Learning to Love Form 1040

Learning to Love Form 1040 PDF Author: Lawrence Zelenak
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022601908X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 168

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Book Description
No one likes paying taxes, much less the process of filing tax returns. For years, would-be reformers have advocated replacing the return-based mass income tax with a flat tax, federal sales tax, or some combination thereof. Congress itself has commissioned studies on the feasibility of a system of exact withholding. But might the much-maligned return-based taxation method serve an important yet overlooked civic purpose? In Learning to Love Form 1040, Lawrence Zelenak argues that filing taxes can strengthen fiscal citizenship by prompting taxpayers to reflect on the contract they have with their government and the value—or perceived lack of value—they receive in exchange for their money. Zelenak traces the mass income tax to its origins as a means for raising revenue during World War II. Even then, debates raged over the merits of consumption-based versus income taxation, as well as whether taxes should be withheld from payroll or paid at the time of filing. The result is the income tax system we have today—a system whose maddening complexity, intended to accommodate citizens in widely different circumstances, threatens to outweigh any civic benefits. If sitcoms and political cartoons are any indication, public understanding of the income tax is badly in need of a corrective. Zelenak clears up some of the most common misconceptions and closes with suggestions for how the current system could be substantially simplified to better serve its civic purpose.

Learning to Love Form 1040

Learning to Love Form 1040 PDF Author: Lawrence Zelenak
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022601908X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Get Book Here

Book Description
No one likes paying taxes, much less the process of filing tax returns. For years, would-be reformers have advocated replacing the return-based mass income tax with a flat tax, federal sales tax, or some combination thereof. Congress itself has commissioned studies on the feasibility of a system of exact withholding. But might the much-maligned return-based taxation method serve an important yet overlooked civic purpose? In Learning to Love Form 1040, Lawrence Zelenak argues that filing taxes can strengthen fiscal citizenship by prompting taxpayers to reflect on the contract they have with their government and the value—or perceived lack of value—they receive in exchange for their money. Zelenak traces the mass income tax to its origins as a means for raising revenue during World War II. Even then, debates raged over the merits of consumption-based versus income taxation, as well as whether taxes should be withheld from payroll or paid at the time of filing. The result is the income tax system we have today—a system whose maddening complexity, intended to accommodate citizens in widely different circumstances, threatens to outweigh any civic benefits. If sitcoms and political cartoons are any indication, public understanding of the income tax is badly in need of a corrective. Zelenak clears up some of the most common misconceptions and closes with suggestions for how the current system could be substantially simplified to better serve its civic purpose.

Guilty Pleasures

Guilty Pleasures PDF Author: Laura E. Little
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190625767
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
In Guilty Pleasures, legal scholar Laura Little provides a multi-faceted account of American law and humor, looking at constraints on humor (and humor's effect on law), humor about law, and humor in law.

Guilty Pleasures

Guilty Pleasures PDF Author: Laura Little
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190625783
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Few people associate law books with humor. Yet the legal world--in particular the American legal system--is itself frequently funny. Indeed, jokes about the profession are staples of American comedy. And there is actually humor within the world of law too: both lawyers and judges occasionally strive to be funny to deal with the drudgery of their duties. Just as importantly, though, our legal system is a strong regulator of humor. It encourages some types of humor while muzzling or punishing others. In a sense, law and humor engage a two-way feedback loop: humor provides the raw material for legal regulation and legal regulation inspires humor. In Guilty Pleasures, legal scholar Laura Little provides a multi-faceted account of American law and humor, looking at constraints on humor (and humor's effect on law), humor about law, and humor in law. In addition to interspersing amusing episodes from the legal world throughout the book, the book contains 75 New Yorker cartoons about lawyers and a preface by Bob Mankoff, the cartoon editor for the New Yorker.

Taxes For Dummies

Taxes For Dummies PDF Author: Eric Tyson
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119858453
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 663

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Book Description
Take the anxiety out of tax season and file your return with confidence In Taxes For Dummies, 2022 Edition, you'll get line-by-line advice and plan ahead strategies that take the fear and anxiety out of tax season and save you money now and in the months and years ahead. This completely updated edition includes detailed coverage of the numerous tax bills have passed in recent years. You'll learn everything you need to know to file your own taxes with confidence and intelligently plan year-round tax strategies. In this book, you'll: Discover how to take advantage of every deduction and tax credit that applies to your specific circumstances Learn to navigate the IRS website and the newest versions of the most popular online tax preparation and filing options Understand new retirement account options and the implications of new foreign taxation rules Plan ongoing, multi-year tax strategies that will help you achieve your financial goals at every stage of your life Taxes For Dummies, 2022 Edition is the perfect resource for any United States taxpayer planning to file their own 2021 taxes. Whether you're a first-time taxpayer, an expat filing from outside the US, or a seasoned veteran of tax season looking for the latest deductions and strategies to reduce your tax bill, this book is a must-read resource that'll transform how you think about taxes.

Taxation, Citizenship and Democracy in the 21st Century

Taxation, Citizenship and Democracy in the 21st Century PDF Author: Yvette Lind
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
ISBN: 1035329131
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
Proposing innovative ideas on the links between taxation, citizenship and democracy, this multidisciplinary book contributes to ongoing research and scholarship by emphasizing the importance of taxes to the functioning of democracy.

