Abstract Reviews the book "Tax Shelter Alternatives: Measuring the Risks," by Michael N. Fitzgerald.

Abstract ABSTRACT: The purposes of the study include: (1) updating the Lubbell/Broden study which appeared in the January 1975, issue of THE ACCOUNTING REVIEW, (2) identifying the AACSB school offering three or more graduate-level tax courses, irrespective of the label on the degree, (3) providing faculty data at schools offering a concentration of tax courses and (4) identifying those schools which interact with a College of Law relative to graduate tax education. The study was conducted by direct mail questionnaire to all AACSB schools in the United States. Conclusions of the study are (1) available concentration in graduate tax courses is growing (2) students, recruiters and faculty need to know which schools are offering what courses and (3) there appears to be a growing need for qualified tax faculty members.

Abstract This article focuses on various concepts of equity and cites a study of the discrimination in the federal income tax rate structure. Given these three conflicting views of equity in the federal income tax rate structure, the taxable incomes of the spouses were allowed to vary from $1,000 to $40,000 in $1,000 steps. Then the tax burdens for all such combinations under the 1975 tax rate schedules for single and married taxpayers were computed. Only the impact of the federal income tax rate structure was considered in this study. The primary causes of distortions between singles and married that have been ignored were the maximum standard deduction, the low income allowance, exemptions for children, and child care deductions. It was noticed that when equity was defined as having economic units with equal incomes be taxed equally, a burden on single taxpayers emerged. The tax burdens for the lower income levels have been entered on the appropriate intersection to provide some guideline for the locus of the zero tax burden curve in the obtained graph. It is concluded that the tax rate structure has very different implications for taxpayers depending on their taxable incomes.