Veronique de Rugy writes on NRO: Recently I've been reading economists Leonard Burman and Joel Slemrod's Taxes in America. Like pretty much everything else these two write, this book is well worth reading. In particular, it hits all the important questions about taxes in a clear and neutral manner.

I highly recommend it whether you want to learn more about our tax system, its incidences, its cost, and more, or whether you want to learn how to explain complex tax issues in a simple and concise way. 

In the context of the current debate over the fiscal cliff, I was particularly interested in the chapter called “Taxes and the Economy.” Slemrod and Burman, for instance, ask questions such as “How do taxes affect the economy?”