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How Do I Tax Thee?: A Field Guide to the Great American Rip-Off
Libertarian journalist Kristin Tate provides a look into the wild world of frivolous taxation, aimed at educating members of her own generation in the evils of big government.
In How Do I Tax Thee? , libertarian commentator and rising media star Kristin Tate takes us on a tour of the ways the government bleeds us dry in innumerable daily transactions and at various stages of life.
We all know the government taxes our federal, state, and local taxes are withheld by employers, as are social security payments. But what about the many other ways the government drains money from our wallets? Have you studied your cell phone bill? Customers in New York State pay an average of 24.36% in federal, state and local taxes on their wireless bills. They’re also charged for obscure services they didn’t ask for and don’t understand like a universal service fund fee, an FCC compliance fee, a line service fee, and an emergency services fee. These aren’t taxes, strictly speaking. The government imposes these administrative and regulatory costs, and your wireless provider passes them along to you. But the effect is exactly the same.
What about your cable bill? Your power bill? Your water bill? The cost of a gallon of gas, a cab ride, a hotel stay and a movie ticket are all inflated by hidden fees. How much of what you pay at the pump, the box office, or the airport is really an indirect tax?
In a series of short, pointed, fact-laden, humorous chapters, Tate exposes the vast government shakedown that consumes up to half of your income―and also explains where these hidden fees and taxes come from.
In How Do I Tax Thee? , libertarian commentator and rising media star Kristin Tate takes us on a tour of the ways the government bleeds us dry in innumerable daily transactions and at various stages of life.
We all know the government taxes our federal, state, and local taxes are withheld by employers, as are social security payments. But what about the many other ways the government drains money from our wallets? Have you studied your cell phone bill? Customers in New York State pay an average of 24.36% in federal, state and local taxes on their wireless bills. They’re also charged for obscure services they didn’t ask for and don’t understand like a universal service fund fee, an FCC compliance fee, a line service fee, and an emergency services fee. These aren’t taxes, strictly speaking. The government imposes these administrative and regulatory costs, and your wireless provider passes them along to you. But the effect is exactly the same.
What about your cable bill? Your power bill? Your water bill? The cost of a gallon of gas, a cab ride, a hotel stay and a movie ticket are all inflated by hidden fees. How much of what you pay at the pump, the box office, or the airport is really an indirect tax?
In a series of short, pointed, fact-laden, humorous chapters, Tate exposes the vast government shakedown that consumes up to half of your income―and also explains where these hidden fees and taxes come from.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2018
34 people are currently reading
211 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 21, 2020
Will there ever be an end to the endless hidden taxes Americans are faced with every year? The answer is probably not. Columnist Kristen Tate shows us in this book that everything ranging from cell phones and pets to cars and utilities are taxed. As Tate shows, these hidden taxes cause distortions in the market which can increase the prices of good and services or reduce supplies. You would surprised to learn what gets taxed in this book!
January 30, 2023
While the writing "style" left a lot to be desired, and the political leaning of the author was rather "rough on the edges" (extreme libertarian, anti-unionist and anti-pension), I thoroughly enjoyed this book that solidly demonstrates how government finds ways literally to skin you alive, especially through “hidden taxes” that are conveniently tucked away under the “general funds.”
Tate also makes a showcase of various corrupt schemes. Among these are, taxes put in place for a specific purpose still staying current even after their purpose ceases to exist, tax money thus collected being spent for other purposes, and corporations shifting their (already lightened) tax burdens shamelessly unto customers.
A must read from a pragmatic point of view if you can get past the poor streetwise millennial "talk."
Tate also makes a showcase of various corrupt schemes. Among these are, taxes put in place for a specific purpose still staying current even after their purpose ceases to exist, tax money thus collected being spent for other purposes, and corporations shifting their (already lightened) tax burdens shamelessly unto customers.
A must read from a pragmatic point of view if you can get past the poor streetwise millennial "talk."
March 22, 2018
It might make you grumpy, but How Do I Tax Thee? makes clear the consequences of ignoring all the ways you're taxed--and the way your tax dollars are spent (read: wasted). This book is motivating in a way, driving you to look at your spending and reassess the lifestyle you live. But it also calls for more civic engagement. I stopped by my local city hall yesterday and listened in on a council meeting. It was jam packed with people who care about local issues. Definitely going back to make my voice heard, and letting people know about this book. Full disclosure, I met Kristin in 2013 through work with Ron Paul and have stayed in touch ever since. I read her first book, Government Gone Wild, and am ecstatic about her sophomore release.
June 22, 2019
I find this book to be really informative as far as it goes to how many hidden taxes American residents have to pay on a day to day basis. Kristin Tate's sense of humor and broad grasp of reality only made the journey through her book even better. I particularly appreciated how she did not appealed to silly libertarian mantras such as the notion that taxation is inherently theft, but rather showed how the data points towards the fact that federal, state and local governments by and large tend to lack much accountability and transparency at the time of collecting taxes.
