100 Million Unnecessary Returns: A Simple, Fair, and Competitive Tax Plan for the United States

To most Americans, the United States tax code has become a vast and confounding puzzle. In 1940, the instructions to the form 1040 were about four pages long.and#160; Today they have ballooned to more than a hundred pages, and the form itself contains more than ten schedules andand#160;twenty worksheets. The complete tax code totals about 2.8 million wordsand#8212;about four times the length of War and Peace. In this intriguing book, Michael Graetz maintains that our tax code has become a tangle of loopholes, paperwork, and inconsistenciesand#8212;a massive social program that fails tests of simplicity and fairness. More important, our tax system has failed to keep pace with the changing economy, creating burdens and wastes of resources that weigh our nation down.

Graetz offers a solution. Imagine a world in which most Americans pay no income tax at all, and those who do enjoy a far simpler tax processand#8212;all this without decreasing government revenues or removing key incentives for employer-sponsored health care plans and pensions. As Graetzand#160;adeptly and clearly describes, this world is within our grasp.

"The most interesting [tax] plan I've seen."and#8212;David Ignatius, The Washington Post

and#8220;Michael Graetz, one of the worldand#8217;s leading tax policy experts, has put forth a plan that joins sensible economics with political possibility.andnbsp;His proposal should be essential reading for the next president.and#8221;and#8212;Glenn Hubbard, Dean, Columbia University Graduate School of Business, former chair of the Council of Economic Advisors under President George W. Bush

To most Americans, the United States tax code has become a vast and confounding puzzle. Graetz, one of the world's leading tax policy experts, offers the most interesting tax] plan I've seen (David Ignatius, Washington Post). Now in paperback, his plan would eliminate the income tax for most Americans and replace it with a value-added tax that would be levied on goods at each stage of exchange, from the producer to the consumer.

Michael J. Graetz is a Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School.