MIT2008年新书：
原书地址：
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11424

目录


Preface        xi
1 Introduction               1
  Complaints about the Current Tax System 3
A Different Way to Tax 7
Objections to Radical Reform 9
Changes in the Context of the Current System 10
The Need for Objective Analysis 11
What's in This Citizen's Guide 11
2 An Overview of the U.S. Tax System 13
How Governments in the United States Get Their Money 13
International Comparisons 15
Historical Perspectives on the U.S. Tax System 16
Personal Income Taxation 28
Basic Features of the U.S. Corporate Income Tax 47
The Social Security Payroll Tax 52
Estate and Gift Taxes 53
Conclusion 55
3 Fairness 57
Vertical Equity and Tax Progressivity 59
Horizontal Equity: Equal Treatment of Equals 87
Transitional Equity 96
Conclusion 98
4 Taxes and Economic Prosperity 99
Taxes and the Business Cycle 100
Budget Deficits and Surpluses 103
How Much Should Government Do? 106
Tax Cuts to Force Spending Cuts versus Surpluses to Prepare for an Aging Population 108
How Taxes Affect Long-Run Economic Prosperity：A First Cut at the Evidence 112
How Taxes Affect Economic Prosperity：The Specifics 119
Conclusion 157
5 Simplicity and Enforceability 159
How Complicated Is Our Tax System? 159
What Makes a Tax System Complicated? 165
What Facilitates Enforcement? 185
Conclusion 188
6 Elements of Fundamental Reform 189
A Single Rate 189
A Consumption Base 194
A Clean Tax Base 216
Conclusion 230
7 What Are the Alternatives? 231
How the Consumption Tax Plans Work 232
At What Rate? 239
Simplicity and Enforceability of the Consumption Tax Plans 244
Distributional Effects of the Consumption Tax Alternatives 253
Economic Effects of Consumption Tax Plans 262
Conclusion 268
8 Starting from Here 269
Integration: Eliminating the Double Taxation of Corporate Income 270
Corporate Welfare and Corporate Tax Shelters 273
Inflation Indexing 277
Capital Gains 279
Savings Incentives in the Income Tax 283
The Estate Tax 288
Simplifying the Income Tax 292
Technological Improvements and the Promise of a Return-Free System 294
The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform 295
A Hybrid Approach: Combining a VAT with Income Taxation 299
Conclusion 303
9 A Voter's Guide to the Tax Policy Debate 305
Tax Cuts versus Tax Reform 305
Tax Cuts as a Trojan Horse 306
The Devil Is in the Details 306
The Tax System Can't Encourage Everything 307
Fairness Is a Slippery Concept but an Important One 307
Be Skeptical of Claims of Economic Nirvana 307
The Tax System Can Be Improved 308
2010: A Double Witching Hour 309
Notes 311
References 343