Her detailed discussion of how much we are taxed through gas prices, cable, utilities, cellphone services and the like was very illuminating. I also appreciated how detailed she was at explaining how certain government regulations lead to indirect taxation. But perhaps the most important way in which our tax money seem to go to waste is through nebulous and vague taxes that one way or another end up in city governments General Funds to be spend as they please (primarily in unjustified and outrageous salaries). For example, Tate detailed how some cities require pet licenses by law. That is to say, in order to legally own a pet, you must purchase a mandatory pet license. Leaving aside the fact that such idea is idiotic at best and draconian at worst, one would think that at least such taxes would go towards animal refuges or things of that nature, but in many case the money collected from those taxes go directly to General Funds.
Tate's solutions are not revolutionary, but they are practical. At the end of the book she goes into some detail regarding what we should do as citizens of our respective cities and—well—in order to create change, we have to show up and be involved in local Town Halls and similar things. In any case, if you want to learn more about American taxation, this is a good place to start.
Her detailed discussion of how much we are taxed through gas prices, cable, utilities, cellphone services and the like was very illuminating. I also appreciated how detailed she was at explaining how certain government regulations lead to indirect taxation. But perhaps the most important way in which our tax money seem to go to waste is through nebulous and vague taxes that one way or another end up in city governments General Funds to be spend as they please (primarily in unjustified and outrageous salaries). For example, Tate detailed how some cities require pet licenses by law. That is to say, in order to legally own a pet, you must purchase a mandatory pet license. Leaving aside the fact that such idea is idiotic at best and draconian at worst, one would think that at least such taxes would go towards animal refuges or things of that nature, but in many case the money collected from those taxes go directly to General Funds.
Tate's solutions are not revolutionary, but they are practical. At the end of the book she goes into some detail regarding what we should do as citizens of our respective cities and—well—in order to create change, we have to show up and be involved in local Town Halls and similar things. In any case, if you want to learn more about American taxation, this is a good place to start.
August 26, 2018
Political commentator Kristin Tate presents us with lots of info about taxes, especially those hidden taxes of which we are unaware. From cable, cars, cell phones, food, houses, pets and vacations she explains in great detail how politicians from local level on up are cheating us, how many “fees” go into general tax funds instead of their intended projects. Our tax dollars are in fact, frequently redistributed in ways the voter is unaware of. The author gives some examples of ways to avoid these taxes and advice on how to demand more transparency and thrift. The book includes End Notes but has no Index.
August 8, 2018
Far too libertarian of a take on "taxation" (really, just the passing on of costs). Tate likes to tell you all of the ways that our costs are increased, pennyante, in ways that we typically never know of. Her predisposition seems to be that it's ridiculous that these things keep getting added to our bills, which is a reasonable enough proposition. But what she never tells us is whether these added costs are intended to relieve some expense later on, elsewhere in society, which seems like an important component of the economic analysis.
Anyway, not my cup of tea. Did not finish.
Anyway, not my cup of tea. Did not finish.
March 13, 2020
Read this book and get even angrier that you already are about all the hidden taxes we all pay. It’s never ending and getting worse every year. Yet where are the solutions to throttle this mess?
March 16, 2019
The informal way in which this was written was refreshing among the many scholarly and dry non-fiction books I usually read. Her style is akin to Jennifer Wright and her book Get Well Soon. She covers a plethora of ways in which Americans are taxed in not-so-obvious ways and how often taxes, fees, and surcharges don’t go toward their specified purpose (often toward a city or state’s general fund).
Some quotes:
“Every year, Americans pay at least $ 657.5 billion in hidden taxes. Total personal income taxes represent less than half of our total tax burden.”
“Some MTA workers earn better salaries than CEOs of private companies. More than 8,000 of them earn over $100,000 per year; more than 50 earn over $200,000!”
“Oil companies make about 7 cents profit on every gallon of gas they sell us. But the government takes more than 48 cents per gallon. The feds are profiting seven times more from your purchase of gas than ‘Big Oil’ is!”
Some quotes:
“Every year, Americans pay at least $ 657.5 billion in hidden taxes. Total personal income taxes represent less than half of our total tax burden.”
“Some MTA workers earn better salaries than CEOs of private companies. More than 8,000 of them earn over $100,000 per year; more than 50 earn over $200,000!”
“Oil companies make about 7 cents profit on every gallon of gas they sell us. But the government takes more than 48 cents per gallon. The feds are profiting seven times more from your purchase of gas than ‘Big Oil’ is!”
