Book Description
Wouldn't you love to abolish the IRS. . . .
Keep all the money in your paycheck. . . .
Pay taxes on what you spend, not what you earn. . . .
And eliminate all the fraud, hassle, and waste of our current system?
If so, the FairTax is for you!
A smash #1 New York Times bestseller from the moment it went on sale, The FairTax Book launched a massive grassroots movement across the country with its dramatic call to rid Americans of the punishing burden of income tax. Talk-radio firebrand Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder are leading the charge to replace the current tax system with the FairTax -- a simple 23 percent retail sales tax on new goods and services that would eliminate the reviled IRS and replace it with a system that's fair to all -- while jump-starting the U.S. economy, bringing businesses and jobs back to our shores, and recapturing billions of untaxed dollars currently lost to criminal and offshore businesses. Americans would get to keep 100 percent of their hard-earned paycheck . . . and April 15 would become just another beautiful spring day.
Endorsed by scores of leading economists -- and gaining momentum in both the House and the Senate -- the FairTax Plan could revolutionize the way America pays for itself. Here -- revised and updated, with a new afterword by the authors -- is the straight-talking book that started it all.
Download Description
"
Wouldn't you love to abolish the IRS ...
Keep all the money in your paycheck ...
Pay taxes on what you spend, not what you earn ...
And eliminate all the fraud, hassle, and waste of our current system?
Then the FairTax is for you. In the face of the outlandish American tax burden, talk-radio firebrand
Neal Boortz and Congressman
John Linder are leading the charge to phase out our current, unfair system and enact the FairTax Plan, replacing the federal income tax and withholding system with a simple 23 percent retail sales tax on new goods and services. This dramatic revision of the current system, which would eliminate the reviled IRS, has already caught fire in the American heartland, with more than six hundred thousand taxpayers signing on in support of the plan.
As Boortz and Linder reveal in this first book on the FairTax, this radical but eminently sensible plan would end the annual national nightmare of filing income tax returns, while at the same time enlarging the federal tax base by collecting sales tax from every retail consumer in the country. The FairTax, they argue, would transform the fearsome bureaucracy of the IRS into a more transparent, accountable, and equitable tax collection system. Among other benefits, it will:
- Make America's tax code truly voluntary, without reducing revenue
- Replace today's indecipherable tax code with one simple sales tax
- Protect lower-income Americans by covering the tax on basic necessities
- Eliminate billions of dollars in embedded taxes we don't even know we're paying
- Bring offshore corporate dollars back into the U.S. economy
Endorsed by scores of leading economists and supported by a huge and growing grassroots movement, the FairTax Plan could revolutionize the way America pays for itself. In this straight-talking book,
Neal Boortz and
John Linder show you how it would work -- and how you can help make it happen.
"
Customer Reviews:
More for the rich.......2007-10-17
"THOSE WHO CHOSE PARENTS WISELY MAY TAKE CREDIT FOR SUCCESS; OTHERWISE, IT'S ALL FORTUNE."wlf
The FAIR TAX is another method used to further enrich the wealthy and change OUR GOVERNMENT INTO AN ARISTOCRACY.
If a family is bringing in millions of dollars and purchases only necessities, its Power (money) grows rapidly. After it accumulates a large amount (money) it can purchase vast capital (machinery, land, buildings) at once and have true Power over many people. That is an oligarchy (the conservatives are working to attain it and dismantle the New Deal), which can turn into an aristocracy. Inheritance to those who do not deserve such largesse promulgates that dangerous threat to our form of government. As clearly shown by George W Bush, inheritors can wreak terrible damage on this country.
Progressive taxation, instituted by judicious leaders, has a prime purpose of keeping the WEALTH GAP at a reasonable level to prevent revolution by those unable to take part in our country's bonanza. That developing bloodbath today is obvious in our criminal class, which, due to most citizens' greed and selfishness, lives the only way it knows how, as predators.
If you want a country of SERFS AND MASTERS, then work for the `Fair Tax.' It will arrive quickly unless a vigorous progressive tax is resumed to slow the flow of too much wealth to the already affluent.
For everyone.......2007-10-06
Yes, it's a book on economics and taxes, but Mr. Boortz helps to make it an entertaining and easily understood book. While it pretty much explains the theory of the fair tax in full and is a great place to start, it's a good idea to do your own research into the fair tax, studying the pros and cons. Just be sure that you understand the basics, or else you may get confused by anti-fair tax information that gets an idea wrong or blatantly lies...
The Cure for a Disease Known as Income Taxes.......2007-10-03
In this book, Boortz and Linder discuss the abolishment of the income tax. Under this system, wages would not be taxed at all. As an alternative to raise revenue for the government, they propose a national sales tax. The goal is revenue neutral so that same amount of revenue would be collected to run the government.
This would allow the individual to choose when they paid tax. So those who save and invest money rather than spending all of it, would come out much better.
The proposed sales tax rate would be around 23%. While this may sound high, one should keep in mind that no tax would have been withheld from his or her paycheck. For example, say that the average household income for America which is approximately $40,000 a year were not taxed. This would mean the Joneses get to take home all $40,000 of that hard earned income. As it stands today, they are probably only taking home around $32,000 assuming a 20% income tax rate and not considering state, Social Security, or Medicare taxes.
