0813397952 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: 15 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: The Great American Tax Dodge : How Spiraling Fraud and Avoidance Are Killing Fairness, Destroying the Income Tax, and Cos by Donald Barlett, James B. Steele ISBN: 0316811351 Publisher: Little, Brown Pub. Date: 01 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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Title: America: Who Stole the Dream? by Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele ISBN: 0836213149 Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing Pub. Date: 01 October, 1996 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: America: What Went Wrong? by Donald L. Barlett, James B. Steele ISBN: 0836270010 Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing Pub. Date: 01 April, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich - and Cheat Everybody Else by David Cay Johnston ISBN: 1591840198 Publisher: Portfolio Pub. Date: 25 December, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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