Thursday, January 31, 2008

10 Excellent Reasons Not to Hate Taxes Author: Stephanie Greenwood and David Cay Johnston Publisher: New Press ASIN: 1595581618

About This Book

"Taxes are what we pay for a civilized society."—Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

This short, snappy handbook countersthe anti-tax, anti-government rhetoric that permeates our culture and reminds us why taxes lie at the heart of a functioning democracy.

Paying taxes is something almost everyone loves to hate. 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Hate Taxes makes the case for thinking about taxes in a fresh and progressive way and offers plenty of material for anyone interested in countering the conservative anti-government, anti-tax agenda.

Written by activists, economists, teachers, political scientists, and businesspeople, 10 Excellent Reasons Not to Hate Taxes offers an array of powerful arguments that will reframe the tax debate. Chapters on the effect of taxes on the economy, education, the environment, and the distribution of opportunity will arm readers with a wealth of arguments to turn the tables when thinking—or arguing—about taxes and provide a menu of ideas for how to transform the tax code into a tool for social justice.

This book will spark a lively and much-needed debate about all manner of tax issues, from the inheritance tax and flat taxes to tax cuts and the role that taxes play in the growing economic divide in the United States.

Stephanie Greenwood is a master's candidate in public policy at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. She was previously a research analyst for Good Jobs New York, a nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization, and her writing has appeared in The Nation, Dollars and Sense, and Sojourners. David Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist for the New York Times whose widely acclaimed writing focuses on taxes. He is the author of Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich and Cheat Everybody Else. He lives in New York.