As a component of the national sales tax, they propose that a certain poverty level determination of say $10,000 which would be considered the bare minimum for a person to survive on and each person would receive a "prebate" of $2,300 per year paid in monthly installments. This would significantly help those on the low end of the income spectrum and actually result in additional money to spend on essentials such as food, clothing, and housing. It would also avoid the potential disparities which could occur with a food exemption if the wealthy purchased steak and lobster or other such expensive food items.
Additionally, it would take many of the inefficiencies out of the current system in that each time there is a touch on producing a good or service, income tax is charged. For example, when you buy a loaf of bread, the business who produced the seeds, the farmer who grew the wheat, the mill, the bakery, the trucking company, and the grocery store all pay income tax on their portion of the bread production. By taking the income tax away, the loaf of bread would subsequently be much cheaper (estimated around 25%) from the reduction of built in income tax for a product. (This assumes that businesses will not pay income tax. There would be many rules set up to prevent people setting up "businesses" to evade taxes.)
The Fair Tax also has the benefit of helping prevent tax evasion. Under the current system, there are millions upon millions of dollars of unreported income every year which are not taxed. This could occur in anything from illegal trades such as selling drugs on the street to the legal trades of wait staff or any industry in which cash is used to pay for goods or services but not reported. Every time these dollars were spent by the individuals, however, they would be taxed so this revenue which is currently lost would be collected.
It would additionally get rid of the estimated $265 billion spent annually to comply with the tax code. This is not to mention the 100s of thousands of hours that would be freed up to engage in more productive and enjoyable pursuits.
Economists estimate that in the first year of its implementation the economy would grow by 10.5%. Foreign companies would also have incentive to build factories in the U.S. to take advantage of the eliminated inherent cost included as mentioned in the bread example.
I think that this is a really great idea and hope that it is implemented one day. To learn more about it and see if your congressperson supports it or not, go to FairTax.org.
Fair Tax.......2007-09-29
Excellent reading to get yourself ready to defend the concept when it is attacked by the tax and spend crowd in Washington. It is a quick read and makes a great deal of sense.
A plan for the rich (1.5 *s).......2007-09-23
If you want a fundamental principle of government/society discussed with right-wing, shock-radio bluster, this is your book. Though a congressman is the co-author, the book is simply a continuation of the rant that has been heard daily on a local radio station in Atlanta for over thirty years. We learn early in the book that the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment in 1913 enabling the collection of income taxes is akin to the devastation of Pearl Harbor or the destruction of the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001. The IRS is no less than the enemy of the people, fulfilling a Marxian prophecy. You get the general idea.
One would like to think that anyone proposing a fundamental overhaul of our taxation system would first lay out a philosophy of taxation, which must be consistent with a broader philosophy of society and government. You won't find that in this book. The principal author has consistently exhibited a decided lack of social concern and understanding.
The so-called fair-tax is a twenty-three percent consumption tax in lieu of apparently all other federal level taxes: income, dividends, social security, Medicare, corporate, etc. [State taxes don't seem to be addressed.] It has long been held that the wealthy in a nation should pay taxes at a higher rate than ordinary citizens. The wealthy benefit far more than most from government. In fact they have a huge advantage over the rest of us by having an overwhelming say in the choice of those who occupy governmental offices and the consequent setting of policies and decisions. In essence, the rich get richer. They should pay for that largesse.
Consumption taxes are by far the most regressive of taxes that can be imposed. The median earner in this nation spends every dollar on necessary items. The rich do not. In fact a large portion of their income goes towards investments and wealth production. By exempting income, dividends, and interest from taxation, the so-called fair tax would simply exacerbate a tax scheme already weighted to the rich. The tax rate for the rich would plummet; for the poor suckers taken in by the fair-tax scheme, their tax rate would maximize.
The one thing that the book gets right is the necessity of changing the tax system. The loop holes for the rich are disgraceful. The idea that corporations don't really pay taxes is certainly a reality. The book complains about class warfare, not about the one that the powerful have been waging for decades. But the one where the ordinary citizen wants the powerful to get the boot off of his or her neck. But then that merely reflects where the hearts of the author are.
The fair-tax scheme proposed is utterly useless. It seems to assume that consumption is definitive of life - there is no larger context with greater significance and ramifications. For example, issues of power. Usually schemes such as this get a bit of a spike in public interest when first proposed, appealing to ideologues and the ignorant. Fortunately, there usually is no staying power. The length of the attention spans is commensurate with the depth of the knowledge of those jumping on the bandwagon.
Customer Reviews:
State Constitution.......2007-07-31
After you read this book, get a copy of your state's Constitution so that you can start the other vital process and empower yourself - remember, the dismantling of this corrupt regime begins in your town, your city, your state. All of your real power is given to you in your state's Constitution. Holding officials accountable - that's the process we've got to start. Downsizing government - from local/state, and then federal.
