Review by Choice Review
The appropriate tax treatment of income from capital has been an open question since the earliest days of the income tax. These excellent essays by economists and lawyers from government and academia will not settle the question, but they do give authoritative framing for the debate. The problem is this: taxation of capital income (returns from assets and savings) discourages saving and investment to the detriment of American prosperity. Because the distribution of capital income is top-heavy, providing the relief for efficiency sacrifices progressivity in tax distribution. Determining what to do is complicated because the current tax is an income-consumption hybrid that partly taxes and partly relieves capital income. This issue is examined and debated in three groups of essays: "Do We Tax Capital Income?" (J. Slemrod), "Should We Tax Capital Income?" (G. Zodrow, E. Todor, and K. Reuben), and "Can We Tax Capital Income?" (E. Kleinbard, J. Roin, J. Bankman, and M. Schler). Concluding remarks by H. Aaron, C. Steuerle, and D. Halperin make clear that these experts do not agree on the appropriate treatment, so it is understandable why lawmakers have not reached a conclusion either. A valuable work for taxation and public policy collections. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate, research, and professional audiences. J. L. Mikesell Indiana University--Bloomington
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
