The Income Tax: A Study of the History, Theory, and Practice of Income Taxation at Home and AbroadOriginally published: New York: The Macmillan Company, 1914. xi, 743 pp. Reprint of the second edition, which includes a new chapter on the income tax of 1913. Seligman argues persuasively that graduated income taxes distribute the burden of taxation with greater justice than other systems. After he sets out the fundamental problem of the concept of income taxation, Seligman enhances his theoretical argument with a historical examination of income taxes in Europe and the United States. With a useful index and a thorough bibliography. Edwin R.A. Seligman [1861-1939] was an eminent economist and authority on tax issues. He was admitted to the New York State bar in 1884 and in the same year received an appointment as lecturer in the political science department at Columbia University, where he later became a professor of political economy and finance. Seligman was a cofounder of the American Economic Association, serving as Its president from 1902-1904, and was later president of the National Tax Association (1913-1915). He served as an adviser to New York State and New York City tax commissions and acted as consultant to the League of Nations (1922-1923) and the government of Cuba in 1931. He was the editor in chief of the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences and editor of the Columbia University series Studies in History, Economics and Public Law. He was the author of numerous titles on taxation and economics including The Shifting and Incidence of Taxation (1892; 3rd ed., 1910), Progressive Taxation in Theory and Practice (1894; 2nd ed. 1908), Economic Interpretation of History (1902; 2nd ed. 1907), Principles of Economics (1907), Studies in Public Finance (1925) and Essays in Economics (1925). "Professor Seligman's advocacy of the income tax in the various papers which were incorporated in [this book] was an important factor in educating the American public to the point where the passage of the Sixteenth Amendment and of the law of 1913 was possible." |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 69
... indirect taxes , to be followed , only at a much later stage , by a system of direct taxes . Without going into the details of that development , we may be permitted to recall the conclusion . Amid the clashing of divergent interests ...
... indirect taxes on consumption , as well as of taxes on trade and business which were supposed ultimately to reach the consumer . Indirect taxes on trade and commerce had indeed arisen , at a comparatively early period , as a development ...
... indirect taxes the incidence of which is primarily upon the less fortunate classes , a pro- gressive income tax may be defended , on the ground of its tendency to redress the inequality . This , as we shall learn , is the great argument ...
... indirect income tax . This system , never entirely adequate even for the more moderate grades of income , proved to be completely unsatis- factory when it came to a consideration of the higher classes of income ; for the higher we rise ...
... indirect income tax , as opposed to the direct income tax . Finally , inasmuch as the tax is not collected upon the entire income of the individual , but is divided up so as to form practically a series of assessments on different kinds ...
Contents
Switzerland | 355 |
PART II | 365 |
CHAPTER I | 367 |
The Development in New England | 372 |
The Practical Workings of the | 381 |
329 | 401 |
THE INCOME TAX IN THE CONFEDERACY | 482 |
CHAPTER IV | 493 |
57 | |
89 | |
116 | |
122 | |
126 | |
128 | |
136 | |
The Select Committee of 1851 | 145 |
3 Pitts Conversion to the Income | 149 |
A Decade of Quiet | 155 |
FRANCE | 156 |
PAGE | 158 |
The Committee of 1861 | 161 |
CHAPTER III | 167 |
The Growing Permanence of the Tax 18741894 | 172 |
The Emergence of the Newer Problems 18941904 | 179 |
The Origin of the | 181 |
The Departmental Committee of 1904 | 185 |
The Select Committee of 1906 | 196 |
The Adoption of Differentiation in 1907 | 202 |
Conclusion | 213 |
THE INCOME TAX ON THE CONTINENT | 223 |
The Movement toward the Income | 230 |
From the Revolution of 1848 to the FrancoPrussian | 236 |
Preliminary | 273 |
The Revolution of 1848 | 277 |
The FrancoPrussian | 283 |
From Gambetta to the Périn Amendment 18711878 | 288 |
From Dauphins Bill to the ExtraParliamentary Committee 18871894 6 From the ExtraParliamentary Committee to the End of the Century 18941899 | 293 |
From Caillauxs First Ministry to his Second | 306 |
The Income Tax Bill of 1907 | 310 |
10 The Provisions of the Income Tax Bill as Adopted | 321 |
Conclusion | 325 |
CHAPTER III | 329 |
Italy The Historical Development | 338 |
Italy The Actual Conditions | 345 |
Italy The Question of Fraud | 352 |
The Discussion in Congress | 499 |
An Analysis of the | 508 |
The Alleged Shortcomings of the | 518 |
Conclusion | 529 |
The Economic Meaning of Direct Taxes | 535 |
The Historical Antecedents of the Direct Tax Clause | 540 |
The Introduction of the Direct Tax Clause | 548 |
The Purposes of the Direct Tax Clause | 555 |
The Constitutional Meaning of Direct Taxes | 559 |
The Use of the Term in the Constitutional Convention | 564 |
The Earlier Decisions of the Supreme Court | 571 |
The Income Tax Cases of 1895 | 576 |
The Dissenting Opinions | 583 |
The Effect of the Decisions | 586 |
CHAPTER VI | 590 |
The Meaning of the Amendment | 597 |
The Effect on the Borrowing Power of the States | 604 |
The Immunity of State and Municipal Bonds from Taxation | 615 |
The Question of Uniformity | 621 |
Conclusion | 626 |
A PRACTICABLE PROGRAMME | 629 |
Is an Income Tax Desirable ? | 631 |
Shall the Income Tax be a State or a Federal Tax? | 642 |
How shall the Income Tax be Administered? | 658 |
APPENDIX THE INCOME TAX OF 1913 | 675 |
1 Who is Liable to the Income Tax? | 676 |
What is Taxable Income? | 677 |
The Tax Rates | 686 |
Stoppage at Source | 692 |
Other Administrative Features | 699 |
Conclusion | 701 |
BIBLIOGRAPHY | 705 |
INDEX | 733 |
338 | 738 |
535 | 740 |