We know summer is wrapping up, but there’s one more book to add to your reading list. Our good friend Arthur Laffer, historian Brian Domitrovic, and Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield are soon releasing Taxes Have Consequences, which gives readers the definitive history of the income tax and its effect on the economy.

“Taxes Have Consequences” walks through the major tax rate changes that occurred throughout American history, and what the economic results were. It is a true antidote to anyone who believes higher tax rates don’t matter — we highly recommend you give it a read.

Here is a short excerpt on how taxes exacerbated and lengthened the Great Depression:

Never had the United States had a tariff like it had in 1930. Never had it had an income tax like it had in 1932. The combination proved impossible. The Great Depression was the result…The problem with the monetary interpretation of the Great Depression is that the tax history is so pronounced. Tax rates were raised so much, and at every level of government, they extended the economic crisis for a decade after 1929.