Federal Tax Policy

One of the major architects of comprehensive tax reform has revised his widely acclaimed book on tax policy to reflect the changes brought about by the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and all other major changes in tax laws since 1983. Joseph A. Pechman’s Federal Tax Policy is a nontechnical book for general readers and students interested in taxation as an instrument of public policy. It emphasizes such current issues as a comprehensive income taxation, inflation adjustments in income taxation, graduated income taxes versus expenditure taxes, the effects of taxation on economic incentives, and fiscal relations between the federal and state and local governments. Pechman presents and evaluates contrasting views on most forms of taxation—personal and corporate income, general and selective consumption, payroll, estate and gift, property, and state and local–and offers a perceptive analysis of the process of tax legislation and the role of taxation in the fiscal policy. He also provides a valuable series of statistical table on tax developments and an extensive bibliography on tax theory and practice.

Joseph A. Pechman was a former director of Economic Studies and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.