June 23, 2018
Forget politics. This was an infuriating must-read for every American. We’re all overly taxed. Taxed at the Federal, State, County, and City levels.
They are all slyly raking in YOUR money and spending lavishly and indiscriminately, with no oversight or accountability. You’ll never look at any pay stub, bill, receipt, or charge without understanding that 10-40% of that charge is going towards taxes.
Just look at a utility bill or airline ticket, those taxes are listed. 18 cents of every dollar for gasoline you buy goes to the Federal tax, but with State, County and City taxes added, it becomes more like forty cents per dollar of gasoline purchased, all hidden. Whether it’s listed or hidden, what does it go towards? Not where the tax payer rube is being told.
They are all slyly raking in YOUR money and spending lavishly and indiscriminately, with no oversight or accountability. You’ll never look at any pay stub, bill, receipt, or charge without understanding that 10-40% of that charge is going towards taxes.
Just look at a utility bill or airline ticket, those taxes are listed. 18 cents of every dollar for gasoline you buy goes to the Federal tax, but with State, County and City taxes added, it becomes more like forty cents per dollar of gasoline purchased, all hidden. Whether it’s listed or hidden, what does it go towards? Not where the tax payer rube is being told.
April 23, 2018
Mindblowing! And it is so easy as to see the politicians as mindless drones taking their paycheck for some sort of lyricless song contest in the Parliament.
Also, the text can be easily applied to Europe as well.
Also, the text can be easily applied to Europe as well.
February 2, 2020
I probably should have judged by the cover that this was going to be a pretty polemic book. Tate is funny, and doesn't treat many topics as too sacred to joke about. But she's definitely writing for an audience that already agrees with her ("What does the DMV give us? It's just a bunch of stickers on your car. What fun is that?"; "You're screwed. Only god knows how many public sector workers' retirements you're paying for with all of those [gas] tax dollars."; or describing city council members as "those (let's just say it) preternaturally ugly people", etc.).
Tate's anger is mostly directed to the actions government take that feel beyond her control (e.g., taxation of very specific activities that end up in the general fund), or are poorly stewarded (e.g., the FAA), or look like trickery (e.g., taxes of consumption that she was unaware of during purchase). These problems roughly hew to the solutions she advocates for at the end of the book - that citizens should figure out all of the ways they are taxed, and how those taxes are used.
I just wish she'd been more programmatic about answering these questions at a nation-wide level, instead of arguing from (admittedly crazy) anecdotes. One example that opens the book is NYC's MBTA, which paid $32M of overtime pay to hourly employees who work less than 40 hours/week. I'd like to think that 2015 reporting drove some management changes in New York City, but it doesn't give me any more understanding of the problem across the country, in spite of Tate's subsequent complaining about government's payroll largess nation-wide. The few broader statistics that Tate does provide look to be wrong (e.g., Tate asserts that California public sector employees on average get paid twice as much as in the private sector, when the conservative Heritage Foundation places that number at 30% higher (also a problem)).
The trouble is the topics Tate covers are too many and too complicated for such a short book. Section 8 housing sounds like there is more than enough to criticize, but we're left with just a quick sound-byte explaining its inflationary mechanism.
And while I guess it wouldn't have been quite so entertaining, I would have preferred to see Tate explain both sides of the argument for and against government fund accounting, as she really only treats the general fund as a bad idea, when the additional flexibility is arguably closer to libertarian principles than the opposite.
One valuable lesson is to simply reflect on the sheer variety of ways that governments indirectly tax us. The most common vehicles seem to be taxation of businesses (e.g., fees on your phone bill) or other means of privatization (e.g., franchising garbage collection (another arguably libertarian mechanism getting ironically maligned)).
Tate's anger is mostly directed to the actions government take that feel beyond her control (e.g., taxation of very specific activities that end up in the general fund), or are poorly stewarded (e.g., the FAA), or look like trickery (e.g., taxes of consumption that she was unaware of during purchase). These problems roughly hew to the solutions she advocates for at the end of the book - that citizens should figure out all of the ways they are taxed, and how those taxes are used.
I just wish she'd been more programmatic about answering these questions at a nation-wide level, instead of arguing from (admittedly crazy) anecdotes. One example that opens the book is NYC's MBTA, which paid $32M of overtime pay to hourly employees who work less than 40 hours/week. I'd like to think that 2015 reporting drove some management changes in New York City, but it doesn't give me any more understanding of the problem across the country, in spite of Tate's subsequent complaining about government's payroll largess nation-wide. The few broader statistics that Tate does provide look to be wrong (e.g., Tate asserts that California public sector employees on average get paid twice as much as in the private sector, when the conservative Heritage Foundation places that number at 30% higher (also a problem)).
