New Book by Prof. Ray D. Madoff

Prof. Ray D. Madoff, Boston College Law School, has a new book coming out on October 21 entitled The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy.

The book was chosen to be the lead title for the fall catalog of the U of Chicago Press. 

The Second Estate was the aristocracy of pre-revolutionary France. They were given special privileges like the right to carry a sword and not pay taxes. 

Sword wearing aside, the book is about how we now have a system in which the richest Americans, like the aristocracy of pre-revolutionary France– have been officially excused from paying taxes . This is particularly surprising because the tax code was specifically designed to impose its greatest burdens on those with the greatest capacity to pay. The book lays out how this transformation occurred and what can be done to bring the wealthy back into the tax system (and it’s not a wealth tax!). 

The book is available for pre-order right now. (Official publication date is Oct 21).