The Decline (and Fall?) of the Income Tax: How to Make Sense of the American Tax Mess and the Flat Tax Cures That Are Supposed to Fix It.

• Author: Podolin, Leonard

Leonard Podolin, CPA, retired partner, Arthur Andersen LLP, and former Chair of the AICPA Tax Division Executive Committee, has reviewed The Decline (and Fall?) Of the Income Tax, by Michael J. Graetz, W. W. Norton & Company Inc., 1997 (323 pages, $27.50).

This book makes for enjoyable and even entertaining reading about an important, interesting, but difficult subject-- namely, where our tax system is headed. it is especially valuable to those readers who do not have "inside-the-beltway" experience, because it explains, in always understandable and often amusing style, what's wrong with our present income tax ("The Decline"), how the political process works (or doesn't work) to change the law ("The Sausage Factory"), and, importantly, how the major proposals to change our tax system would work ("The Fall?").

Michael Graetz brings a broad and varied perspective to the subject. He is the Justus S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law at Yale Law School, was Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy, 1990-92, and Assistant to the Secretary and Special Counsel, 1992, in the Bush Administration, and has served on the Commissioner's Advisory Group (where I first met him). This government experience helps to add clarity and credibility to his explanations.

Graetz's book delivers a practical and politically realistic exposition, covering issues from the marriage penalty and tax shelters to bracket creep and capital gains. You probably won't like what you learn here about how our tax laws are created, but you will increase your understanding of why changes are needed. And in the process you'll learn a bit about human...