Those Dirty Rotten Taxes: The Tax Revolts that Built America

Adams, an independent scholar affiliated with the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., has produced a breezy account of tax revolt in American history, from the Stamp Act to the present day. Although there is scarce opportunity in the book's 242 pages to delve into the details of such pivotal events in early American history as Shay's Rebellion and the collapse of the Federalist Party, Adams does consistently manage to choose those details which best support his thesis that "excessive" taxation is a form of government tyranny. This leads to interesting interpretations of history such as his sympathetic description of the Reconstruction-era Ku Klux Klan as an underground resistance movement against federal tax collectors. Adams also provides a full litany of charges of present-day assaults on liberty by the IRS. There is throughout a certain sense of preaching to the choir, quite understandable given the subject matter. However, those who pick up the book not thoroughly convinced that taxes are at best a necessary evil might welcome more history and less rhetoric.