What is the purpose of the Tax Code and the Internal Revenue Service? Is it to maintain "equilibrium between the wealthiest and the poorest segments of society" as the authors imply, or to "lay and collect Taxes...to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States" as stated in the U.S. Constitution? Charles Lewis and Bill Allison in their book The Cheating of America attempt to address this very issue.
While the authors repeatedly claim to recognize the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion, the book's examples nevertheless take great liberties, sprinkling terms like "scheme", "sham" and "improper" through numerous descriptions of completely legal and commonplace corporate structurings.
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