Here is the preface of my 2009 book:
Preface
Defining ‘taxes’ is notoriously difficult. This is both a sobering and a
cumbersome fact. Many people would say that tax experts are the most
boring people they could think of; next to scientists perhaps, which makes
scientists working on tax issues to be the least sociable people on earth!
But – and this what this book hopes to achieve – such difficult to define
concepts are fascinating and totally remarkable objects for social scientists.
Conceptual ambiguity infuses power, politics, and even violence. I have to
be violently short with my acknowledgements, since there is a great many
people to thank. I am indebted to Daniele Checchi, David Carey and
Reimut Zohlnhöfer for letting me use their data, Pablo Beramendi, Thilo
Bodenstein, Michael Bolle, Christian Fahrholz, Robert Franzese, Steff en
Ganghof, Jacob de Haan, Torben Iversen, Philip Manow, Thomas Meyer,
Michael Neugart, Thomas Plümper, Francis Rosenbluth, Fritz W. Scharpf
and Michael Wallerstein, for helpful comments at various stages of this
book project, and my two supervisors Günther Schmid and Bernhard
Kittel for their help. I am most thankful to Luicy Pedroza, who shared
here intellectual insights and unlimited patience with me. All remaining
errors are mine.
And here comes the commercial part: Edward Elgar
Polidigwerkschdaeddle 