The economic effects of taxing capital income /

Economist Gravelle provides an encyclopedic treatment of the way the US fiscal system taxes income from capital. She covers the arguments that there are equity and efficiency grounds for taxing this income; estimates of the difference in effective tax rates across types of physical investment, industries, organization structures, and financial forms; problems of measuring capital income (depreciation rates, allowance for inflation, special investment subsidies); the case for special treatment of capital gains; the alternative minimum tax and passive loss restrictions; special treatment for retirement savings income (especially individual retirement accounts and pensions); questions of international competitiveness; and a variety of specialized concessions, including enterprise zones, tax-exempt bonds, favors for housing, and special rules for special industries. She provides two appendixes: a remarkable short history of how capital income has been taxed since the first corporate income tax (1909), and a guide to the calculation methods used in her analysis; both represent a considerable boon to serious scholars. She finds a strong case for ending the double tax on corporate income; other large restructurings are less attractive economically. An important book for tax research and for the development of tax policy. Graduate; faculty. J. L. Mikesell; Indiana University-Bloomington