The Failure of U.S. Tax Policy

An investigation of the tangled U.S. tax system, which attributes its complexities and inconsistencies to the conflicting aims of its many creators. The federal courts, the IRS, the private tax bar, and individual taxpayers all struggle just to keep up with increasingly complex tax statutes and regulations. The Failure of U.S. Tax Policy surveys federal tax policy in the post-World War II era, with special attention to the last two decades, when it gained much of its complexity. Tax attorney and business law professor Sheldon Pollack shows how the tax policy agenda has been and continues to be influenced by a wide assortment of players, from tax lawyers, the media, and private interest groups and their lobbies to presidential contenders and congressional "policy entrepreneurs," thereby shaping the development of the tax laws.

“Overall this book is an indispensable source of historical information and provides the structure necessary for meaningful discussions of tax issues of concern to policymakers, academics and tax professionals.”—Thomas C. Omer, Journal of the American Taxation Association

“The Failure of U.S. Tax Policy is excellent reference material for policymakers, analysts, economists, educators, and students of national fiscal policy. Business, economics, and political science professors would do well to place it on their required reading list.”—Perspectives on Political Science

“The Failure of U.S. Tax Policy presents a useful and critical account of the development and revision of the federal income tax. It especially stresses inconsistencies, the lack of commitment to clear principle—a problem long associated with interest group influences, but grown worse under the changed economic and political conditions of the 1980s and 1990s, all points that are documented carefully. Many readers will find it to be indispensable as both a source of factual information and thoughtful interpretation.”—David R. Beam, Tax Notes

“Pollack looks at tax policy in practice, especially the recent history of tax legislation. He emphasizes the inherent political character of any debate over taxes and observes that external events, such as wars, have far more effect on how we are taxed than academic theories. Scholars take note.”—Wall Street Journal

“This book has enormous intellectual and scholarly breadth. It makes significant contributions to our understanding of tax policy, political theory, and political economy.”—John F. Witte, author of The Politics and Development of the Federal Income Tax

A practicing tax attorney, Sheldon D. Pollack is also Assistant Professor of Business Law at the University of Delaware. He holds a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a doctorate in political science from Cornell University.

Business & Economics

History

           U.S.

Political Science

           American Politics

           Twentieth-century