• remains problem oriented;
• begins with an overview laying out the tax system's basic features and introducing students to fundamental principles and policies;
• continues to address the differences between income and consumption taxation early in the book so that students can follow this theme throughout;
• discusses the competing views of a normative income tax base: the Schanz-Haig-Simons approach and ability-to-pay realization approach;
• provides broad coverage of the federal income tax as it exists and does so in a coherent, structure-based way that facilitates student learning; and
• converts many of the questions from the Third Edition into notes and problems that are easier to engage, and simplifies the examples.