America: Who Really Pays the Taxes?

America: Who Really Pays the Taxes? PDF

Author: Donald L. Barlett

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-06-18

Total Pages: 388

ISBN-13: 1439129150

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A disturbing, eye-opening look at a tax system gone out of control. Originally designed to spread the cost of government fairly, our tax code has turned into a gold mine of loopholes and giveaways manipulated by the influential and wealthy for their own benefit. If you feel as if the tax laws are rigged against the average taxpayer, you're right: Middle-income taxpayers pick up a growing share of the nation’s tax bill, while our most profitable corporations pay little or nothing. Your tax status is affected more by how many lawyers and lobbyists you can afford than by your resources or needs. Our best-known and most successful companies pay more taxes to foreign governments than to our own. Cities and states start bidding wars to attract business through tax breaks—taxes made up for by the American taxpayer. Who really pays the taxes? Barlett and Stelle, authors of the bestselling America: What Went Wrong?, offer a graphic exposé of what’s wrong with our tax system, how it got that way, and how to fix it.

Read My Lips

Read My Lips PDF

Author: Vanessa S. Williamson

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2019-03-05

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 0691191603

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A surprising and revealing look at what Americans really believe about taxes Conventional wisdom holds that Americans hate taxes. But the conventional wisdom is wrong. Bringing together national survey data with in-depth interviews, Read My Lips presents a surprising picture of tax attitudes in the United States. Vanessa Williamson demonstrates that Americans view taxpaying as a civic responsibility and a moral obligation. But they worry that others are shirking their duties, in part because the experience of taxpaying misleads Americans about who pays taxes and how much. Perceived "loopholes" convince many income tax filers that a flat tax might actually raise taxes on the rich, and the relative invisibility of the sales and payroll taxes encourages many to underestimate the sizable tax contributions made by poor and working people. Americans see being a taxpayer as a role worthy of pride and respect, a sign that one is a contributing member of the community and the nation. For this reason, the belief that many Americans are not paying their share is deeply corrosive to the social fabric. The widespread misperception that immigrants, the poor, and working-class families pay little or no taxes substantially reduces public support for progressive spending programs and undercuts the political standing of low-income people. At the same time, the belief that the wealthy pay less than their share diminishes confidence that the political process represents most people. Upending the idea of Americans as knee-jerk opponents of taxes, Read My Lips examines American taxpaying as an act of political faith. Ironically, the depth of the American civic commitment to taxpaying makes the failures of the tax system, perceived and real, especially potent frustrations.

The Forgotten Americans

The Forgotten Americans PDF

Author: Isabel Sawhill

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2018-01-01

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 0300230362

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A sobering account of a disenfranchised American working class and important policy solutions to the nation's economic inequalities One of the country's leading scholars on economics and social policy, Isabel Sawhill addresses the enormous divisions in American society--economic, cultural, and political--and what might be done to bridge them. Widening inequality and the loss of jobs to trade and technology has left a significant portion of the American workforce disenfranchised and skeptical of governments and corporations alike. And yet both have a role to play in improving the country for all. Sawhill argues for a policy agenda based on mainstream values, such as family, education, and work. Although many have lost faith in government programs designed to help them, there are still trusted institutions on both the local and the federal level that can deliver better job opportunities and higher wages to those who have been left behind. At the same time, the private sector needs to reexamine how it trains and rewards employees. This book provides a clear-headed and middle-way path to a better-functioning society in which personal responsibility is honored and inclusive capitalism and more broadly shared growth are once more the norm.

Everyone Pays Taxes

Everyone Pays Taxes PDF

Author: Antonio Sacre

Publisher: Teacher Created Materials

Published: 2024-02-13

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 108762875X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Help students learn what taxes are, how they work, and why they exist. This nonfiction book describes the purpose and history of taxes, and includes a glossary, short fiction piece related to the topic, and an exciting activity. Above all, this book explains how taxes function in society in an easy-to-understand way. This 32-page full-color book covers how taxes work, the different types of taxes, and what taxes pay for. It also explores important topics like civic duty and democracy and includes an extension activity for grade 3. Perfect for the classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool to discover taxation, money, and public goods and services.

Everyone Pays Taxes ebook

Everyone Pays Taxes ebook PDF

Author: Antonio Sacre

Publisher: Teacher Created Materials

Published: 2021-07-01

Total Pages: 35

ISBN-13: 1087619408

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Help students learn what taxes are, how they work, and why they exist. This nonfiction book describes the purpose and history of taxes, and includes a glossary, short fiction piece related to the topic, and an exciting activity. Above all, this book explains how taxes function in society in an easy-to-understand way. This 32-page full-color book covers how taxes work, the different types of taxes, and what taxes pay for. It also explores important topics like civic duty and democracy and includes an extension activity for grades 3-4. Perfect for the classroom or at-home learning, discover taxation, money, and public goods and services.

The Rich Don't Pay Tax! ... Or Do They?

