Reviewed by Adrianne E. Slaymaker Wayne State University
As depicted in the preface, Congress and the Income Tax is based upon Barber Conable’s 1985 Julian J. Rothbaum lectures at the University of Oklahoma which describe his twenty-year tenure in the House of Representatives. Conable’s knowledge and observations from his distinguished career on the House Committee on Ways and Means form the basis for the six chapters. Following his organization, this review will first consider each of the six lectures separately before appraising the book as a whole.
The first chapter, “A Former Congressman’s Backward Look”, provides the reader with an introduction to Conable’s perceptions of membership on the House Committee on Ways and Means and the public’s feeling for federal income taxation. Describing himself as a member of the Republican minority who had a “relatively ‘safe’ seat” which allowed him to “make tough decisions and survive” [p. 6], Conable sums up the taxpayer’s definition of tax reform as “I am paying too much tax because somebody else isn’t paying enough” [p. 11].
“The Committee on Ways and Means” provides the reader with the history of the Committee and its interaction with the Senate Finance and Joint Tax Committees in the second lecture. Emphasizing Ways and Means under Wilbur Mills, Al Ullman, and Dan Rostenkowski, Conable’s provocative discussion illus-trates how the personalities and politics of the three chairmen and the remaining members shaped the Committee and tax legislative history.
Beginning with an historical perspective, “The Federal Income Tax: One Man’s Perspective” traces the income tax from the Civil War through World War II. The characteristics of typical tax bills [p. 42] then precede Conable’s enlightening discussion of the major tax legislation enacted from 1964-84 when he served on Ways and Means. Here questions such as who was a part of each negotiation? why did a proposal or “reform” become law? and how did each portion of the tax legislation progress to the President’s desk?, are expertly answered. Particular attention is devoted to the code sections resulting from bills which Conable sponsored, including “above the line” charitable contributions, ACRS, and indexing marginal rates.
Conable uses his intricate knowledge of the interrelation-ships within the Congress to explore the Tax Reform Act of 1986 in “The 1986 Act, An Appraisal”. Although he was not present, his knowledge of the personalities and politics offers an astute overview of the evolution of this major income tax revision.
Wordsworth’s “getting and spending, we lay waste our powers” [p. 93] provided the basis for the fifth lecture. Conable first enumerates the attempts to decrease spending such as zero-based budgeting, sunset laws, and Gramm-Rudman-Hollings. However, most of this lecture is devoted to “getting” and the problem of how to broaden the tax base and increase revenues by removing “preferences” while supporting simplica-tion and “lowering” the tax burden.
Conable’s expression of the responsibilities of members of Congress forms the basis of his last lecture, “Taxation with Representation: A Current Appraisal”. He believes that Con-gressmen should be generalists not specialists. While generalized judgment creates a dichotomy between compromise and complexity, he asserts that random and other influences take a back seat to a Congressman’s perceived consensus among the people [p. 125].
The lectures in Congress and the Income Tax flowed together to form a very interesting and informative work. The only criticism is the lack of summarization at the end of each lecture and at the conclusion of the book. As separate lectures, the second and third should become required reading for graduate-level tax policy, procedure, and/or research courses. Those who are curious about the historical basis of the federal income tax, and the personalities and politics surrounding the current tax law will enjoy the third and fourth lectures immensely.
In summary, Barber Conable provides readers with an insider’s appraisal of past and current tax legislation, the personalities shaping the major acts and the political com-promises creating the complexity. The enjoyable style of the lectures will treat all taxpayers to a concise explanation of the formation of tax policy.
