Starve the Beast: Join the Global Tax Revolt

This observation, largely true but nevertheless unsettling, cost billionaire New York real-estate tycoon Leona Helmsley a 4-year jail term, 90 days of public service, and a $7-million fine for tax fraud.So if the rich don't pay their share of taxes -- and the poor certainly can't pay their share -- who is left? The middle-class taxpayers who are trapped in the system by withholding taxes.Systematic tax avoidance and evasion is flourishing in all business sectors in the world. It is creating an Underground Economy that defies detection and, in most cases, goes unpunished.The reality is that virtually everyone participates in the Underground Economy -- the only difference is to what extent. Hiding income or burying non-business expenses in your business used to be silent sins -- things that you simply did not talk about. Now people chat about these schemes as casually as they do the weather. Tax evaders have come out of their closets and aggressive withholding of taxes is a warning signal to government that they are withdrawing the consent to be governed.Whether you are scrimping to make ends meet, trying to save for retirement, wondering how to shield an upcoming inheritance, or just sick and tired of government waste, this book is an invitation to you to join this New Tax Revolt. Together, we can force governments to be smaller, more efficient and, above all, truly accountable to taxpayers. This book is about understanding why we must starve the beast.J. William Pfeiffer is the author of 'Starve the Beast: Join the Global Tax Revolt' with ISBN 9781894334198 and ISBN 1894334191.