Also, google Ron Paul.
Great for entertainment value..........2006-08-04
...but that's all it is. The book makes a lot of amusing arguments as to why you don't need to pay tax and you may find it funny if you are a tax attorney (as I am), accountant, enrolled agent or any other kind of tax practitioner. Considering Mr. Schiff is in prison for tax evasion now, I'd consider this book to be completely bogus. A good laugh, yes; good advice, definitely not.
To be read with a grain of salt.......2005-10-12
While I agree that Schiff makes some interesting points in his claims such as paying the income tax is voluntary, that 'income' does not include wages, that it is okay to file a zero 1040 return, etc., following such advice will be fine until the IRS comes knocking at your door.
And eventually the IRS will find out. The IRS (legally or not) has nearly unlimited power in this country to levy wages, seize property, or send you to prison no matter how right you believe your interpretation of the law is. Schiff has been to jail, Schiff is in court right now and may lose everything and face life in prison. As convincing as the material is in Mr. Schiff's book, his claims have not been held up in the US court of law.
Schiff claims our courts & government are corrupt. As corrupt as they may be, the courts are where right/wrong are decided in the US and they can fine or imprison you no matter how sincere or true your views on taxation are. Being correct in your view of the law does not necessarily win you lawsuits or hold you blameless in the eye of the court, as Schiff and others have learned. I am not saying the IRS or government is fair or I agree with them, but they make the rules and who says life is fair?
The only solution to me would be to simply leave the country if you do not like the IRS or our government. Many people have defended the points Schiff has before and have lost in court. Why Schiff insists on staying in the US and defending these points again and again despite his views on the corruption of the legal system and being imprisoned before is beyond me. Anyone who has read this book or any of Schiff's materials is strongly urged to do a web search for the words TAX PROTESTOR FAQ for more information on these issues before they make any commitment to follow his advice.
The Truth Can be Costly.......2005-08-24
Irwin Schiff is correct and amazon is brave for still having a link to this book still up. This book is banned material in all forums and this includes amazons selling of it. read the court order banning the book at www.paynoincometax.com . Schiff is under is prosecution (persecution is more like it) by the Feds because they of course want to keep us all slaves. And we are slaves no matter how you want to justify it. (paying a "fair share" is a socialist term) Serfs in feudal England were considered slaves and they got to take home more than we do now. The Federal Government operates outside the Law and the courts are clearly simply ignoring the facts. Go to his site and read the motions and decisions rendered so far and see for your self how the court behaves. There is of course one reviewer here who is clearly a Federal Agent. Do note that according to the Patriot Act, once you purchase this book, the government will know about it and you will be on thier hit list. So if you can get it through other means.
This book has been banned by our beloved government.......2005-06-28
This book has been officially banned by the U.S. government! In doing so it has shredded the Bill of Rights and the First Amendment; "Congress shall make no law..."
What is in this book that scares the government so much that it does not want American citizens to read it? By what "right" does the government have in determining what we can and cannot read? The First Amendment is clear. I thought book banning was something that occured in Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. Perhaps Amazon.com will now have to sell copies printed in Mexico, Cuba or China and smuggled to the "Free" U.S.A.
The banning of this book should only encourage all Americans to get a copy and read it.
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- Tax Reform means more tax litigation
- Cancer of Corruption in a Mountain of Malfeasance
- Unbridled Imagination
- Horrifying Problem - Worse Prognosis
- Much painful truth in a book with title off target
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The Power to Destroy
William H. Nixon , and
William V. Roth
Manufacturer: Atlantic Monthly Pr
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ASIN: 0871137488 |
Amazon.com
When Senator William V. Roth Jr., the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, initiated an oversight investigation of the Internal Revenue Service in 1996, it was the first time in two generations that the agency had been subject to serious review. The proceedings brought to light horror stories of taxpayers subjected to the IRS's unrelenting bureaucracy, stories recounted in the pages of The Power to Destroy. The book also discusses how these hearings led to the passage of the Internal Revenue Service Reform and Restructuring Act of 1998, which "brings greater balance to the relationship between the IRS and the taxpayer--offering tools that taxpayers can use to ensure fairness for themselves and tools the Service can use to better police and protect the integrity of its operations." But, as Senator Roth and his executive assistant admit, this can only be the beginning of continued reform.
Customer Reviews:
Tax Reform means more tax litigation.......2004-09-16
In 13 years, Congress has passed almost 80 tax bills. To understand the impact of this expansive nature of tax regulation lets look at the impact of the "Tax Relief Act of 1997: 285 new sections and 824 amendments. In the early, 20th century the tax code spanned 5.5 million words requiring 17,000 pages.
Tax Reform does not slow the stream of tax revenues going to the government treasury nor does it reduce the tax burdens. Tax Reform codifies administration practices, management decisions, documenting behavior and conduct, and analyzes the execution and application of the internal revenue law. Congress levies taxes. Congress drives the demand for higher taxes. The reform act oversees the execution of the collection of those taxes. The Reform Act of 1998 provides congressional oversight of the IRS restructure through a new entity, the Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board.
