Many books have been written about tax reform, but none offer the pragmatic and understandable approach that youll find in this treatise filled with a nonpartisan set of solutions to fix an antiquated and indecipherable tax system. James C. Tanner, a certified public accountant with more than four decades of experience, explores how we can: Create a fair and logical tax framework by rethinking income exclusions, exemptions, deductions, credits, tax brackets, capital gains, and other tax alternatives; reform tax expenditures, including health insurance and medical costs, home mortgage and other interest deductions, retirement plan deductions, charitable donations, and capital gains on assets sold and transferred; lower the tax rates for most individual and corporate taxpayers while making our US companies more competitive with their foreign counterparts. Tanner also outlines how historical decisions and legislative proposals led to our current tax laws under the premise that we cant fix them without understanding why they were created in the first place. For those who want to participate in the national debate on federal tax reform, it begins with a firm understanding of the system and the practical proposals in Tax Reform with the 20/20 Tax.

This is the fifth edition of Tax Policy Reforms: OECD and Selected Partner Economies, an annual publication that provides comparative information on tax reforms across countries and tracks tax policy developments over time. The report covers the latest tax policy reforms in all OECD countries, as well as in Argentina, China, Indonesia and South Africa.

Considers mineral depletion allowances, with emphasis on the oil depletion allowance and its use as an income tax shelter. Also discusses future energy needs and strategic dangers of dependence on foreign oil supplies.

The new edition of a popular guide to the key issues in tax reform, presented in a clear, nontechnical, and unbiased way. To follow the debate over tax reform, the interested citizen is often forced to choose between misleading sound bites and academic treatises. Taxing Ourselves bridges the gap between the oversimplified and the arcane, presenting the key issues clearly and without a political agenda. Tax policy experts Joel Slemrod and Jon Bakija lay out in accessible language what is known and not known about how taxes affect the economy and offer guidelines for evaluating tax systems—both the current tax system and proposals to reform it. This fifth edition has been extensively revised to incorporate the latest data, empirical evidence, and tax law. It offers new material on recent tax reform proposals, expanded coverage of international tax issues, and the latest enforcement initiatives. Offering historical perspectives, outlining the basic criteria by which tax policy should be judged (fairness, economic impact, enforceability), examining proposals for both radical change (replacement of the income tax with a flat tax or consumption tax) and incremental changes to the current system, and concluding with a voter's guide, the book provides readers with enough background to make informed judgments about how we should tax ourselves. Praise for earlier editions “An excellent book.” —Jeff Medrick, New York Times “A fair-minded exposition of a politically loaded subject.” —Kirkus Reviews