Our Selfish Tax Laws

Our Selfish Tax Laws PDF Author: Anthony C. Infanti
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262347547
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
Why tax law is not just a pocketbook issue but a reflection of what and whom we, as a society, value. Most of us think of tax as a pocketbook issue: how much we owe, how much we'll get back, how much we can deduct. In Our Selfish Tax Laws, Anthony Infanti takes a broader view, considering not just how taxes affect us individually but how the tax system reflects our culture and society. He finds that American tax laws validate and benefit those who already possess power and privilege while starkly reflecting the lines of difference and discrimination in American society based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic class, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, immigration status, and disability. Infanti argues that instead of focusing our tax reform discussions on which loopholes to close or which deductions to allow, we should consider how to make our tax system reflect American ideals of inclusivity rather than institutionalizing exclusion. After describing the theoretical and intellectual underpinnings of his argument, Infanti offers two comparative case studies, examining the treatment of housing tax expenditures and the unit of taxation in the United States, Canada, France, and Spain to show how tax law reflects its social and cultural context. Then, drawing on his own work and that of other critical tax scholars, Infanti explains how the discourse surrounding tax reform masks the many ways that the American tax system rewards and reifies privilege. To counter this, Infanti urges us to work together to create a society with a tax system that respects and values all Americans.

Read My Lips

Read My Lips PDF Author: Vanessa S. Williamson
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691191603
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
A surprising and revealing look at what Americans really believe about taxes Conventional wisdom holds that Americans hate taxes. But the conventional wisdom is wrong. Bringing together national survey data with in-depth interviews, Read My Lips presents a surprising picture of tax attitudes in the United States. Vanessa Williamson demonstrates that Americans view taxpaying as a civic responsibility and a moral obligation. But they worry that others are shirking their duties, in part because the experience of taxpaying misleads Americans about who pays taxes and how much. Perceived "loopholes" convince many income tax filers that a flat tax might actually raise taxes on the rich, and the relative invisibility of the sales and payroll taxes encourages many to underestimate the sizable tax contributions made by poor and working people. Americans see being a taxpayer as a role worthy of pride and respect, a sign that one is a contributing member of the community and the nation. For this reason, the belief that many Americans are not paying their share is deeply corrosive to the social fabric. The widespread misperception that immigrants, the poor, and working-class families pay little or no taxes substantially reduces public support for progressive spending programs and undercuts the political standing of low-income people. At the same time, the belief that the wealthy pay less than their share diminishes confidence that the political process represents most people. Upending the idea of Americans as knee-jerk opponents of taxes, Read My Lips examines American taxpaying as an act of political faith. Ironically, the depth of the American civic commitment to taxpaying makes the failures of the tax system, perceived and real, especially potent frustrations.

Tax Justice and Tax Law

Tax Justice and Tax Law PDF Author: Dominic de Cogan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509935010
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Most people would agree that tax systems ought to be 'just', and perhaps a great deal more just than they are at present. What is more difficult is to agree on what tax justice is. This book considers a range of different approaches to, and ideas about the nature of tax justice and covers areas such as: - imbalances in international tax arrangements that deprive developing countries of revenues from natural resources and allow wealthy taxpayers to use tax havens; - protests against governments and large business; - attempts to influence policy through more technical means such as the OECD's Base Erosion and Profits Shifting project; - interpersonal matters, such as the ways in which tax systems disadvantage women and minorities; - the application of wider philosophical or economic theories to tax systems. The purpose of the book is not to iron out these underlying differences into a grand theory, but rather to gain a more precise understanding of how and why we disagree about tax justice. In doing so the editors are assisted by a stellar cast of contributors from four continents, with a wide variety of views and experiences but a common interest in this central question of how to agree and disagree about tax justice. This is, of course, not only an intellectual exercise but also a necessary precursor to achieving real-world change.

Tax Law and Social Norms in Mandatory Palestine and Israel

Tax Law and Social Norms in Mandatory Palestine and Israel PDF Author: Assaf Likhovski
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 131682019X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
This book analyzes the changing role of law and social norms in creating tax compliance in mandatory Palestine and Israel. It is of interest to legal, economic, social, cultural and political historians, historians of Israel and the Middle East, and tax scholars.

For-Profit Philanthropy

For-Profit Philanthropy PDF Author: Dana Brakman Reiser
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190074507
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 345

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Book Description
This book exposes a migration of business practices, players, and norms into philanthropy that strains the regulatory regime sustaining public trust in elite generosity through accountability and transparency and proposes legal reforms and private solutions to restore it. Practices, players, and norms native to the business sector have migrated into philanthropy, shattering longstanding barriers between commerce and charity. Philanthropies organized as limited liability companies, donor-advised funds sponsored by investment company giants, and strategic corporate philanthropy programs aligning charitable giving by multinationals with their business objectives paint a startling new picture of elite giving. In For-Profit Philanthropy, Dana Brakman Reiser and Steven A. Dean reveal that philanthropy law has long operated as strategic compromise, binding ordinary Americans and elites together in a common purpose. At its center stands the private foundation. The authors show how the foundation neatly combines donor autonomy with a regulatory framework to elevate the public's voice. This framework compels foundations to spend a small but meaningful portion of the assets their elite donors have pledged to the public each year. Prophylactic restrictions separate foundations from their funders' business and political interests. And foundations must disclose more about the sources and uses of their assets than any other business or charity. The philanthropic innovations increasingly espoused by America's most privileged individuals and powerful companies prioritize donor autonomy and privacy, casting aside the foundation and the tools it provides elites to demonstrate their good faith. By threatening to displace impactful charity with hollow virtue signaling, these actions also jeopardize the public's faith in the generosity of those at the top. Private ordering, targeted regulation, or a new strategic bargain could strike a modern balance, preserving the benefits of the compromise between the modest and the mighty. For-Profit Philanthropy offers a detailed roadmap to show how it can be accomplished.