Credibility of Isaac Martins - How the Property Tax Transformed American Politics - Book Report/Review Example

College: Credibility of Isaac Martin’s The Permanent Tax Revolt: How the Property Tax Transformed American Politics Regardless of the centrality and significance of tax models in contemporary developed societies, financial sociology is still an unexplored field of research. Modern economic sociologists have a tendency of undermining this topic, choosing instead to concentrate their efforts in the analysis of social capital, business groups, markets, globalization, and entrepreneurship, among other econ-sociology subjects. This implies that taxation mechanisms and government regulatory dynamics constitute one of the least studied subjects in the discipline of economic sociology. However, Isaac William Martin is one author, who distinguishes himself from other economic sociologists, as is evident from his book The Permanent Tax Revolt. The author provides insight into the political and sociological implications of taxation, by exploring the campaign against taxes in the later part of the 20th century. This paper explores Martin’s different ideas on the link between taxation, politics and other sociology aspects, in addition to lessons he has for modern day administrations and society as a whole. In order to comprehend some of Martin’s conceptions about taxation and other regulatory mechanisms, it is imperative to take some facts into account. One of these facts is that tax cuts make up such an invasive aspect of the political landscape in America, that political administrations rarely question them. For example since the year 2001 American Congress has approved the abolition of tax imposed on wealth inherited by individuals. Congress has also passed major tax cuts on income each year. This has seen some of the most significant tax cuts in the country’s history. The income tax cuts have all been approved by Congress at a time when America has been engaged in a prolonged war and extensive budget deficits. This shows that there are dynamic social forces behind tax variations. Such tendencies in taxation dynamics also imply that the crucial need for government revenue may sometimes be overlooked, for the interest of the people or due to the pressure they impose on government. This may occur irrespective of the potential detrimental effects on both the public and government. In the book The Permanent Tax Revolt, Isaac Martin explores the potential commencement of the anti-tax crusade. The author traces this agitation for tax cuts to the influence of the working class in the 1970s, as conventional homeowners throughout America joined forces to rebel against local property tax. Martin puts forth a thought provoking suggestion, which proposes that the homeowners’ rebellion against imposition of property taxes by local governments was not a conventional reaction against the federal government. Rather, the author indicates, the revolt was a defensive movement that sought protection by the government from market fluctuations. Therefore, according to Martin, the defense of the property tax privilege by anti-tax advocates constituted one of the American government’s greatest social programs in the period following the Second World War. The campaign aimed at defending tax breaks for homeowners acquired its inspiration, as well as, most of its original leaders from progressive welfare right groups that were prominent back then. However, with time politicians from both the Republican and Democratic parties swiftly learnt that they gained extra favor from the electorate by supporting large tax cuts in certain areas. As time progressed, political institutions in America, propelled by strategic decisions made by protesting parties, gradually directed the movement towards tax relief advocated for by right wing politicians. By tracing the tax revolt, Martin shows that it has had rather dramatic effects on the modern day American politics. This is because his insightful ideas explore the premise that, the revolt spread from one state to another and reshaped the country’ political scene. The rebellion developed from being a working class transverse movement into a political platform always associated with the right-wing faction of American politics. In a new and appealing argument, Martin argues that the tax revolt was not founded upon the idea of the taxation rates being exceedingly high, as many right-wing supporters have contended. Instead, he opines that the rebellion was attributable to the tax reforms by government, which albeit enhancing the impartiality of property tax, predisposed taxpayers to income shocks they had not anticipated (Martin 4). The author effectively attempts to explicate this assertion. Martin indicates that by adopting modern and standard tax assessments, the tax reformers eliminated the unofficial tax breaks characteristic of the old system. This required American homeowners to abandon tax breaks that could be traced back to the 19th century. Tax assessors in local settings had often administered these unauthorized these tax privileges unequally and, in most cases, randomly. Nonetheless, majority of the homeowners still received material benefits from the tax breaks. As a result, when local governments did away with the privileges, property owners launched intensive campaigns to ensure that they were restored anew and in a more permanent form than before (Martin 4–5). The author further indicates that fractional tax assessments, which involved taxing individuals on only a portion of the value placed on their property, although inconsistent most of the times, served as a form of unseen social policy (Martin 6). This is because they sought to