Accountability to Congress and the President of the United States is done through a new Board of Directors, a Commissioner of Internal Revenue appointed to a few year term, and a National Tax Payer Advocate (Independent from the IRS examination, collections, and appeals functions). The National Tax Payer Advocate eliminates the Chief Inspector and creates a Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration and reports directly to the Secretary of Treasury.
Tax Reform means better use of technology. The 1998 Tax Reform mandated that the IRS must address training, operations, technology culture, and tax payer education. The IRS was to develop a strategic marketing plan for a paperless filing service. Technology can reduce costs by increasing more self-service by the Tax payer. Convenience and accessibility will appeal to the taxpayer. Technology is a fix cost appropriation and should be measured to improve tax payer satisfaction. Convenient access to information is crucial to the taxpayer.
The Tax Reform does not mean less tax litigation. The reform act claims to shift burden of proof from the taxpayer to the agency. The taxpayer must expense for legal services to fight against injustices. If the tax court rules that the tax payer acted reasonably, tax payers may claim civil damages up to $1 million for the recklessness or intentional wrong doing of the IRS agency. The burden of proof is not decisively shifted from the tax payer to the agency. The taxpayer must still demonstrate and prove recklessness. The agency could argue it was following approved procedures. A federal court would be force to rule on the policies fairiness. The litigation cost would be enormous.
The reform act of 1998 allows the tax payer the right to recover $100,000 for employee negligence, and increases the amount the IRS reimburses taxpayers who prevail in court.
The IRS is required to notify a taxpayer within five days that a lien has been filed against his or her property. The taxpayer has 30 days to request a hearing with an agency appeals officer.
The agency cannot proceed with seizure activity until after the hearing has been held, and a taxpayer who does not like the outcome may take the case to tax court. Tax Reform could mean more tax cases being litigated in tax court.
No seizure of a dwelling that is the principle residence of the taxpayer is allowed without prior judicial approval.
Cancer of Corruption in a Mountain of Malfeasance.......2003-09-01
Roth's book reveals much about the world's most feared, most hated, most powerful, and most corrupt criminal organization. While some of the material is dated, the underlying problems are still with us.
The book, due to its date of publication, doesn't reveal, for example, the OMB finding that IRS employees stole over 4300 government computers in 2001 nor does it reveal the results of a 2003 investigation that shows when they aren't busy stealing computers, IRS employees are spending over half their Internet time at the office visiting porn and gambling sites. Because of the date of the research, Roth doesn't include references to many news articles about how IRS employees devote themselves to terrorizing American citizens, selling confidential information, breaking laws with impunity, and running scams like the famous Hoyt Fiasco (well-documented online).
Yet, the book is very useful and important. In it, Roth reveals how individual managers in the IRS are completely unaccountable to any civil authority. He gives case after case of horrendous abuses.
Roth also reveals the steps taken to reign in some of the abuse, and he explains some things ordinary citizens can do to protect themselves. But he also leaves us with an awareness that the IRS is still too powerful, too unaccountable, and too corrupt.
The book should be required reading. An update is long overdue.
Unbridled Imagination.......2002-05-27
As a later GAO investigation revealed, Senator Roth's 1997 hearings on the IRS were a farce. The witnesses' stories of abuse were exaggerated at best, falsified with the connivance of the Senator and his commitee staff, at worst. His book, ghost written by a staffer, (I didn't know the Senator was literate!) should be listed here under "fiction." Its all bull - pandering to marginal and disaffected losers who wear aluminum foil inside their hats. Thankfully, the good citizens of Delware voted the rascal out in 1999, sending him and his horrible toupee back to the obscurity to which he so deservedly belongs.
Horrifying Problem - Worse Prognosis.......2001-08-23
I read this book as an ancillary to my study of government abuses that primarily focused on the abuses of the Department of Justice. What I found out was that the FBI, ATF and other heavily armed law enforcement agencies that violate our rights from time to time are relative wimps compared to the pervasive and unbelievably egregious wrongs committed by the IRS.
The author of the book is a US Senator that headed a congressional oversight hearing looking into the problems in the IRS from '96 to `99. What he found will make you mad as hell and twice as frustrated. Basically he found out that the IRS has become a law unto itself that has grown into a mean-spirited 800 lb. gorilla that cannot now be controlled under the present form of the law.
Roth admits that this mess is the fault of the Congress in its shameful lack of oversight. He notes that basically Congress has given the IRS increasingly sweeping powers without accountability to the point now that they can break the law with impunity.
The book cites many horrifying anecdotes of IRS abuse of citizens' rights and basic human decency all in the name of "making the numbers". The IRS is nothing more than a legalized gang of shakedown artists who use intimidation, fear and nasty mean-spiritedness to squeeze every penny out of the taxpayer that they see as an enemy that must be brought to its knees.
What I found worse than the realization that the government is basically a criminal organization and that the representatives have allowed it to go on was the fact that they now have limited ability to control or reform the IRS. Like a Frankenstein monster that has broken loose and cannot be controlled, the IRS is now so well equipped with sweeping powers that the courts, Congress and certainly we are helpless to its whim despite so called sweeping IRS reform bills passed by Congress in the last four years.
