FOLLOW THE MONEY: A History of Taxation in the United States

This book follows a single thread through the entire history of the American republic: money. Specifically, it traces who was made to pay taxes, who lobbied to change the rules, how they did it, and what they gained. The story that emerges is not the civics-class narrative of fair contribution to the common good. It is a story of relentless pressure by concentrated wealth and organized industry to shift the tax burden away from capital and onto labor - a story that spans more than two centuries and continues to the present day. Every fact in this book is verified against at least three reputable primary or academic sources.
Given the demonstrated capture of major media outlets by corporate interests - a process that accelerated dramatically during and after the Reagan administration - post-1981 media reporting has not been used as a primary source. Instead, this book relies on congressional records, IRS Statistics of Income reports, National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working papers, University of California Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez's longitudinal income studies, the Smithsonian Institution, the Library of Congress, the National Archives, peer-reviewed economic journals, and official government documents.