Book review of The Cheating of America by Charles Lewis and Bill Allison

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 …

…of individuals and entities who have taken advantage of advanced tax and legal planning. While the book provides some actual but very simplified presentations of true criminal / improper activities (the Leona Helmsley case, for example) the authors tend to blur the distinctions between legal and illegal activities. While most people might find parts of this book interesting, I found it to be piecemeal and choppy, intermingling colorful summary examples with biased and oftentimes incorrect conclusions.