So, in effect, the author shows us what a mess he and his political cohorts have made over the last fifty or so years and then admits that there isn't a heck of a lot that can be done other than limit your profile so the IRS doesn't notice you in the first place. He also talks about your "rights" and how you should act politely and professionally while the IRS is sticking it in and breaking it off even though the preceding 2/3rd of the book were about how the IRS basically ignores taxpayers' rights. While practical in a clinical sense this advice bothered me because it reminded me of the advice you'll get from cops sometimes regarding crime in general: "just give them what they want and they might not hurt you".
Come on! Why the hell aren't these thugs in jail? How can a US Senate committee sit there and hear this kind of testimony, see the figures and get admissions from the IRS itself that this kind of crud is going on and not start slapping on the cuffs? I was really disgusted by this book and it basically sums up what I feel is wrong with our government in general. Forget about "jack-booted thugs" with machine guns kicking down your door in the middle of the night; worry about some bureaucratic piss ant from the IRS with a calculator deciding that you are an easy mark to make his numbers for the month.
Man, what a mess!
Much painful truth in a book with title off target.......2001-06-29
A friend just faxed me the review by Robert Cole III Three Cheers for Robert. As valuable as this book is to read, its title prompts me to state this book has the power to mislead. Robert hits the nail on the head. The Federal Crime Family (IRS) does not legally have the power implied by the title of this book. What logic would there be to giving power to an agency to administer their collection tasks under a law based on self assessment and voluntary compliance? The author paid the price of not getting re-elected after five consecutive terms in the Senate.
Customer Reviews:
Polemic, but good.......2003-01-22
When you read this book, keep in mind Bork sold out to the populist critics of Microsoft for a fee, and repudiated this book. Which proves that economic theory is great at the macro level, but, at the micro level, game theory beats out.
This is why gains for many are cancelled out by gains for a few that are willing to lobby government (or serve as expensive consultants to their paymasters, as in the case of Bork)
And why economics is but an extension of politics, and, at the end of the day, even inefficient economics can propigate for years, decades, centuries and even millinieums (India, China).
Misinterpreting the word "efficiency".......2002-07-26
I have enjoyed other writing by Judge Bork. Unfortunately, in "The Antitrust Paradox" Judge Bork misinterprets the word "efficiency" as it applies to antitrust law. U.S. antitrust law was designed to advance Pareto or economic efficiency, not business or productive efficiency. That misunderstanding leads Judge Bork to propose, in essence, the following Carrollian extended syllogism:
Antitrust law advances "efficiency" and condemns monopoly
Consumer welfare is the goal of antitrust law
Consumer welfare is advanced by lower prices
Monopolists are more "efficient" and provide lower prices
to consumers by economies of scale
Monopolists advance consumer welfare
Monopoly is "efficient" and should be legal
Lest we forget, John D. Rockefeller lowered the consumer price of kerosene approximately ten-fold while he was crushing smaller competitors. With all due respect to Judge Bork, I don't think that is the type of "efficiency" a free, commercial society needs.
Antitrust or Maximization of Consumer Welfare.......2001-10-10
In the Antitrust Paradox, Judge Robert H. Bork gives a fascinating, though demanding, review of the most important antitrust issues in the United States. The central, pragmatic thesis of Bork is maximization of consumer welfare (also called economic efficiency) and not the protection of small businesses in addressing any antitrust issue. Unfortunately, the legislative, executive and judiciary branches of power as well as the practicing bar have not always shown consistency in making, interpreting, and applying antitrust rules. The main reason for their shared sub-optimal performance in that area is the too-often absence of a rudimentary understanding of market economics according to Bork. As a practicing marketer and lawyer, I agree with his observation. Law and economics are two complementary disciplines that should be taught together as part of the academic requirements or at least whose teaching could be made optional at the undergraduate level in our universities.
Essential Reading........2000-06-14
The Antitrust Paradox is the most important book on antitrust ever written. It is a scholarly, yet accessible, examination of the nation's antitrust laws, the history and policies behind them, and their application from their inception to today. Through the book and the policies advanced in it, Judge Bork has had a profound impact on antitrust scholarship and practice. As a result, the book is essential reading for antitrust practitioners, scholars, and those having any interest in the subject. Truly a seminal work.
Book Description
Why haven't the poorest Africans been able to prosper in the twenty-first century? Celebrated economist George Ayittey thinks the answer is obvious: economic freedom was denied to them, first by foreign colonial powers and now by indigenous leaders. As war and conflict replaced peace, Africa's infrastructure crumbled. Instead of bemoaning the myriad difficulties facing the continent today, Ayittey boldly proposes a program of development--a way forward--for Africa. Africa Unchained investigates how Africa can modernize, build, and improve its indigenous institutions, and argues forcefully that Africa should build and expand upon traditions of free markets and free trade rather than continuing to use exploitative economic structures. The economic model here is uniquely African and takes little heed from the developed world; this is sure to be a highly controversial plan for moving Africa forward.