The trouble is the topics Tate covers are too many and too complicated for such a short book. Section 8 housing sounds like there is more than enough to criticize, but we're left with just a quick sound-byte explaining its inflationary mechanism.
And while I guess it wouldn't have been quite so entertaining, I would have preferred to see Tate explain both sides of the argument for and against government fund accounting, as she really only treats the general fund as a bad idea, when the additional flexibility is arguably closer to libertarian principles than the opposite.
One valuable lesson is to simply reflect on the sheer variety of ways that governments indirectly tax us. The most common vehicles seem to be taxation of businesses (e.g., fees on your phone bill) or other means of privatization (e.g., franchising garbage collection (another arguably libertarian mechanism getting ironically maligned)).
March 21, 2025
I was already interested and invested in the topic enough to pick this up and read it through. Kristin Tate's biggest downfall is that she tries way too hard to be funny, and she's just not. she talks a lot about "bloat" in the government budgeting (no arguments there), but she also has some serious bloat in her writing.
I think this would have been stronger if it focused less on repetitive opinionated words (which just added word count), and instead focused on being factual and explaining the economic impacts. I think Kristin Tate understands the economic concepts deeper than what she's portrayed, but again... failed attempts at humor obfuscate and detract from any argumentation. It reads more like one angry blog post than a thought-out dissertation.
(Also, my strong opinion is that the only solution to "beat taxes" at this point is just to have a high enough income that you don't have to care. Focusing on voting in the right people would be great, but I don't see that as likely.)
I think this would have been stronger if it focused less on repetitive opinionated words (which just added word count), and instead focused on being factual and explaining the economic impacts. I think Kristin Tate understands the economic concepts deeper than what she's portrayed, but again... failed attempts at humor obfuscate and detract from any argumentation. It reads more like one angry blog post than a thought-out dissertation.
(Also, my strong opinion is that the only solution to "beat taxes" at this point is just to have a high enough income that you don't have to care. Focusing on voting in the right people would be great, but I don't see that as likely.)
December 17, 2018
I believe taxes are necessary to fund our government and have no issue paying mine. But she identifies a lot of hidden and subtle taxes that just go into the general fund of the taxing body. I don't like that because it's not transparent. I don't agree with several of her criticisms in the book but her ideas for fixing the system are correct. Her analysis of why college education costs have skyrocketed is why is sad since it saddles people with life crushing debt. Even Texas alcohol taxes were mentioned. She really hates public sector employees making more than their private industry counterparts and getting overly generous benefits at our expense. I don't know if that's true about the salaries but the benefits like pensions are not something seen in private industry.
October 15, 2020
Somewhat hyperbolic and definitely libertarian leaning, but still good to be reminded of the many different ways that we are being taxed. tl;dr is that most taxpayers are only aware of federal, state, and local taxes plus SS and Medicare, but are generally ignorant of how else we pay, whether directly or indirectly. Author Kristin Tate separates the chapters by different areas of life (e.g., housing, transportation, cell phone bills, etc.) and gives, in a casual writing style, examples of such hidden taxes. To be fair, Ms. Tate doesn’t dispute the necessity of taxes, but rather calls for more transparency in how the money is being collected and spent.
January 4, 2022
This book goes in detail to all of the small, intricate ways politicians across the country use opaque, poorly understood language as well as taxes on just about every commodity to balance budgets without having to pay the political cost at the polls or even having to ask their constituents whether they think this tax is a good idea. From food to fuel, to entertainment this book is an eye opener, and should probably be on a lot of high school reading lists. Peel back the curtain and become as disgusted as I was with the tax monster.
January 5, 2024
A much-needed exploration of Americans as “Tax Cattle”
We need more work of this type. Basically, if you work a long career (say, 40 years), basically 30 of those years were spent working for “The Man”—the government, which uses your money to pay the government class their astronomical salaries, perks, lifelong pensions and benefits, early retirement, etc. We toil so the government does not have to.
We need more work of this type. Basically, if you work a long career (say, 40 years), basically 30 of those years were spent working for “The Man”—the government, which uses your money to pay the government class their astronomical salaries, perks, lifelong pensions and benefits, early retirement, etc. We toil so the government does not have to.
February 22, 2021
How this book has an average rating of only three stars I dont know. Every person Should read this book! Once People wake up to how much money is being sucked out of your wallet, you will be....well surprised. Read it!
May 15, 2023
A good high level look at taxation in America. I wish Tate would have drilled down more on some of the issues but I appreciated the colloquial style and use of data to support contentions.
I recommend for folks interested in politics or government.
I recommend for folks interested in politics or government.
April 9, 2023
How much are we really paying in taxes?
You will be surprised.
You will be surprised.
October 11, 2023
Great Message think about all the ways that government burdens each and every purchase, and thing that you own or use. Pierce the veil! But goes on a bit long.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews