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Books : The Greedy Hand: How Taxes Drive Americans Crazy and What to Do About It
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Price: $27.50 Prices subject to change.
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 336.200973
EAN: 9780156011525
ISBN: 0156011522
Label: Harvest Books
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 288
Publication Date: February 28, 2000
Publisher: Harvest Books
Studio: Harvest Books
Sales Rank: 238826
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Editorial Review:
Product Description: Ever since Colonial times, Americans have been bedeviled by high taxes that seem to return little of material value to citizens. Taking a page from Thomas Paine's "Greedy Hand" manifesto, Amity Shlaes has written a provocative and fascinating book exposing the inequities of our present tax system, and offers concrete, coherent solutions to simplify our lives. Today, taxes make up more than a third of our economy, the highest level in peacetime history. We truly live in the land Paine foresaw when he warned of government "thrusting itself into every corner and crevice of industry." This book is a cultural examination of the way taxes influence our behavior, and how they force us into an arbitrary system that punishes families and individual enterprise. Shlaes shows how so-called tax breaks do little to help families and how married women are unfairly taxed more. She uncovers the problems that engage and enrage us, proving that Social Security issues and school inadequacies are at heart tax problems. And she charts a course out of the madness of tax oppression, offering a number of solutions that will give each of us a fairer, simpler system. With compassion for Americans and their dreams, Shlaes makes the best case yet for rethinking our tax code.
Amazon.com Review: Americans are being taxed to death--literally, says author Amity Shlaes in The Greedy Hand. At work or out shopping, upon marriage or even after death, we are paying more in taxes than ever before, according to Shlaes, a Wall Street Journal editorial writer. The average family with two wage-earners is now seeing almost 40 percent of its money go to local, state, and federal taxes. "The greedy hand of government"--first described by American revolutionary Thomas Paine--is greedier than ever, creating a situation ripe for tax reform, if not revolt, Shlaes writes. "We think of our forefathers who felt compelled to rebel against the Crown for 'imposing Taxes on us without our consent.' We know we live in a democracy, and so must have chosen this arrangement. Yet nowadays we find ourselves feeling that taxes are imposed on us 'without our consent'," she writes.
Chapter by chapter, and in great detail, Shlaes analyzes the tremendous burdens imposed by a wide range of taxes. She assails the marriage penalty, for example, and exposes problems with Social Security and the estate tax. And she documents how Americans feel increasingly unhappy with what government does with their money and shows how people go to great lengths to avoid taxes--driving across state lines to escape a sales tax, for instance. Shlaes calls for political leaders to overhaul the nation's tax code and suggests starting with guiding principles like the following: "Taxes have to be simple;" "Taxes have to be lower;" and "It's time to privatize Social Security." The Greedy Hand warns that the tax system damages the economy and hurts working people, and is a good read for anyone who wants to rail intelligently about taxes. --Dan Ring
Average Rating: 
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Yes, gov't needs to be halved - then again, and then again! America has become a land of gov't/tax parasites enforcing their bloated payrolls and pension deals on us "others - outside the castle." Throw them out.
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Equalization tax policies directly forcing tax payers redistribute educational monies equally on education. Equalization does not work. It's a socialistic virus starting in Wilmington, Delaware and moved to Maine in 1970 and eventually hit Texas. The most important question facing tax payers is can equality of education spending buy equal performance? The truth suggests the more money pumped into a school has no direct correlation in producing better students. Equalization did not improve test ... Read More
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I just don't understand how it's considered "greedy" for me to want to keep all of the money I have worked to earn -- but it's somehow NOT greedy and/or lazy and/or selfish for someone to want the government to provide his health care (or pay him when he is unemployed) with money that has simply been confiscated from some other person who performed the work to earn that money. Can somebody explain that to me, please?
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As the title says this is silly, political posturing by someone who has hers and doesn't particularly care if people are out of work. Maybe she doesn't care if you're on the dole.
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When George Washington was president, taxes were few. Since then, times have really gotten expensive. The 20th century especially was an arms race between the governments in the United States and its citizens to determine who would control the citizens' income. Government was on the offense and the citizens were on the defense. The citizens lost to date. Taxes went from less than 5 percent of income to 40 percent over that time. Most would agree that we cannot afford another century like that one. Read More
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