Rating: 
Summary: Fair and Balanced!
Review: This author actually took the time to e-mail me about the questions I had for his book! I recommend this non-partisan book on America's tax system.
Rating:
Summary: Need to revise the principles behind U.S. tax laws
Review: Jack in Toronto is just plain wrong. The book isn't about how the poorest Americans deserve a bigger tax break. It's about how middle class Americans are unfairly overtaxed compared to the wealthiest Americans. Even people in Canada should be able to understand something that simple.
Rating: 
Summary: Good parts in a bad package
Review: Throughout this book, I felt that either the author or his publisher decided that a straightforward book about the tax system simply didn't have enough oomph for the book-buying public. So Perfectly Legal was given a conspiratorial subtitle, cover art showing a man being robbed, dust jacket praise from Ralph Nader and Jim Hightower, and lots of ominous references to 'the political donor class.' It's a shame someone decided to spice up the book that way, because the book's good chapters, and there are some, shine some much needed light on a tax system that is convoluted, poorly enforced, and sometimes unfair.The book begins, unpromisingly, with a long, statistically laden exposition that income inequality is increasing. This is both tedious and extraneous because, one, everybody knows this, and two, it has nothing to do with taxes. Income inequality is a natural result of technological progress. Advances in manufacturing, communication, and transportation give an individual or company a much larger potential market. Some can better utilize those opportunities than others. When it became possible to record acting and musical performances and distribute them around the world, the pay of top entertainers skyrocketed; the pay of janitors did not. The book is at its best when it abandons broader themes of class and concentrates on particular instances of tax injustices or political demagoguery. A chapter on plane perks notes that an executive can use a corporate jet for personal use and be charged 'imputed income' only for the cost of a regular commercial airline ticket. Meanwhile, the company can deduct the full cost of the flight. This needs to be changed, but one reason for this system, which Johnston doesn't mention, is that the same screwy way of valuing private travel applies to political campaigning. So when Richard Gephardt used a Bell South jet to campaign in Iowa, he reimbursed the company only for the cost of regular airline tickets. Johnston's chapter on tax shelters accurately describes how prestigious accounting and law firms sacrificed their reputations to collect big fees for creating paper tax losses for clients. And a chapter on the alternative minimum tax explains the most obvious injustice in the tax code ' people who win employment lawsuits but have to pay big legal fees can end up with an effective tax rate well over 100%. Criticizing politicians for the poor tax system is like shooting fish in a barrel, but these are fish that deserve to be shot. The campaign to eliminate the 'death tax', the new term for the estate tax, included lots of fiction about families having to sell farms and businesses. Prominent hearings in 1997 about 'IRS abuses' and the resulting legislation had the chief effect of emboldening tax cheats. Being fiscally responsible doesn't just mean scrutinizing the budget; it means properly assessing and collecting taxes that are legally owed. There is one chapter especially, on the Earned Income Tax Credit, where the author's class agenda leads him badly astray. The EITC is a special refundable credit available to the working poor, especially those with children. Many of the recipients are sympathetic figures, people who are eligible for welfare but instead go to work at a dreary and low-paying job. The credit rewards work ' recipients can get refunds of $4,000 or more even if they have no withholding ' and counters the regressive nature of other taxes, such as social security taxes. But EITC also has by far the highest fraud rate of any anti-poverty program, an estimated 30%. The chance to steal thousands of dollars with virtually no chance of criminal prosecution has, not surprisingly, successfully tempted a great many people. Dependents are bartered and sold; married people claim to be unmarried; and income is overstated or understated to maximize the credit. Johnston seems to be unfamiliar with the numerous General Accounting Office reports detailing problems with the credit, and wrongly suggests that erroneous claims are usually just honest mistakes. The simple truth is that dishonesty is found in all economic classes, and the poor are certainly no exception. There are good parts to this book, but it's sad to see them wrapped in an allegation of conspiracy about 'the super rich.' The income tax system, for all its flaws, is highly progressive. The richest 1% of all taxpayers pay 37% of the income taxes, and the richest 50% pay 96%. Despite all the supposed influence of 'the political donor class,' wealthy people aren't allowed IRA deductions, deductions for exemptions, education credits, or many other tax benefits commonly claimed by the middle class. So let's fix the alternative minimum tax, increase the IRS' enforcement budget, and put the most egregious tax cheats in jail, but let's do it without the rhetoric of conspiracy or class warfare.
Rating:
Summary: Inspired and Inspiring Work
Review: At last, a brilliant writer takes on this most complicated, complex subject and let's us "follow the money" as it is removed from your/my pocket and deposited into the accounts of the super rich. I hope David Cay Johnston wins even more awards for this important work. I bought two copies, one to keep and one to give as a gift. I have been urging every political candidate I encounter or to whom I write to read it and incorporate the information in his/her political work. I have heard David Cay Johnston interviewed on Diane Riehm (NPR), on Celeste Quinn's Afternoon 580 (WILL/www.uiuc.edu),and on KMOX radio (St. Louis) and have been singing his praises all over the midwest. This book should be required reading wherever reading can be required and should be blessedly voluntary reading for everyone else. It is extremely worthwhile and extremely important and extremely well-written. If enough of us read it and take it to heart, maybe change can come. Thank you, David Cay Johnston!
