David Cay Johnston

2060 David Cay Johnston, Author of Perfectly Legal

Sponsor: Economic Justice Action Group
Speaker: David Cay Johnston

Prepared for UUA.org by: Bill Lewis, Reporter; Jone Johnson Lewis, Editor

David Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for the New York Times. One of his areas of special interest is United States tax law. He investigates and analyzes the effects of changes in the tax code on the people who pay the taxes.

What makes Johnston 's work on taxes unique and compelling is his understanding and exposure of the ways and means by which high-income Americans use the tax code to legally avoid paying taxes - any taxes - on very large amounts of money. It is also his explanation of how the tax code has been adjusted over the years to shift the burden of funding our government more and more onto the pocketbooks of ordinary wage earners. It is his insightful analysis of how President George W. Bush's changes to the tax code have transformed a record budget surplus into a huge annual deficit, creating a national debt stretching years into the future and further shifted the funding burden from the wealthiest taxpayers to the poorest. It is also his exposure of the way in which the members of Congress have changed our national investment policy from funding for future needs to everyday spending. Above all, it is Johnston 's coordinated analysis of all of these concurrent actions and trends that makes his work so fascinating.

For the full impact of Johnston's investigation and analysis, one should read his new book, Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich – and Cheat Everybody Else.

David Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for the New York Times.

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