A Good Tax

A Good Tax
Author: Joan Youngman
Publisher:
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2016
Genre: Local finance
ISBN: 9781558443426

In A Good Tax, tax expert Joan Youngman skillfully considers how to improve the operation of the property tax and supply the information that is often missing in public debate. She analyzes the legal, administrative, and political challenges to the property tax in the United States and offers recommendations for its improvement. The book is accessibly written for policy analysts and public officials who are dealing with specific property tax issues and for those concerned with property tax issues in general.

Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue

Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue
Author: Michael Keen
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 536
Release: 2021-04-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691199981

An engaging and enlightening account of taxation told through lively, dramatic, and sometimes ludicrous stories drawn from around the world and across the ages Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts—and, in repressing it, ended up burning the very huts they intended to tax. Sometimes they succeed astonishingly, as when, in eighteenth-century Britain, a cut in the tax on tea massively increased revenue. In this entertaining book, two leading authorities on taxation, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, provide a fascinating and informative tour through these and many other episodes in tax history, both preposterous and dramatic—from the plundering described by Herodotus and an Incan tax payable in lice to the (misremembered) Boston Tea Party and the scandals of the Panama Papers. Along the way, readers meet a colorful cast of tax rascals, and even a few tax heroes. While it is hard to fathom the inspiration behind such taxes as one on ships that tended to make them sink, Keen and Slemrod show that yesterday’s tax systems have more in common with ours than we may think. Georgian England’s window tax now seems quaint, but was an ingenious way of judging wealth unobtrusively. And Tsar Peter the Great’s tax on beards aimed to induce the nobility to shave, much like today’s carbon taxes aim to slow global warming. Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue is a surprising and one-of-a-kind account of how history illuminates the perennial challenges and timeless principles of taxation—and how the past holds clues to solving the tax problems of today.

Tax-Free Income for Life

Tax-Free Income for Life
Author: David McKnight
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2020-11-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0593327756

The follow-up to the bestselling The Power of Zero, providing a blueprint to build a guaranteed, tax-free income stream that lasts for the long run. American retirees face a looming crisis. We are living longer than ever before, and most experts predict a dramatic rise in tax rates within the next ten years. The hard truth is that no matter how much you save, you are likely to outlive your money or watch it be taxed into oblivion. But when traditional retirement distribution strategies won't provide sufficient income in the face of higher taxes, what can you do? Tax-Free Income for Life lays out a comprehensive, step-by-step roadmap for a secure retirement. McKnight shows how the combination of guaranteed, inflation-adjusted lifetime income and a proactive asset-shifting strategy can shield you from longevity risk and the cascade of unintended consequences that result from higher taxes. It's an innovative and proven strategy that maximizes return while effectively neutralizing the two biggest risks to retirement savings. If ever there were a solution for the American retiree, it's guaranteed tax-free income for life.

Catching Capital

Catching Capital
Author: Peter Dietsch
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 279
Release: 2015-07-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0190251522

Rich people stash away trillions of dollars in tax havens like Switzerland, the Cayman Islands, or Singapore. Multinational corporations shift their profits to low-tax jurisdictions like Ireland or Panama to avoid paying tax. Recent stories in the media about Apple, Google, Starbucks, and Fiat are just the tip of the iceberg. There is hardly any multinational today that respects not just the letter but also the spirit of tax laws. All this becomes possible due to tax competition, with countries strategically designing fiscal policy to attract capital from abroad. The loopholes in national tax regimes that tax competition generates and exploits draw into question political economic life as we presently know it. They undermine the fiscal autonomy of political communities and contribute to rising inequalities in income and wealth. Building on a careful analysis of the ethical challenges raised by a world of tax competition, this book puts forward a normative and institutional framework to regulate the practice. In short, individuals and corporations should pay tax in the jurisdictions of which they are members, where this membership can come in degrees. Moreover, the strategic tax setting of states should be limited in important ways. An International Tax Organisation (ITO) should be created to enforce the principles of tax justice. The author defends this call for reform against two important objections. First, Dietsch refutes the suggestion that regulating tax competition is inefficient. Second, he argues that regulation of this sort, rather than representing a constraint on national sovereignty, in fact turns out to be a requirement of sovereignty in a global economy. The book closes with a series of reflections on the obligations that the beneficiaries of tax competition have towards the losers both prior to any institutional reform as well as in its aftermath.

Taxpertise

Taxpertise
Author: Bonnie Lee
Publisher: Entrepreneur Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2009-07-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1613080492

Taxpayer champion and enrolled agent Bonnie Lee puts the IRS under the microscope and uncovers proven methods, and surprisingly simple strategies to minimize your taxable income, maximize deductions, and, ultimately—add thousands back to your business’ bottom line! Do you owe an insurmountable sum to the IRS? Pay pennies on the dollar. Secret formula the IRS uses to determine an acceptable offer is revealed—Page 246 Save tax dollars simply by reorganizing your workspace—Page 17 Stuff tax dollars back into your pocket by fixing errors on your balance sheet—Page 50 Eat tax-free! Some meal expenses are 100 % deductible. Find out what qualifies—Page 56 Got a great hobby you’re turning into a bona fide business? Deduct the losses by following these guidelines—Page 99 Is your home office a red flag?—Page 107 You inherited Grandma’s house. Do you have to pay taxes on it?—Page 121 Can you write off your clothing?—Page 133 Under IRS audit? Learn “audit speak” to deal effectively with the IRS—Page 215

Flat Tax Revolution

Flat Tax Revolution
Author: Steve Forbes
Publisher: Regnery Publishing
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2005-07-18
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0895260409

The president of Forbes, Inc. presents his argument for a flat tax, suggesting that the new tax would be fair and efficient, with the new tax form being no bigger than a postcard and without any of the loopholes that currently exist.