Customer Reviews:
Africa Unchained.......2007-05-09
This book, in a word is: Remarkable! God created "All Men Equal", and suffice to say, African's wherever they are in the Diasporia, are, apart of the Human Family. We all know the history of Colonialism/Slavery; however, Africa, through the Post colonial period has had about a little over 40 years to work toward: Social Stability, Nationhood, Systems of Government-that works, and developing strategies of amalgamation/unity and [Order] Social Order, that would ensure, development in all phases of social acceptance, and a recognition that Africa is ready to join the Nations of the Industrial Revolution. Sadly, Africa, has not reached the rate of development that is required and that other continents under Quasi-Colonialism have achieved. This has always troubled me. This book tells in stark terms, why the Sub-African Continent continues to lag behind the Universal Determinants. This book puts the blame on African Leadership and in details supports it's thesis with inexplicable evidence. Sure, it speaks of the lingering vestiges of Colonialism, but, the emphasis is on the modern leaders who have "shortchanged" Africa's [Greatest Resource]...the People. This book, was the "cornerstone" for my research and understanding of the chronic problems of Africa's Underdevelopment. The Premise in my view is this: If Africa remains in it's current state, the Peoples of African Descent around the Globe with find Freedom and their proper place in the World of Division of Races and Ethnicity, wanting. I recommend this book to all scholars and those who seriously long for the remedy of how to resolve and solve and find the Social Solutions to Africa's problems. Africa remains: The sleeping giant!
Out of an abundant Heart..........2005-11-12
He put's his faith on africa's young up and coming "cheetahs", and so do I. I feel empowered by George's bare knuckle rumble in the jungle with the political elite and can't wait to join this fight.
They'll fight dirty, and we'll fight smarter and faster and with a good old man like George to show us the tricks, we shall overcome.
Insightful Analysis of Africa Today.......2005-10-30
This is the most brilliant text on Africa I have read, and I don't say that lightly. With almost 500 pages of small text, it's not exactly a breeze to get through, but it is worth every second spent. The author unapologetically describes the mess that the "Hippo" generation following decolonization made, and how it ruined the continent. His prescriptions, which amount to `Africans must solve their own problems in their own way, growing out of African traditions', is right on. I hope that anyone interested in Africa reads this book.
good book.......2005-09-30
this is a great book. IF we have more people like George that tell the truth about Africa like he does in his book, maybe, just maybe we will be able to transform Africa.
Tough Love for Tough Challenges.......2005-03-30
For too long written off as irrelevant to international affairs except as the stage for proxy conflicts during the Cold War or the recipient for the world's charity, Africa is nonetheless poised to play an increasingly important role in the global community of the 21st century. Within the decade, West Africa alone will provide more than one-fourth of North America's petroleum imports, surpassing the entire Middle East. The continent also boasts the world's fastest population growth: by 2020, there will be an estimated 1.2 billion Africans-more than the combined populations of Europe and North America. Yet despite the dynamic potential implicit in these natural and human resources data, Africa remains the world's economic basket case: per capita GDP is barely $575 while thirty-two of the thirty-six countries classified by the United Nations Development Program are to be found in Africa.
Why this apparent contradiction? Defying the conventional wisdom that has long infantilized Africans by blaming colonial exploitation, superpower rivalries, intergovernmental aid agencies, impersonal market forces-anyone and everyone external to the continent-Dr. George B.N. Ayittey, himself a son of Africa, points his finger at the causes closer to home: the "vampire states" and "coconut republics" whose undemocratic and illegitimate rulers have done more harm to their own people than any external agents. In short, Africa Unchained is an unusually frank truth speaking to power-or rather, a dose of tough love for the tough challenges faced by the nations and peoples of the continent.
Unlike many works on Africa, however, Dr. Ayittey's does not end on a pessimistic note. Rather, he points the way forward by looking back at the continent's own rich history of freedom: free enterprise, free markets, and free trade, by free people organized in free societies. The road ahead, he correctly points out, lies through the past-recovering the authentic, acknowledging the baleful. A provocative thesis, to be sure; but it is one which deserves to be considered by scholars and policymakers.
-Dr. J. Peter Pham, author of Liberia: Portrait of a Failed State
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Havens in a Storm: The Struggle for Global Tax Regulation (Cornell Studies in Political Economy)
J.C. Sharman
Manufacturer: Cornell University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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Tax Havens Today: The Benefits and Pitfalls of Banking and Investing Offshore
ASIN: 0801445043 |
Book Description
Small states have learned in recent decades that capital accumulates where taxes are low; as a result, tax havens have increasingly competed for the attention of international investors with tax and regulatory concessions. Economically powerful countries including France, Britain, Japan, and the United States, however, wished to stanch the offshore flow of domestic taxable capital. Since 1998 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has attempted to impose common tax regulations on more than three dozen small states.
