This highly-acclaimed text explains the conceptual basis of federal income taxation. It is designed to help students quickly pull together the entire subject for end-of-semester review and provide perspective about where a topic fits within the federal income tax scheme. While focusing on the present income tax, the text provides an explanation of the often-discussed consumption tax and contrasts the two taxes in a note at the end of the volume. The new edition reflects developments since the fourteenth edition, including the promulgation of regulations interpreting major provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. It also features new or expanded discussions of several topics, including: possible legislative reconsideration of the realization requirement (in the context of "billionaires' tax" proposals); the long-term shift from deductions to credits in the design of nonbusiness tax expenditures, and the new and used electric car credits introduced by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.