The Tax Angles Story

Tax Angles was the name of a very popular consumer tax guide that was published between late 1977 and about 1985. At its peak it had about 60,000 paid subscribers and it was one of the first publications that focused on showing taxpayers how to reduce their taxes. The unique element of our newsletter is that we didn't really deliver a lot of NEWS. Instead, we focused on giving our readers practical and legal tips on how to save taxes.

The marketing focus was on the idea that taxpayers could not afford to wait for their tax preparer to bring tax avoidance ideas to them; they needed to be more pro-active and look for ideas in our newsletter which they could show their tax preparer and ask for help to determine if that tip was suitable for the taxpayer. Needless to say, more than a few tax accountants and preparers took exception to our advertising and we got more than a small amount of hate mail.

But we found that a substantial portion of our subscriber base consisted of tax professionals who wanted to read about the tax tips in our newsletter and then pass them on to their clients.

I was the founding editor and principal author. The publisher was Kephart Communications, Inc. (KCI) -- a very successful publisher of multiple newsletters, based in Alexandria, Virginia. Prior to creating Tax Angles, I had been writing and self publishing a very tiny newsletter with the rather provactive title of "Tax Tricks and Techniques for the Self Employed". The owner of KCI was apparently one of my first subscribers and it turned out that he liked my approach to explaining tax saving opportunities to my readers. So he made me an offer that was too good to refuse. He bought my newsletter at an attractive price and then offered me a very generous royalty on the gross sales of the new newsletter.

From late 1977 through about 1984, I scoured various sources of tax news and information that was mostly aimed at tax professionals and explained what I found in plain English -- as much as possible without distorting the meaning of the law. KCI not only promoted the newsletter, they actively promoted me as an "authority" on the subject of taxes and made arrangements for me to be invited to be a seminar speaker at a variety of financial conferences like the New Orleans annual hard money conferences.

It's about 25 years later and I still encounter former subscribers of Tax Angles who still recall some of my more titallating tips on how to save taxes without going to jail. And although KCI is no longer in business I'm still pursuing my favorite avocation; explaining our insanely confusing tax system to the general public in plain English -- or as close to it as I can get.

Vern Jacobs