YOU HAVE TO READ HIS BOOKS!
Politicians who claim to be "tough on crime" and who favor "law and order" happily make it ever easier for high-income taxpayers to cheat on their taxes--while shifting scarce enforcement resources to police those among the working poor who receive the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Most importantly, though, Johnston debunks the myth that rich taxpayers are soaked by the U.S. tax system. The estate tax, derided as the "death tax" by Republican politicians, hardly makes a dent in the accumulation of wealth by the already wealthy. The manipulation of trusts and other legal vehicles guarantees that the vast proportion of income received by the super rich is not even taxed once, much less "double taxed," as the Bush Administration repeats endlessly.
The importance of the tax treatment of dynastic wealth is poorly understood, and Johnston does a remarkable job of clarifying what is really going on. He points out, for example, that many of the fortunes of the Robber Baron era have been shielded from taxes even through today; but they could become exposed to taxation if the "rule against perpetuities" (the bane of first-year law students everywhere) is allowed to operate.
The response? Repealing or modifying that rule, to allow massive accumulations of wealth to go untaxed forever.
Johnston's book, in short, is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what is really happening in the American tax system. Through clear writing and honest, careful marshaling of facts, he shows that people really do have good reason to complain about taxes, but not for the reasons they usually think. The real problem is that the richest people in America are using the tax system to make themselves ever richer, at everyone else's expense.
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