Steve Bank has both a superpower and a secret identity. He studies history to reveal truths that turn the conventional wisdom on its head. US experts have long said that tax planning became mainstream long before World War II and that tax shelters lost their stigma well after it. In this episode, Bank uses his historical x-ray vision to reveal the truth.

For everyone who has ever looked at a paycheck and wondered why it looks so much smaller than they expected, Bank also tells the surprising story of why employers withhold income taxes on wages but banks don’t do the same on payments of investment income. He also explains how the Supreme Court, the Rockefellers, and the State of Delaware all found themselves in the headlines because of the taxation (or, more accurately, the non-taxation) of corporate reorganizations. His Pencil Question comes from an article by Miranda Stewart in the Harvard International Law Journal.