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Book Review: Our Selfish Tax Laws: Toward Tax Reform That Mirrors Our Better Selves, Anthony C. Infanti, 2018


I am glad that this book review will be published in Netherlands American Studies Review (NSAR) in May.
In this difficult time of coronavirus, I hope everyone stay healthy, take care!

Book Review: Our Selfish Tax Laws: Toward Tax Reform That Mirrors Our Better Selves, Anthony C. Infanti, 2018[i]
In Our Selfish Tax Laws: Toward Tax Reform That Mirrors Our Better Selves Anthony C. Infanti considers how USA federal tax laws reflect the self-image that American people have and of their society. Infanti’s main argument is that law and society mirror each other. For tax law this means that it is not merely a “pocket issue” about money, though mainstream tax scholars so presume.  
Infanti first observes two conflicting and counter-intuitive trends: Today Americans are becoming less willing to pay tax (though most of them still recognize tax as civic obligation) whereas the amount of donated money to charities has achieved the highest record ever. Americans have a generally negative attitude toward tax.
Infanti further observes that current USA federal income tax laws reinforce the “privilege” of a specific group in American society. This privileged group refers a heterosexual, cisgender, married man, with a stay-at-home wife and children; He is a physically and mentally able, wealthy, U.S. citizen”. Infanti refers to this group as “self”, enjoying more benefits than “others” who are outside this privilege group. He illustrates this by an example in Chapter 4: an LGBT family is not entitled to deduct the same expenditures from their tax return as a traditional family.
This bias to the privileged group in US federal income tax laws is “selfish” according to Infanti. Such selfishness is contrary to how many Americans regard their own society and values: being inclusive and embracing diversity. Therefore, Infanti argues that tax reform should strive for “mirroring better selves”, not “mirroring wealthier ourselves”. By challenging some widely accepted assumptions, such as “greedy taxpayers always wanting to reduce their tax burden as much as possible”, Infanti argues that American taxpayers should choose a different attitude toward tax and tax reform. Consequentially, Infanti asserts in the final chapter that the Trump Administration’s 2017 tax reform project focusing on reducing tax paid by the wealthy, is not on the right track.
The book is insightful because it does not limit the tax reform as an economic issue. Instead Infanti emphasizes that taxpayers’ attribute toward tax law is the real key to a fair tax reform. His writing style adds to this by using the narrative “we” from an American himself, and to persuade his American folks to change their attitude toward tax in general and to embrace “better selves”. Therewith, this book conveys a universal lesson for non-American readers to reflect any tax reform.

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