Books from the thrift-shop: Guerilla Capitalism
What is Books from the thrift-shop?
Every week I review one of the many books that I’ve picked up around town and decide whether to keep it for a bit or send it back
Selection for the week of October 8th, 2023
Guerilla Capitalism by Adam Cash
Published 1984 by Loompanics Unlimited, Port Townsend, WA
Where did you find this book?
The Thrifty Kitty, in Alameda, CA.
How much did you actually read?
I skimmed it a bit
What’s the premise of book?
People have coordinated their lifestyles and career choices around tax avoidance. Adam Cash thinks that you should too!
What are your initial thoughts?
The book goes from zero to taxation is theft in the first sentence. Cash’s introduction states that there are two groups of people fighting government taxation; one group that fights in court and another that participates in the underground (i.e. informal) economy as a form of protest.
Written in 1984, most of the examples he gives are common activities that you’ve seen your friends and family do for generations: side-hustles, moonlighting, refurbishing and selling used goods, and bartering. I suppose that I also participate in the informal economy since I, for example, buy food off of shopping carts and from friend’s friends all of the time. You will never get the best tamales, atole, or conchas if you don’t get them directly from someone’s grandmother.
To be clear. I do not condone fraud with the IRS or anyone else. It did make me giggle a bit, however, to read an ideologically driven how-to manual, from 1984, on how to work under the table, fudge small business receipts, and fake paper trails. Adam Cash is even kind enough to tell you how to stall on an audit when you finally get called to task for years of under-the-table hairstyling, dirt-hauling, diamond reselling, swap meets, and garage sales.
Do you recommend this book?
No, the author is trying to recruit you into an ideological war with the government via tax fraud.
Are you going to keep or return this book?
How can I get rid of this book when it’s a perfect case study on human behavior?
