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Rating: 
Summary: Quite good, but not great
Review: For the price, this book truly is a bargain.The author starts off very strong with the historical presentation of Lincoln, but there are many places where it flagged -- the author lost focus and went on tangents about other, seemingly unrelated historical things, often for "miles and miles" of pages. I'm sure he faced a tough decision in what to include and what not to include, as is the case for any history book because to put it into true perspective you want to include everything -- but you can't. There should have been more judicious cutting here. The editorial review is also correct: the author didn't ask many important questions in his book, whether overtly or in a more subtle manner. In fact, I kept waiting for the history lesson to end and some more of the author's personality and thoughts to come through, but it didn't happen after the first 1/3 of the book. Reading this book was quite a lot like watching a (historical re-enactment-style) movie, to be honest, which is good if you just want to know what happened but not if you're looking for an intellectual discussion of "why?" It was a good history lesson, but I will look for other books with a more discussion-oriented bent to round out my newly developed knowledge.
Rating: 
Summary: A tour de force iwith the most improbable of topics
Review: New York Times' journalist Steven Weisman has written a thoroughly enlightening and entertaining treatise on the history of the income tax from its inception in 1862 during the early stages of the Civil War through its maturation as a foundation of our public financing during World War I. While many might not think of such a subject as entertaining, it is all that and more in Weisman's capable hands.
What Weisman has done is parlay the minutiae of tax policy with the monumental economic, military and social movements from 1860-1920 that shaped the policy. As a result, this is much more than a book about taxes. It transcends its' published theme to embrace a study of America's view of its public obligations, its structure and its values during arguably the most tumultuous 60 years of our history. He deftly knits the ebb and flow of the North and South's fortunes during the Civil War and ties this with the reticence of Lincoln regarding fiscal policy to show how both sides engaged in disastrous borrowing schemes to finance the war. Meanwhile, the seeds of the first income tax, enacted in 1862 and providing nominal money to the war coffers of the Union, lead to vitriolic and acerbic exchanges between politicians and business. The story could not be told in any more compelling fashion.
Weisman then saliently takes the reader through the repeal of the tax in 1872 and he does a magnificent job of describing the 1895 Supreme Court ruling that invalidated the tax on constitutional grounds. What one sees quite clearly from this passage is a rather politicized Supreme Court. Anyone who thinks 2000 established precedent for court rulings derived from political forces is sadly mistaken.
Weisman then picks up steam as he gives a balanced portrayal of Theodore Roosevelt. While contemporary popular legend has Roosevelt fashioning solutions for breaking trusts and pushing for progressive taxation, Weisman shows that his rhetoric was far greater than his accomplishments, though one can argue that he certainly punished the barriers to progressive taxation and increased the assault on the tariff system that regressively funded the government for most of the 19th century.
Weisman doesn't stop there. He then takes us on a savory journey through the enactment of the 16th amendment that legalized direct taxation with equal apportionment, the argument used for the 1895 Supreme Court ruling and then onto the pivotal presidency of Woodrow Wilson. During this dissertation he gives us glimpses into the lives of important members of Congress and the executive branch, men that played key roles either as proponents or opponents of progressive taxation. They come alive on the pages of this book.
While it is rather easy to see that Weisman is a Democrat, he has done a commendable job to allow this book to be read by liberal and conservative alike. People on either end of the political spectrum can gather cogent knowledge and historical perspective about the income tax in American and while readers will not always agree with Weisman's conclusions, it is difficult to argue that he has not done a remarkable job portraying a most difficult and a most important part of every one of our lives, our funding of our government.
Rating:
Summary: easy taxation reading
Review: The book does a very good job describing a historical background between civil war and the end of first World War that led to the introduction and changes in the tax laws. It provides an interesting portraits of people involved in making these decisions. It is not an academic book and intended for mass audience since it's quite easy to read. The only issue I have with this book is that it seems that sometimes the author wanders away from the main subject of the book and although it is usually still interesting observations it doesn't always serve the purpose of this book. But even despite this the book is an easy and interesting read on complicated subject.
