A Fine Mess

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The U.S tax code is a total write off Crammed with loopholes and special interest provisions, it works for no one except tax lawyers, accountants, and huge corporations Not for the first time, we have reached a breaking point That happened in 1922, and again in 1954, and again in 1986 In other words, every thirty two years Which means that the next complete overhaul is due in 2018 But what should be in this new tax code Can we make the U.S tax system simpler, fairer, and efficient Yes, yes, and yes Can we cut tax rates and still bring in revenue Yes Other rich countries, from Estonia to New Zealand to the UK advanced, high tech, free market democracies have all devised tax regimes that are equitable, effective, and easy on the taxpayer But the United States has languished So byzantine are the current statutes that, by our government s own estimates, Americans spend six billion hours and 10 billion every year preparing and filing their taxes In the Netherlands that task takes a mere fifteen minutes Successful American companies like Apple, Caterpillar, and Google effectively pay no tax at all in some instances because of loopholes that allow them to move profits offshore Indeed, the dysfunctional tax system has become a major cause of economic inequality In A Fine Mess,T R Reid crisscrosses the globe in search of the exact solutions to these urgent problems With an uncanny knack for making a complex subject not just accessible but gripping, he investigates what makes good taxation no, that s not an oxymoron and brings that knowledge home where it is needed most Never talking down or reflexively siding with either wing of politics, T R Reid presses the case for sensible root and branch reforms with a companionable ebullience This affects everyone Doing our taxes will never be America s favorite pastime, but it can and should be so much easier and fairer. Free Read eBook A Fine Mess author T.R. Reid – kino-fada.fr I never thought I d read a whole book about tax policy, but this wasn t too bad Written very simply and directly, it gives some history of taxation around the world and especially in America, with a broad overvie...I m going to jot down a few quotes here as I run across them The 535 members of the U.S Congress the people who write the tax laws have given themselves various tax break and deductions that other Americans don t get This is probably a natural tendency among people who write the law As it happens, though, some countries have found ways to combat this predictable effort by legislators to reduce their own tax bills Slovakia, for example, has a rule that members of the national legislature I m going to jot down a few quotes here as I run across them The 535 members of the U.S Congress the people who write the tax laws have given themselves various tax break and deductions that other Americans don t get This is probably a natural tendency among people who write the law As it happens, though, some countries have found ways to combat this predictable effort by legislators to reduce their own tax bills Slovakia, for example, has a rule that members of the national legislature and the prime minister s cabinet always have to pay 5%in tax than any other Slovakian with the same income 10 A standard way to measure national tax burdens is to calculate a country s total tax revenues national, state, and local as a percentage of gross domestic product the sum of all the wealth produced ...So, I can t exactly recommend this book It is, after all, about taxes Taxes are boring, everyone has unlettered and predictable opinions about them, and the subject is endlessly abstruse But they re also very important Beyond clumsy suppositions about liberals favoringtaxes and conservatives loathing them, I found this account fascinating for revealing one of the few political areas of substance where conservative and liberal policy goals are consistent with each other It is in fact p So, I can t exactly recommend this book It is, after all, about taxes Taxes are boring, everyone has unlettered and predictable opinions about them, and the subject is endlessly abstruse But they re also very important Beyond clumsy suppositions about liberals favoringtaxes and conservatives loathing them, I found this account fascinating for revealing one of the few political areas of substance wher...3 Everyone complains about taxes, but veteran journalist T R Reid thinks the time is right for us to DO something about it According to Reid s research, we have had a major overhaul of our tax system in the United States every 32 years, which means we are due for the next major rewrite in 2018 To help us prepare, Reid has written A Fine Mess, an interesting and informative look at our own tax system and tax systems of other developed countries around the world, from Austria to New Zealand H 3 Everyone complains about taxes, but veteran journalist T R Reid thinks the time is right for us to DO something about it According to Reid s research, we have had a major overhaul of our tax system in the United States every 32 years, which means we are due for the next major rewrite in 2018 To help us prepare, Reid has written A Fine Mess, an interesting and informative look at our own tax system and tax systems of other developed countries around the world, from Austria to New Zealand He concludes that other countries have systems that are muchequitable and easy to navigate than our own and makes recommendations on how we can improve.Reid s research is impressive, and the book is replete with ...I read this book on the recommendation of my Goodreads friend Steve I may have otherwise passed it by, expecting a dry, technical tome In fact, I enjoyed it and learned a great deal I used to imagine that Americans must understand most of the arcane shit in tax forms and the IRS booklets that are intended to explain everything but are totally impenetrable I always wanted to knowabout the tax system, the various taxes, and how it all works, but never dreamed that I would.The admirable T I read this book on the recommendation of my Goodreads friend Steve I may have otherwise passed it by, expecting a dry, technical tome In fact, I enjoyed it and learned a great deal I used to imagine that Americans must understand most of the arcane shit in tax forms and the IRS booklets that are intended to explain everything but are totally impenetrable I always wanted to knowabout the tax system, the various taxes, and how it all works, but never dreamed that I would.The admirable T.R Reid, a seasoned journalist and author, has changed all that I now understand that the first principle of good taxation is broad base, low rates BBLR , and that there are many kinds of taxes to pay for our communal expenses or the luxuries of dictators and their children For the first time, I actually understan...4.0 Kind of too late, but we can try to continue tax reform Just need a plan to safely dismantle the tax industrial complex and retrain Intuit HR Block workforce to do something actually productive raw notes for now Graduated better than flat tax Graduated rates themselves are not a painful source of complexity It s all of the exceptions Tax expenditures deductions, credits etc are over a trillion dollars.Americans spend billions of hours and dollars to file returns Huge drain o 4.0 Kind of too late, but we can try to continue tax reform Just need a plan to safely dismantle the tax industrial complex and retrain Intuit HR Block workforce to do something actually productive raw notes for now Graduated better than flat tax Graduated rates themselves are not a painful source of complexity It s all of the exceptions Tax expenditures deductions, credit... A Fine Mess A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System is insightful and thought provoking The current system cries out for reform, but I foresee little chance of any genuine improvements t...Advocates a regressive, value added tax.A Fine Mess A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System by T.R Reid A Fine Mess is a surprisingly readable book on sensible taxation Best selling author and longtime correspondent for the Washington Post, T.R Reid once again travels the globe in search of taxes that make sense and how such knowledge could be put to good use to address America s fai...You d think a book on comparative taxation would be a snooze fest but Reid does a fantastic job of guiding the reader through our complex tax code and uses international and historic examples and data to show how it could be better Great writing on a normally agonizingly boring topic.

A Fine Mess
  • 23 December 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 288 pages
  • 1594205515
  • T.R. Reid
  • A Fine Mess