In a fascinating book based on fieldwork and interviews in twenty-two countries in the Caribbean, North America, Europe, and islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, J. C. Sharman shows how the struggle was decided in favor of the tax havens, which eventually avoided common regulation. No other book on tax havens is based on such extensive fieldwork, and no other author has had access to so many of the key decision makers who played roles in the conflict between onshore and offshore
Sharman suggests that microstates succeeded in their struggle with great powers because of their astute deployment of reputation and effective rhetorical self-positioning. In effect, they persuaded a transnational audience that the OECD was being untrue to its own values by engaging in a hypocritical, bullying exercise inimical to free competition.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent explaination of the past and future.......2000-02-23
of American politics as we now know them today. After you read this book, you will understand what a republican is and a democrat is. It deeply explains what has happened to the minorities in our country and does make a good arguement how the 1964 Civil Right Act has been the catalyst to the current situation we have today. This book has made me more politically aware then ever before, and aided me in making a more educated decision of where I stand on the political continuim. This is an undervalued book on the market today, and is a great bargain for the knowledge it will give you of contemporary America.
Book Description
The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was the single most sweeping change in the history of America's income tax. It was also the best political and economic story of its time. Here, in the anecdotal style of The Making of the President, two Wall Street Journal reporters provide the first complete picture of how this tax revolution went from an improbable dream to a widely hailed reality.
Customer Reviews:
Umm, did I read the same book?.......2006-10-09
I'm having a hard time believing the reviews I see here. Gucci Gulch is by far one of the most boring books I've read this year. Perhaps, it's because it was required literature for Intro to Poli Sci, but that's beside the point. This book is too detailed. I agree with the comment where it should have been condensed, but I want to stress that this information cannot be found elsewhere without intense research. I commend the author for his diligent work, but this book just wasn't for me. It's 291 pages on the Tax Reform of 1986. If that's your cup of joe, I would highly suggest it. Avoid it if you are a casual reader.
a good book.......2004-08-02
Definitely an enjoyable book that gives insight into the behind-the-scenes details of congressional politics. "Showdown" is a great book if you are interested in the nitty-gritty details of lobbying or Congress and Birnbaum and Murray provide a knack for detail (and humour) rarely found in today's books. Written in '86ish, and still a classic. A great supplement to "The Power Game" by Hedrick Smith.
awesome.......2003-06-25
the best book I was ever required to read for a class
Still the best case study of congressional decision making.......2002-01-23
Tax laws may have changed, some of the main actors are serving jail time, but it doesn't matter. This is the best case study of congressional decision making available. I still use this in courses because there is no better example of the tension between political horse trading and genuine reformist impulses available.
Is it detailed? Of course it is: the back and forth in the Ways and Means committee, for example, illustrates the kind of negotiaions that are the bread and butter of policy making.
Is there material that is "in the encyclopedia?" That is silly. There is little there that is basic review. In fact, anyone who found this boring probably does not know the basics of congressional procedures -- that is not the goal of this book -- or has a professor or teacher who does not know how to link a journalistic case study like this with the textbook or scholarly treatment of Congress.
A classic.
Too detailed? That's where the devil is..........2000-04-21
While this book may not appeal to students in search of the CliffNotes version of the political process, this exhaustive account of the1986 tax reform bill gets a complicated story just about right. Especially when it concerns the tax code, the devil is in the details, and while B&M sometimes go a little overboard in describing the small print of oil depletion allowances and the like, the fact is that Congressmen think that way -- and voters had better know it. All in all, a solid addition to the 'how a bill becomes a law' ouevre. Plus, it makes you like an odd array of people: Ronald Reagan, Bill Bradley, and even Bob Packwood. Where are they now?... END
Book Description
One hundred eighty million Americans file income tax returns, almost as many complain about the system, yet few understand the underlying social and economic outcomes. This book carves open the belly of the income tax for Americans who never have had the opportunity to learn about it, and empowers Americans to make informed judgments about what income tax laws would be best. John Fox explains how the laws represent the most comprehensive expression of official government values. Fox also elucidates how special relief provisions far exceed in sheer dollars and importance programs funded directly through the federal budget, and why these special provisions typically fail to advance tax justice or economic growth. Fox presents a compelling argument that our nation's interests would be best served by overhauling the system through reforms that eliminate all but the most essential special relief provisions, while reducing tax rates across the board. Such reforms, he argues, are far more compatible with principles of liberals and conservatives than is today's system. Part primer, part manifesto, If Americans Really Understood the Income Taxis sure to open the eyes of tax-paying Americans and earn the respect of policy experts.
Customer Reviews:
Only the FairTax Outfoxes Fox.......2005-05-12
John Fox says the values of our government are represented in the tax system and that Congress has pursued social and economic programs through the tax system by using deductions and credits that amount to 3 trillion dollars (in 2000) of un-taxed income.
John Fox obviously loves the FairTax. The FairTax does all those things and more, repealing the income tax, employee taxes, corporate taxes and more while fully funding the US government. Everyone also gets a monthly rebate so noone pays any tax at all up to the poverty level.
Fox says the U.S. would have a stronger economy without these provisions. He suggests doing away with all but the most essential special relief provisions, and implementing a simpler tax code that would reduce taxes for all brackets.
If we get rid of the income tax and become the first nation on earth to NOT tax productivity, "outsourced" jobs return and foreign companies come to America to do business.
