The Greedy Hand: How Taxes Drive Americans Crazy and What to Do About it

Shlaes, Amity

Published by Random House, New York, 1999

About this Item

Stated First Edition at copyright page. Full number-line at copyright page beginning with 2; Random House first printings begin w/2 unlike most other publishers. Matte white boards, textured white spine wrap with bright gilt titles, A S blind-stamped to cover, fine. Pages near fine, clean; no writing. Bind fine, square; hinges intact. Classic pictorial wrapper design in white with green bond-like borders, fine; unclipped 21.95, protected in new clear sleeve. Dj titles in bold red with green borders features a greedy rw&b Uncle Sam with hand out for the takin. Near fine first printing in same wrapper. Contents: "1. The Greedy Hand; 2. Your Clothes; 3. Your Work; 4. Your Marriage; 5. Your House; 6. Your Baby; 7. Your School; 8. Your Accountant; 9. Your Success; 10. Your Retirement; 11. Your Death; 12. Conclusion: Your Choice; Acknowledgments; Bibliography; and, an Index." Amity Schlaes, editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, presents an eye-opening look at the culture of taxation and offers offers a persuasive call for reform. The progenitor of the modern American paper pushing bureaucracy was a Macy's department store executive named Beardsley Ruml. During World War II, Ruml devised the plan for "withholding" from American paychecks, thereby laying in place the system that allows the hand of government to reach into your wallet and easily grift from your productivity. Ruml also served as chariman of the board of director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and was an advisor to Roosevelt. In 1942 after the induced attack at Pearl Harbor, congress ostensibly raised rates to capture twice as much of American's money as the previous year. The "income" tax was imposed on 10s of millions of Americans unfamiliar with the progressive excision into their work. Today (1999), taxes make up more than a third of the economy, the highest level in history. We live in a nation revolutionary father Thomas Paine foresaw when he wrote of "the greedy hand of government thrusting itself into every corner of industry." This book is a cultural examination of the way taxes influence behavior and force an arbitrary system that punishes productivity and enterprise. Amity Shlaes unveils the hidden perversities of this yoke; and how the "breaks" do little to help, and can even hurt. Shlaes explains why the solutions D.C. offers merely convolute and accelerate the vicious cycle. Finally, Amity Shlaes shows us a way out, endorsing a number of common-sense reforms that will give all Americans a fairer and simpler excise system. Written with eloquent compassion for working Americans and their families, The Greedy Hand makes the best case yet for rethinking the code. It is a book no tax-paying schlep can afford to ignore! Includes a detailed eight-page bibliography of books and other sources for reference; and, a dozen page comprehensive index. Printed in the USA. 257 pages. Insured post. Size: 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall. Seller Inventory # 022640

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Greedy Hand: How Taxes Drive Americans ...

Publisher: Random House, New York

Publication Date: 1999

Binding: Hard Cover

Illustrator: Wilson, Jack (Cover Illustration)

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Edition: First Edition.