Rating:
Summary: an educational and enjoyable book
Review: This book was reviewed in Time magazine by Lance Morrow in the November 04, 2002 issue. Mr. Morrow usually writes essays but occasionally writes about books and when he does they are usually worth looking into. This book proved no exception. Though the subject matter may seem dull (the writer's children evidently thought so), Weisman does an excellent job at making the story lively and engaging. Though perhaps not an exacting historical text, the book paints a broad overall picture of the government's role in the development of the economic framework of the United States. I personally enjoyed learning how the government was financed through the years, how government policy changed with the thoughts of the public, and the ensuing battles in Washington. As I read the book and watched the welfare state begin to emerge it made me a little more sympathetic for the ideas of conservatism. The welfare state we enjoy today, with its genesis in the progressive era, is a wonderful achievement; yet I can see that we need to constantly re-examine its aspects to insure we are not needlessly spending the taxpayer's money. If you are interested in finance or history this book should prove enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Overview but it lacked something
Review: Weisman does a good job review the creation of the income tax and an even better job pointing out the form of taxation that came before. This was mainly tariffs on imported goods that served to increase the prices of goods for everyone. It was surprising to read that before the income tax, up to 40% of an average person's income could have went for Federal Taxes because of the prices he had to pay for basic goods such as farm equipment, coffee, sugar, & other items. The original income tax was actually a tax cut for many Americans, which may be surprising to modern day anti-tax crusaders. Where Weismann falls flat is examining specifics of how the tax code functioned in the early days and attempting to assess its impact. He seems to devote more energy into providing historical overviews of the period from the Civil War until around the time of the Great Depression (in the end he runs through major changes in the code until the present). The strongest chapter is probably the review of the the Confederate experiments with various tax schemes and their desperate attempts to keep some financial solvency to their short lived government.
Rating:
Summary: Good Overview but it lacked something
Review: Weisman does a good job review the creation of the income tax and an even better job pointing out the form of taxation that came before. This was mainly tariffs on imported goods that served to increase the prices of goods for everyone. It was surprising to read that before the income tax, up to 40% of an average person's income could have went for Federal Taxes because of the prices he had to pay for basic goods such as farm equipment, coffee, sugar, & other items. The original income tax was actually a tax cut for many Americans, which may be surprising to modern day anti-tax crusaders. Where Weismann falls flat is examining specifics of how the tax code functioned in the early days and attempting to assess its impact. He seems to devote more energy into providing historical overviews of the period from the Civil War until around the time of the Great Depression (in the end he runs through major changes in the code until the present). The strongest chapter is probably the review of the the Confederate experiments with various tax schemes and their desperate attempts to keep some financial solvency to their short lived government.
Rating:
Summary: Taxes can be a taxing topic
Review: While some reviewers have indicated that this book, in addressing the topic of the history of the income tax, is not really taxing to read, the battles of the income tax tend to be some of the less interesting components of the story. Weisman does an excellent job of providing the historical context in which the battles over income tax take place, and it is this context that is much more interesting than some of the battles that took place in establishing the tax as a permanent component of the American government. What is truly interesting about the battles over the income tax is the almost verbatim arguments that have occured against the tax, extending almost to the supply side economics argument popularized by the Regean campaign of 1980. This is fairly close to the arguments that were made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Seeing that the basis of the tax argument, on either side hasn't changed much is enlightening when examining current policy debates. Weisman also provides some interesting insights into the administrations of Roosevelt and Wilson and the politics that surrounded both of them, beyond the taxation issue. Especially noteworthy is Roosevelt's general feeling toward Wilson which extends beyond the issue of raising taxes. Ultimately, for the discounted price the book is worth the time to read. Buying it at full price, it might not be as worth while.
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