In 1972 Americans considered the progressive federal income tax the fairest of all the taxes used by the various levels of government. Over the past twenty-five years, dissatisfaction with the income tax has grown to the point that attacks on it, and proposals to reform it often out of existence—have become the chief source of political noise in the system. How has it happened that ordinary Americans have come to regard the federal income tax as unfair, and tax protestors as heroes rather than deadbeats?

This trenchant and timely book locates the answers in both the substance of the Internal Revenue Code and the political process that created and feeds this monstrous law. It shows plainly how the income tax has been a political football in the battle over every major social problem or government program; how government allowed its complexities-and its inflationary bite-to-grow with no thought of their impact on taxpayers; and, most of all, how a Congress dependent on PAC funds has become incapable of fashioning a tax system that does not end tax breaks for special interests. The book also looks closely at the various flat-tax and consumption-tax proposals now being considered, and reveals that these taxes are neither as fair nor as simple as their advocates claim.

Discussing the income-tax system in rich, anecdotal context, this book also points the way to tax reforms that are simple, sensible, and fair. It is a book for everyone concerned with where our tax dollars go, and with what America gets for them.

Reviews:

"While one may not agree entirely with his characterization of the two leading alternatives, the flat tax and the Nunn-Domenici USA Tax-one rarely does when it comes to tax reform. Professor Graetz has captured the essence of why tax reform must not be removed from the public agenda. As Graetz so aptly argues, the decline in public's confidence in govenrment institutions is in no small part related to a maddeningly complex tax code that encourages divorce and investment in chinchilla farms, takes an increasing share of inflated dollars, discourages savings and rewards powerful lobbyists. The Decline (and Fall?) of the Income Tax is a must read for all who talk taxes and tax reform, and who enact and enforce tax law."
--Senator Pete V. Domenici, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Budget

"Michael Graetz applies common sense, uncommon logic, and unusual experience to the political and ideological babble of debates on tax reform. Deflating current claims and counterclaims, he points the way to a federal tax system that can be econmically sound, administratively practical, and politically viable."
--James Tobin Nobel Laureate in Economics and Professor Emeritus of Economics, Yale University