To the Editor:
One solution to the A.I.G. bonus furor suggests a look into the past.
Three days after my book on student unrest, “The Battle for Morningside Heights,” was published in 1970—including a glowing foreword from Senator Eugene McCarthy—my home phone rang at 7:30 a.m. “Mr. Steindler of the I.R.S.” wanted every deposit and withdrawal slip for any bank accounts over the last three years.
This was the beginning of what Senator McCarthy characterized as “a punitive audit.” Subsequently, I was battered and a few tax lawyers were richer. To quote Chief Justice John Marshall, “The power to tax involves the power to destroy.”
Nixon may not make Mount Rushmore, but he had some interesting ideas.
Punitive audits today directed toward the folk at A.I.G. would bring significant money back to taxpayers.
Roger Kahn
Stone Ridge, N.Y., March 19, 2009
Note from KBJ: I don't want my money back if that's what it takes.
Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D. 