Johnston, David Cay. Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich -- and Cheat Everybody Else. New York: Portfolio (Penguin Group), 2003. 338 pages.

Author David Cay Johnston reports on this issue for the New York Times, and much of what he has learned over the previous nine years is presented in this book. This is a collection of horror stories for wage slaves who are not in a position to cheat. If your employer deducts from your paycheck, you're either in the lower class already, or rapidly headed there. The system is rigged for the benefit of the very rich, and enforcement by the IRS has essentially collapsed as Congress squeezes their budget. By 1999 the poor were more likely than the rich to have their tax returns audited.

The situation is outrageous. Every year before tax returns are due, stories appear in the press quoting IRS officials about new tricks they've developed to address the problem. And every year it turns out that more rich people get richer by cheating. Maybe rich people don't read, or maybe their lawyers, accountants, or advisors in Bermuda know better than to believe the IRS. How long can the middle class survive under these conditions? Even some rich folks, such as Warren Buffett, George Soros, and Bill Gates Sr., favor the estate tax because they're worried about the long-term stability of our skewed system. One question is unanswered: Is reform possible, or does capitalism eventually destroy democracy as part of its natural progression?
ISBN 1-59184-019-8

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