The Rich Don't Pay Tax! ... Or Do They? PDF

Author: John Gaver

Publisher:

Published: 2012-04-01

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9780615624372

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Do you wonder just how much extra income tax you're paying, because the rich don't pay their share? You might be surprised. In the well sourced and documented "The Rich Don't Pay Tax ...Or Do They?" John Gaver undertakes a critical look at official IRS collections data to determine which income groups really do or don't pay what portion of the US personal income tax load. He goes on to further analyze the IRS tax data to quantify just how fair or unfair that outcome may be to the various income groups. "The Rich Don't Pay Tax! ...Or Do They?" contains URLs to the source data and lays out the relationships in that data, along with clearly laying out the calculation methods that help bring the IRS data into focus. Then, in a step-by-step manner, Gaver shows how the silent threat of an unintended consequence of our tax code is quietly, but seriously undermining our economy, to the detriment of everyone - rich or poor. Of course, why present a problem without a solution? So, the author shows how a thoroughly vetted plan that has already been presented as a solution to other problems would also solve the problems brought to light in this book, if undertaken soon. Although this book exposes a critical threat to our economy, it's really about a fair and equitable solution that would reverse this threat. While the silent nature of the very serious issues exposed in this book does keep them out of the public eye, the real threat is in who is aware of these issues and what they are doing about it. This book is about what YOU can do about it. Don't delay. Order your copy now.

Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue

Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue PDF

Author: Michael Keen

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-04-06

Total Pages: 536

ISBN-13: 0691199981

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

An engaging and enlightening account of taxation told through lively, dramatic, and sometimes ludicrous stories drawn from around the world and across the ages Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts—and, in repressing it, ended up burning the very huts they intended to tax. Sometimes they succeed astonishingly, as when, in eighteenth-century Britain, a cut in the tax on tea massively increased revenue. In this entertaining book, two leading authorities on taxation, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, provide a fascinating and informative tour through these and many other episodes in tax history, both preposterous and dramatic—from the plundering described by Herodotus and an Incan tax payable in lice to the (misremembered) Boston Tea Party and the scandals of the Panama Papers. Along the way, readers meet a colorful cast of tax rascals, and even a few tax heroes. While it is hard to fathom the inspiration behind such taxes as one on ships that tended to make them sink, Keen and Slemrod show that yesterday’s tax systems have more in common with ours than we may think. Georgian England’s window tax now seems quaint, but was an ingenious way of judging wealth unobtrusively. And Tsar Peter the Great’s tax on beards aimed to induce the nobility to shave, much like today’s carbon taxes aim to slow global warming. Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue is a surprising and one-of-a-kind account of how history illuminates the perennial challenges and timeless principles of taxation—and how the past holds clues to solving the tax problems of today.

The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay

The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make Them Pay PDF

Author: Emmanuel Saez

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2019-10-15

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1324002735

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

America’s runaway inequality has an engine: our unjust tax system. Even as they became fabulously wealthy, the ultra-rich have had their taxes collapse to levels last seen in the 1920s. Meanwhile, working-class Americans have been asked to pay more. The Triumph of Injustice presents a forensic investigation into this dramatic transformation, written by two economists who revolutionized the study of inequality. Eschewing anecdotes and case studies, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman offer a comprehensive view of America’s tax system, based on new statistics covering all taxes paid at all levels of government. Their conclusion? For the first time in more than a century, billionaires now pay lower tax rates than their secretaries. Blending history and cutting-edge economic analysis, and writing in lively and jargon-free prose, Saez and Zucman dissect the deliberate choices (and sins of indecision) that have brought us to today: the gradual exemption of capital owners; the surge of a new tax avoidance industry, and the spiral of tax competition among nations. With clarity and concision, they explain how America turned away from the most progressive tax system in history to embrace policies that only serve to compound the wealth of a few. But The Triumph of Injustice is much more than a laser-sharp analysis of one of the great political and intellectual failures of our time. Saez and Zucman propose a visionary, democratic, and practical reinvention of taxes, outlining reforms that can allow tax justice to triumph in today’s globalized world and democracy to prevail over concentrated wealth. A pioneering companion website allows anyone to evaluate proposals made by the authors, and to develop their own alternative tax reform at taxjusticenow.org.

Everyone Pays Taxes

Everyone Pays Taxes PDF

Author: Antonio Sacre

Publisher: Triangle Interactive, Inc.

Published: 2022-01-21

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 1684523117

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Help students learn what taxes are, how they work, and why they exist. This nonfiction book describes the purpose and history of taxes, and includes a glossary, short fiction piece related to the topic, and an exciting activity. Above all, this book explains how taxes function in society in an easy-to-understand way. This 32-page full-color book covers how taxes work, the different types of taxes, and what taxes pay for. It also explores important topics like civic duty and democracy and includes an extension activity for grade 3. Perfect for the classroom, at-home learning, or homeschool to discover taxation, money, and public goods and services.

Who's the Fairest of Them All?

Who's the Fairest of Them All? PDF

Author: Stephen Moore

Publisher: Encounter Books

Published: 2012-10-09

Total Pages: 162

ISBN-13: 1594036853

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

President Obama has declared that the standard by which all policies and policy outcomes are judged is fairness. He declared in 2011 that "we've sought to ensure that every citizen can count on some basic measure of security. We do this because we recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any moment, might face hard times, might face bad luck, might face a crippling illness or a layoff." And that, he says, is why we have a social safety net. He says that returning to a standard of fairness where anyone can get ahead through hard work is the "issue of our time." And perhaps it is. This book explores what it means for our economic system and our economic results to be "fair." Does it mean that everyone has a fair shot? Does it mean that everyone gets the same amount? Does it mean the government can assert the authority to forcibly take from the successful and give to the poor? Is government supposed to be Robin Hood determining who gets what? Or should the market decide that? The surprising answer: nations with free market systems that allow people to get ahead based on their own merit and achievement are the fairest of them all.