University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 19, Feb. 13, 1997
Sheldon Pollack to give lecture on tax policy

     The University's annual Land and Sea Lecture Series
continues on Friday, Feb. 14, with Sheldon Pollack, accounting,
who will speak on his new book, The Failure of U.S. Tax Policy:
Revenue and Politics.
     A teacher of business law and a tax attorney, Pollack
examines how our present tax system got to be the "out-of-
control," overly complex, tangled mess it is today. He details
the explosion of tax legislation in the 1980s, during the Reagan
years that first lowered taxes-giving special interests big tax
breaks-then raised them when the deficit soared and the political
climate changed.
     He also assesses the prospects for "reforming" the tax
system by replacing the progressive income tax with a flat tax.
     All the free public talks in the series will be given at 10
a.m. in the Virden Center, 700 Pilottown Rd., Lewes, and again at
2 p.m. in the Methodist Manor House, 1001 Middleford Road,
Seaford,
     Robert D. Bethke, English, will discuss his latest book,
Americana Crafted: Jehu Camper, Delaware Whittler, on Feb. 21.
     As a young man growing up in rural Kent Country during the
early years of the 20th century, Camper witnessed many changes in
everyday farming and community life. To preserve this cultural
heritage, Camper, who lived to be 91, began to create in wood
scaled-down scenes that he had witnessed as a youth. This folk
art legacy is examined in the book as Bethke looks at folk art as
a means to preserve the past, while linking young and old
together with a collective identity and shared experience.
     The series concludes on Friday, Feb. 28, when authors
William W. Boyer Jr., Charles P. Messick Professor Emeritus of
Political Science and International Relations, and Mark
Huddleston, political science and international relations,
discuss their book, The Higher Civil Service in the United
States: Quest for Reform. The book is the story of America's
efforts-largely frustrated-to develop a higher civil service and
examines different administrations' approaches to the problem.
     "The U.S. system of higher administration has not worked. It
has failed presidents. And more important, it has failed the
American people," the authors write. The book concludes with four
proposals to improve the civil service system.
     The Land and Sea Lecture Series is sponsored by the UD
Office of Alumni and University Relations. For more information,
call 735-8200 in Dover or 855-1620 in Georgetown.