provide homeowners with protection against unexpected economic slumps. The principal suggestion, therefore, is that the informal property taxation system served as a way of supplementing the country’s formal welfare state, which is usually considered to be limited and ineffectual. Consequently, it protected Americans from uncertainties of the free market, just like other types of welfare do in other countries (Martin 15). Martin proceeds to illustrate how the tax revolt in the 70s was supported and driven by the right-wingers, who sought to diminish government’s role and who perceived tax limitations as the primary way of doing so, since it would lower available government revenues. He also shows how the Reagan administration gradually drove the Republican Party toward embracing tax cutting measures; a trend that persisted through to the Bush government. By exploring this developmental trend, Martin effectively shows how pervasive the tax revolt has been, over the past four and a half decades. He is also emphatic on the idea that, when benefits are fixed securely in society like those, which the property tax transformation was supposed to eliminate or diminish, a conflict is unavoidable (Martin 19). I agree with this notion, since people rarely want to lose their hard earned money and they are therefore highly likely to rebel, if they feel that the government is taking advantage of them. There is also an implied suggestion by the author that, government can only convince taxpayers to accept tax or financial reforms if there is some little political deception on its part. This is because; taxpayers can only agree to give up some of their tax privileges if they think that there is a possible future crisis, capable of posing a threat to their well-grounded rights. Martin does not just analyse America’s tax environment as an isolated case. He draws a comparison between the country’s revolt and other historical tax protests in other nations. For instance, the author’s analysis of campaigns against taxes in Britain, France, China and Scandinavia, provide a basis for enlightening the audience about the origins of right-wing advocacy revolving around tax matters (Martin 54-63). While he effectively shows that people’s refusal of tax reforms could be a way of defending their privileges, albeit informal, Martin does not fully explore other potential causes of tax revolts. His analysis is also limited to developed countries, yet tax revolts could also take the form of tax evasion in underdeveloped nations that have low political awareness or civic participation. Further, rebellion against tax reforms does not necessarily entail the advocacy for maintenance of entrenched benefits or privileges. In my opinion, anti-tax movements could also serve as a show of political involvement and responsibility, as well as, proof of a culture of civic participation. Nevertheless, comparing tax revolts in different countries increases the book’s credibility. Other than the failure to account for other possible causes of tax revolts, Martin’s book has a few other limitations. For example, drawing an analogy between tax privileges in the traditional setting, and those in contemporary social programs could present a problem. This is because, these modern programs adopt standard schemes based on the extant administrative judgment, which is in conflict with tax rights or privileges. Even though this is apparent Martin should have placed emphasis on the differences between social programs and tax privileges prior to showing their commonalities. In addition, although the author’s argument that tax standardization in time of war does not set off tax rebellions is extensively supported by evidence, he could have explored further, the nations that have had no tax revolts. Overall, Isaac Martin’s book presents an insightful socio-economic and political analysis within the taxation context. The author presents his arguments simply and clearly, although the economic sociology discipline is often laden with technical and complex terms. Martin effectively presents his arguments by combining theoretical concepts with technical analyses. Although he does not directly use terms that show how political environments change, the author illustrates the manner in which political cultures embrace transformation, while progressively adopting policies proposed by entrepreneurs. The Permanent Tax Revolt forms a widely researched and engaging book, which effectively utilizes quantitative and qualitative data to support the author’s contentions, about the commencement and effects of tax rebellions at state as well as federal levels. In conclusion, the book provides several lessons for local and provincial government factions in the Canadian cities of Toronto and Ontario. The initial lesson is that members of the public require the governments’ protection from uncertainties of the market. Therefore, the property tax privileges accorded to the cities’ residents should not be eliminated without adequate exploration of other revenue sourcing alternatives. Another principal lesson is that social protest does not necessarily mean that there is lack of good governance. This is evident from the fact that the tax reforms, which resulted in the revolt, sought to modernize and standardize the taxpaying system. However, from the taxpayers’ perspective the changes seemed less unjust than the previous informal system. Therefore, leaders must strive to show taxpayers the rationale behind proposed tax reforms and not just implement them arbitrarily. Work Cited Martin, Isaac William. The Permanent Tax Revolt: How the Property Tax Transformed American Politics. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. 2008. Read More