Rating:
Summary: An astounding survey
Review: This book is long overdue. Essentially a survey of the rampant loopholes and tax cheating among the super rich of this country, this book goes a long way towards disspelling the myth that the people who hold economic dominion over our lives somehow pay more than their fair share in taxes. From using corporate jets for golf trips (at shareholder and taxpayer expense) to opening a mail drop in Barbados as a tax dodge to timing stock trades to create paper capital losses (and get tax credits), anyone who truly cares for this country and its future will be appalled at the subterfuge and disloyalty described in Perfectly Legal. I do wish the book would use more straightforward terminology (i.e. "30%" instead of "3 in 10"), but overall this book is well-written. It's also meticulously researched. In fact, some of the biggest tax dodgers come straight out and admit what they're doing. This book has prompted me to read and research more into issues of tax equity. It will frustrate you and pique your curiosity at the same time.
Rating:
Summary: Common sense suggestions for the common man (and woman)
Review: As shocking as I found the revelations in this book with regard to how the rich stay that way via _my_ tax dollars, did I find the advice by Mr. Johnston for we working class commoners here in America to take a stand and DOOOOOOO something about it, beyond whining and griping. Well written and full of very helpful analogies used to illustrate point after point. I'm glad I took the advice of a friend and bought this book. Bravo!
Rating: 
Summary: Pure Rubbish
Review: Mr. Johnston's book is utter rubbish and was difficult to plod through. He simply mis-states facts and spews the leftist drivel currently on display by the democrats in this primary season. Fact: the top 20 percent of wage earners pay 80 percent of the taxes. I suggest a work by Milton Friedman or any reputable economist in place of this nonsense. Don't waste your money!
Rating:
Summary: Clarification
Review: I do not presume to have read this book, so in fairness, I cannot rate it. However, the comments from the reader from New Jersey regarding public accountants are puerile. Suggesting that public accountants have a responsibility to enforce the tax code is like requiring a defense attorney to inform the judge and jury when they know their client is guilty. The rights to counsel, due process, redress of grievances, and equal justice before the law do not get suspended just because someone else doesn't think a person is paying their fair share of taxes. I believe the IRS accepts donations above and beyond an individual's required tax liability. Perhaps the reader from NJ should consider giving more of his or her income to them, since they can really use the money.
Rating:
Summary: A Badly Abused, Highly Flawed System
Review: David Cay Johnston has received two Pulitzer Prizes for his economic writing in the New York Times. His privileged vantage point provides him with the experience and insight to write a book delineating the potential disaster confronting America from the manipulation of the federal tax system to benefit the wealthy at the expense of the rest of society. Many years ago H.L. Hunt, the Texas oil magnate then reputed to be the world's richest man, revealed his confident arrogance about the federal tax system, indicating that "even if they taxed us 99%" that the wealthy would prevail and pay nothing, leaving the rest of society to bear the responsibility. He had reason to be confident, as noted by Johnston's informative investigation. As for ferreting out tax cheats, the current IRS weakesses are appalling. Johnston noted that after locating the 16,000 worst suspected tax cheats, the IRS then investigated only a paltry 4% of the perceived malefactors. Johnston exposes the gimmick of pandering members of Congress who showboat on behalf of the wealthy to insure continuing tax breaks. A particularly egregious example was the drama put on by Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi, who lost his Senate Majority Leader status for his tribute to former ardent segregationist, Senator Strom Thurmond. Lott's histrionics focused on perceived abuses by the IRS which were never corroborated. The performance related to keeping the heat on those who wanted to change the system by presenting the image of an aggressive IRS trampling on the rights of the wealthy patrons Lott sought to protect. While focusing much criticism on presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush for helping skew the federal tax code in the direction of the wealthy through their massive tax cuts, Johnston notes that to attempt to focus too much of the blame on these individuals would be a grave mistake. It is much broader than these two individuals, as powerful as they were and as fervent as their efforts have been in that direction. The special interests have woven their magic in bringing prominent as well as less than prominent Democrats and Republicans onto their team with the situation deteriorating over a long period of time. For instance, remember footage of so-called "seminars" at posh country club retreats? Scores of these have been organized by the corporate sector to "inform" elected officials from the House and Senate on how to properly deal with the tax system. Needless to say, these seminars are best conducted in comfortable surroundings. Unsurprisingly, those who cooperate find themselves back in office, assisted by special interest largesse. Those who do not generally find themselves out of office. Grover Norquist is a successful tax lobbyist with his own think tank. He is a prominent adviser to Bush, Cheney, and Rove. Knowing how the system is played, Norquist has referred to bipartisan congressional cooperation as "date rape." As for basic federal programs enjoyed by taxpayers, such as park systems and educational benefits, Norquist takes a harsh view. He has stated his desire that federal government activity, absent defense spending and anti-crime activity, belongs "flushed in a toilet bowl." He knows that if the system is top heavy enough in the corporate direction, with the middle class confronting the burden, that a plutocracy will result more in the tradition of eighteenth century France's pre-revolutionary phase than the New Deal, Fair Deal, and New Frontier administrations of presidents Roosevelt, Truman, and Kennedy. You see, France can be used as a sensible model, after all, by Bush partisans! Freedom fries, anyone?
Rating:
Summary: A very pompus book written by an un-informed author.
Review: This book is one of the worst to hit the market. It makes the point that it is the wealthy's job to pay for the poor. In fact this could not be farther from the truth. Shape it up Mr. Johnston. Do not buy this book at all costs, because the sales tax you pay may end up going to the "Super-Rich". Give me a break, what a terrible book.
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