Taxing the rich : a history of fiscal fairness in the United States and Europe
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Taxing the rich : a history of fiscal fairness in the United States and Europe
Princeton University Press, c2016
- : pbk
Available at 27 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
"Russel Sage Foundation"
Includes bibliographical references (p. [247]-259) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
In today's social climate of acknowledged and growing inequality, why are there not greater efforts to tax the rich? In this wide-ranging and provocative book, Kenneth Scheve and David Stasavage ask when and why countries tax their wealthiest citizens--and their answers may surprise you. Taxing the Rich draws on unparalleled evidence from twenty countries over the last two centuries to provide the broadest and most in-depth history of progressive taxation available. Scheve and Stasavage explore the intellectual and political debates surrounding the taxation of the wealthy while also providing the most detailed examination to date of when taxes have been levied against the rich and when they haven't. Fairness in debates about taxing the rich has depended on different views of what it means to treat people as equals and whether taxing the rich advances or undermines this norm. Scheve and Stasavage argue that governments don't tax the rich just because inequality is high or rising--they do it when people believe that such taxes compensate for the state unfairly privileging the wealthy.
Progressive taxation saw its heyday in the twentieth century, when compensatory arguments for taxing the rich focused on unequal sacrifice in mass warfare. Today, as technology gives rise to wars of more limited mobilization, such arguments are no longer persuasive. Taxing the Rich shows how the future of tax reform will depend on whether political and economic conditions allow for new compensatory arguments to be made.
Table of Contents
Figures and Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii PART ONE -DEBATING TAXATION 1. Why Might Governments Tax the Rich? 3 2. Treating Citizens as Equals 24 PART TWO -WHEN HAVE GOVERNMENTS TAXED THE RICH? 3. The Income Tax over Two Centuries 53 4. Taxing Inheritance 93 5. Taxes on the Rich in Context 114 PART THREE -WHY HAVE GOVERNMENTS TAXED THE RICH? 6. The Conscription of Wealth 135 7. The Role of War Technology 170 8. Why Taxes on the Rich Declined 185 9. What Future for Taxing the Rich? 206 Notes 219 References 247 Index 261
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