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How the Antitax Movement Hijacked America
by Michael J. Graetz
How the antitax fringe went mainstream—and now threatens America's future
The postwar United States enjoyed large, widely distributed economic rewards—and most Americans accepted that taxes were a reasonable price to pay for living in a society of shared prosperity. Then in 1978 California enacted Proposition 13, a property tax cap that Ronald Reagan hailed as a "second American Revolution," setting off an antitax, antigovernment wave that has transformed American politics and economic policy. In The Power to Destroy, Michael Graetz tells the story of the antitax movement and how it holds America hostage—undermining the nation's ability to meet basic needs and fix critical problems.
In 1819, Chief Justice John Marshall declared that the power to tax entails "the power to destroy." But The Power to Destroy argues that tax opponents now wield this destructive power. Attacking the IRS, protecting tax loopholes, and pushing tax cuts from Reagan to Donald Trump, the antitax movement is threatening the nation's social safety net, increasing inequality, ballooning the national debt, and sapping America's financial strength. The book chronicles how the movement originated as a fringe enterprise promoted by zealous outsiders using false economic claims and thinly veiled racist rhetoric, and how—abetted by conservative media and Grover Norquist's "taxpayer protection pledge"—it evolved into a mainstream political force.
The important story of how the antitax movement came to dominate and distort politics, and how it impedes rational budgeting, equality, and opportunities, The Power to Destroy is essential reading for understanding American life today.
"[An] insightful and disturbing analysis... Through his accessible presentation of recent decades of political battles over interconnected issues... Graetz effectively makes the case that antitaxation has been 'the most overlooked social and political movement in recent American history.' This is a must-read for those concerned about the U.S. economy's growing reliance on debt." ―Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Illuminating... . An accessible, searching look at the injustices built into the American way of taxation." ―Kirkus Reviews
"The Power to Destroy brilliantly shows how often the antitax movement has been allied against racial equity, beginning with Lee Atwater's notorious ads against so-called welfare queens and the fight over California's Proposition 13. This book is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the origins and staying power of the antitax movement that has done so much to define the state of our schools, our transportation, our housing, and our politics. And no one is more qualified to tell this story than Michael Graetz." —Deborah N. Archer, president of the ACLU
"With analytical panache, Michael Graetz has provided a fascinating policy history that navigates transformations to the political economy of taxation in the United States during the past half-century. Sure to garner much attention, The Power to Destroy confers understanding by linking considerations of material interests, movement mobilization, the creation and dissemination of policy ideas, and patterns of political influence to explain the making and doleful effects of antitax successes." —Ira Katznelson, author of Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time
"The antitax movement has made it impossible for government to address many long-term problems. Michael Graetz's book skillfully and colorfully tells the story of the people and politics behind the movement, the role of race, and landmark events. Putting an enlightening human face on the evolution of tax policy, The Power to Destroy is a great read." —William G. Gale, author of Fiscal Therapy: Curing America's Debt Addiction and Investing in the Future
This information about The Power to Destroy was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Michael J. Graetz is a Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and the Justus S. Hotchkiss Professor of Law Emeritus at Yale University. He has previously published seven books and many articles on a wide range of public policy issues. He also served in important policy positions at the Treasury Department and was a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellow and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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