The very word Taxes sends shivers up spines. Yet, very few realize the tremendous impact that taxation has had on civilization. The author changes that in this fascinating history. Adams, a tax attorney, presents the history of taxation from ancient times to the present. He studies tax law and collection procedures in ancient Egypt, Rome, Israel, Asia, Europe, and the United States, describing how taxation played a pivotal role in such earth-shattering events as the fall of Rome, the signing of the Magna Carta, and the American Revolution. The author analyzes lessons learned through study of the past and recommends measures for possible tax reform. The selected bibliography provides an excellent guide to further research. This important, timely study is highly recommended for business and history collections. - Lucy Heckman, St. John's Univ. Lib., New York Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. A fascinating though monochromatic libertarian history of tax policy from Babylon to Bibi Anderson, by a home-grown Will Durant of the accounting profession. Adams (a Buffalo tax attorney) explains the rise and fall of civilizations by the kinds of taxes levied and the means used to collect them. In ancient Egypt, for example, although the Pharoah's scribes taxed harvests, imports, exports, domestic sales, and slaves--everything except income, the tax on which is a modern innovation--only with tax immunity for priests and a consequent perception of tax inequity did rebellion and imperial collapse ensue. The Rosetta stone, like much of early history, is seen by Adams as a tax record. Rome fell because the egalitarian tax reforms of Emperor Julian were vitiated and finally overturned by his greedy, arbitrary successors. The Moslem hordes of the Middle Ages are seen as mild-mannered revenue agents, which explains why Islam spread so widely before the world's first excise tax unhinged its empire. Later, Enlightenment thinkers equated liberty with tax consent and defined tax freedom as a ``natural right'': The American Revolution codified that strain of thought, and Adams holds to it here as well. In his final chapters, he argues that post-WW II American tax policy replicates the errors of the Romans and the scribes--including widespread antidemocratic tax ``spying'' and taxation basically without consent--and he predicts disaster if reform isn't forthcoming. Adams will annoy liberals by not judging a tax on the merits of its use: He defines a good tax as one that's accepted by its subjects and that promotes industry and privacy. Out of step with current White House thinking, then, but making points well worth considering. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. The very word taxes sends shivers up spines. Yet, very few realize the tremendous impact that taxation has had on civilization. Charles Adams changes that in this fascinating history. Taxation, says Mr. Adams, has been a catalyst of history, the powerful influence if not the direct cause of many of the famous events of history that have marched across the world's stage as empires collided and battled for the right to tax the loser. For Good and Evil is the first book to examine how taxation has been a key factor in world events. Like the Rosetta Stone - a tax document - the book sheds fresh light onto much of history. Did you know that biblical Israel split after Solomon's death because his son refused to cut taxes? That Rome rose to greatness due to a liberal tax regime but declined under corrupt and inefficient ones? That in Britain, Lady Godiva made her famous ride as a tax protest? That in Switzerland William Tell shot the apple off his son's head as punishment for tax resistance? Or that Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the Civil War were fired, was a Customs House? Combining facts with thought-provoking comment he frequently draws parallels between tax events of the past and those of the present. Finding fault with the way Western civilization is taxed, Adams provides ideas for curing those faults by using the valuable lessons that history has taught. The special value of this refreshing new look at history lies in the lessons to be drawn by all thinking taxpayers. "Taxes are the fuel that makes civilization run, but how we tax and spend determines to a large extent whether we are prosperous or poor, free or enslaved, and most importantly, good or evil". Once you read ForGood and Evil, you'll never feel the same about taxes!