Of current theories of the incidence of the major state and local taxes, assessment of the capacity of state and local governments to carry their debt burdens, and discussion of the property tax system and the state and local retirement system. Two chapters are devoted to the intergovernmental transfers.

C. Eugene Steuerle, one of the country's most influential economists, offers an insider's look at tax policy based on a quarter century of working with officials of all political stripes. Steuerle outlines the principles of taxation and the early postwar period before proceeding to the tax policy battles that began with the Reagan revolution and continue today. Those expecting a simple story of triumph and defeat may be surprised. Rather than moving toward consensus and progress, tax policy history has been messy, repetitive, and often rancorous. Yet evolution-and even revolution-do occur. The second edition has been updated with a look at tax policy during the George W. Bush presidency.

The debates about the what, who, and how of tax policy are at the core of politics, policy, and economics. The Economics of Tax Policy provides a straightforward overview of recent research in the economics of taxation. Tax policies generate considerable debate among the public, policymakers, and scholars. These disputes have grown more heated in the United States as the incomes of the wealthiest 1 percent and the rest of the population continue to diverge. This important volume enhances understanding of the implications of taxation on behavior and social outcomes by having leading scholars evaluate key topics in tax policy. These include how changes to the individual income tax affect long-term economic growth; the challenges of tax administration, compliance, and enforcement; and environmental taxation and its effects on tax revenue, pollution emissions, economic efficiency, and income distribution. Also explored are tax expenditures, which are subsidy programs in the form of tax deductions, exclusions, credits, or favorable rates; how college attendance is influenced by tax credits and deductions for tuition and fees, tax-advantaged college savings plans, and student loan interest deductions; and how tax policy toward low-income families takes a number of forms with different distributional effects. Among the most contentious issues explored are influences of capital gains and estate taxation on the long term concentration of wealth; the interaction of tax policy and retirement savings and how policy can "nudge" improved planning for retirement; and how the reform of corporate and business taxation is central to current tax policy debates in the United States. By providing overviews of recent advances in thinking about how taxes relate to behavior and social goals, The Economics of Tax Policy helps inform the debate.

How America was Tricked on Tax Policy explains how regular citizens were “tricked” by the outdated view of economists that much heavier taxation of labor rather than capital is economically justifiable. The truth is that workers pay their taxes while the rich pay very little. Based on reputable sources of information, including publications of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), official statistics data, and the publications in high-ranked journals, the book paves the way for a new policy-making process aimed to achieve more sustainable taxation and to increase the wellbeing of citizens as the main goal of any modern state policy. Dealing with critically important and underexplored topics in tax policy, the book challenges an enshrined dogma that is rarely challenged at the level of policy. In doing so, this book envisions policy changes that could be highly impactful in a new political administration. This book proposes that governments should look for not just corporate income tax rate reduction when announcing their tax reforms but should equally focus on the reduction of the overall tax burden on labor. The negative impact and high social cost of wage taxation is exemplified by the key areas of tax policy that are relevant for every wealthy state, such as taking due care of public health, investing in education and wellbeing of children, and supporting small business for the overall benefit to society. The book compellingly argues how tax policy could be improved by incorporating science and scientific methods.