| Description |
Tax, so the adage goes, is one of the only two sure things in life. From the time we get our first part-time Job till the time we die, taxes and tax liability will be with us. Tax liability has a pervasive effect on both the huge corporation and the small individual taxpayer. How we cope with taxes will impact many areas of our lives. The premise of this paper is that although taxes may be a necessary and constant evil in our society, it is possible to not only live with but also use the pervasive tax law changes to one's advantage. In essence, you have to know the rules of the game in order to use them in your favor and win the game. WHY TAX REFORM? -Let us go forward with an historic reform for fairness, simplicity, and incentives for growth, - President Reagan told us in a state of the Union message in 1984. What we needed, according to the President, was "a plan for action to simplify the entire tax code". As a consequence, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 was signed into law by President Reagan on October 22, 1986. The Senate agreed to the conference report by a vote of 74 to 23 on September 23. The House followed suit with a vote of 292 to 136 two days later. The resulting tax reform was heralded as the most significant and comprehensive tax legislation passed since World War II. |
