The Power to Destroy

“Eloquent and absorbing.”—David Cay Johnston, American Prospect”‘The Power to Destroy’ belongs in the growing pantheon of books that help us understand how the GOP became what it is today. It’s also an essential resource for understanding the fiscal storm clouds that Graetz sees on the horizon.”—Brian Rosenwald, Washington Post”[An] entertaining way of getting beyond the antiseptic technical aspects of tax to an understanding of how tax law is really made… . A must-read.”—Martin A. Sullivan, Tax Notes“A landmark contribution to the literature on U.S. fiscal politics.”—Joseph J. Thorndike, Tax Notes“With admirable grace and exquisite skill, Michael J. Graetz … tracks the rise of the antitax movement and the destruction it has wrought since the 1970s.… . The Power to Destroy masterfully narrates the modern antitax movement, a half century of pied pipers leading the country over the debt cliff and into a pit of inequality. Graetz deepened my understandings, both of what I remember of this past and much that was new to me. Whether you come to this book with memories, political disquiet, or curiosity—as a scholar or a citizen—it will reward your investment. In the glare of what 2025 will bring, it may also keep you up at night.”—Pamela Walker Laird, Reviews in American History“An extraordinarily well-documented, informative, and compelling analysis of the movement Ronald Reagan celebrated as ‘a second American Revolution.’”—Glenn C. Altschuler, Messenger”[An] insightful and disturbing analysis… . Through his accessible presentation of recent decades of political battles over interconnected issues, such as the right’s fight for the tax-exempt status of religious schools and its pushback against the IRS’s 1971 policy that tax-exempt schools must be racially nondiscriminatory, Graetz effectively makes the case that antitaxation has been ‘the most overlooked social and political movement in recent American history.’ This is a must-read for those concerned about the U.S. economy’s growing reliance on debt.” * Publishers Weekly (Starred review) *“Illuminating… . An accessible, searching look at the injustices built into the American way of taxation.” * Kirkus Reviews *“Panoramic and vibrant… . The Power to Destroy is a fascinating and brilliant account of how a fringe social movement to cut taxes moved into the mainstream and transformed modern American political life… . [Graetz] makes a compelling case for how and why the antitax movement might be the most important and overlooked aspect of modern American conservatism.”—Ajay K. Mehrotra, Political Science Quarterly

Michael J. Graetz is professor emeritus at Columbia Law School and Yale Law School and a leading authority on tax politics and policy. He served in the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Tax Policy and is the author and coauthor of many books, including Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight over Taxing Inherited Wealth and The Burger Court and the Rise of the Judicial Right.