Everything John Fox advocates is taken just a step farther with the FairTax.
Must read.......2004-07-06
John Fox's take on taxes is a must read for anyone who cares about tax equity and the well-being of the body politic. When I first studied taxes as an employee of the California Legislature -- now nearly four decades ago -- we learned that simple equity -- equal treatment of equals -- was the first principle of a fair and just tax system; absent equity the system would be manifestly unfair and eventually would lose its legitimacy, the greatest danger a democratic republic can face. As Fox points out,that's exactly what's happening with modern tax policy -- regressive, unfair, unjust are the attributes that leap out at you. But Fox does more than point the finger of blame; he offers constructive suggestions to get the system back where it belongs, to restore fairness and legitimacy.
Income Tax Ignorance.......2002-03-16
Plain and simple, the Amercan people know nothing when it comes to Income Taxes.They know nothing about their Constitutional Rights with regards to the Income Tax and they do not know how to use the three Internal Revenue Code Sections in the Prvacy Act Notice in the 1040 instruction booklet. An old saying is quoted by judges; "Ignorance of the Law is no excuse". The very first IRC section in the Privacy Act Notice is 6001. Most people would not know where to search for the information of this code section. The very first sentence implies Liability. In looking in the Index of the IRC under Liability for Tax, you will find all of the subjects that are taxed. Income is NOT one of them. For tax purposes, Income is defined by the Supreme Court as a Gain or Profit earned by Privlege. Every citizen of the USA has a Right to work for compensation. I rated this book low and the little bit of expose offered is proof that the author does not know or implies he does not know the Truth about the Income Tax.
Income Tax Ignorance.......2002-03-16
Plain and simple, the Amercan people know nothing when it comes to Income Taxes.They know nothing about their Constitutional Rights with regards to the Income Tax and they do not know how to use the three Internal Revenue Code Sections in the Prvacy Act Notice in the 1040 instruction booklet. An old saying is quoted by judges; "Ignorance of the Law is no excuse". The very first IRC section in the Privacy Act Notice is 6001. Most people would not know where to search for the information of this code section. The very first sentence implies Liability. In looking in the Index of the IRC under Liability for Tax, you will find all of the subjects that are taxed. Income is NOT one of them. For tax purposes, Income is defined by the Supreme Court as a Gain or Profit earned by Privlege. Every citizen of the USA has a Right to work for compensation. I rated this book low and the little bit of expose offered is proof that the author does not know or implies he does not know the Truth about the Income Tax.
My wife took my copy and I will have to buy another........2001-05-20
This is an excellent book. It has been written in a comprehensive style that can enlighten taxpayers as well as tax professionals. Every one can benefit from the collected information and well-conceived opinions of Mr. Fox. This book can serve as a wellspring to initiate questions, debate, or perhaps a citizen's revolt against our present archaic, confusing, and unequal tax system. Mr. Fox has obviously been working on this book for several years, but his phenomenal foresight has placed this brilliant work in our hands at just the right moment when we consider the major tax law changes now being considered by the U.S. Executive and Legislative branches of our government. The proposed changes could have a profound negative effect on our children and us. In the 18th century American citizens had a tea party in Boston because of unfair taxes. What will our generation do? Whimper and complain or become informed and proactive?
Book Description
Civil liberties versus national security: new issues raised by a new kind of war
The modern laws of war that emerged in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were developed with a particular concept of war in mind-one that does not apply to the conflict with our current adversaries. With the September 11 attacks the United States found itself engaged in a new kind of war, with new dilemmas that needed new rules. Terrorism, the Laws of War, and the Constitution examines three significant enemy combatant cases-Padilla, Hamdi, and Rasul-that represent the leading edge of U.S. efforts to devise legal rules, consistent with American constitutional principles, for waging the global war on terror.
The volume's distinguished contributors analyze the crucial questions these cases raise about the balance between national security and civil liberties in wartime, discuss critical separation of powers issues, and call upon the courts, the political branches, and the country to reexamine the complicated connections between the Constitution and international law. Spanning the spectrum of informed legal opinion, the essays gathered here show that debating the enemy combatant cases is indispensable to meeting the legal challenges to come in the long war that lies ahead. Although they may disagree as to the details, the contributors are in full agreement that fortifying the rule of law at home is both a demand of justice and a national security imperative.
Peter Berkowitz teaches at George Mason University School of Law and is a fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Contributors: Mark Tushnet, Patricia M. Wald, Seth P. Waxman, Ruth Wedgwood, Benjamin Wittes, John Yoo.
Customer Reviews:
Useful for the interested attorney.......2006-06-26
This edited book is useful for attorneys that follow constitutional law issues and the debate on Qitmo detention issues. John Yoo writes an easily understood article that summarizes the Bush Admin argument. Unfortunately, the other authors were not selected to offer a different argument. Regardless of the absence of competing arguments, the summary of the enemy combatant cases is comprehensive and two authors provide unique perspectives of the response by the three branches of US govert. In short, four of the articles make this book worthy of your time, but buy the used book.
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