The Income Tax: A Study of the History, Theory, and Practice of Income Taxation at Home and Abroad

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The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd., 2004 - Business & Economics - 743 pages
Originally 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."
--5 Columbia Law Review (1915) 292

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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

ENGLAND
57
The Act of 1798
89
CHAPTER II
116
The Unrest 18321842
122
Criticisms and Amendments 19001909
126
Peels Act of 1842
128
The Development to 1851
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
Copyright

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Page 542 - All charges of war and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several states...
Page 597 - That the power to tax involves the power to destroy; that ; the power to destroy may defeat and render useless the power to create; that there is a plain repugnance in conferring on one government a power to control the constitutional measures of another, which other, with respect to those very means, is declared to be supreme over that which exerts the control, are propositions not to be denied.
Page 434 - ... or from any profession, trade, employment, or vocation carried on in the United States or elsewhere, or from any other source whatever...
Page 116 - Taxes on everything on earth, and the waters under the earth ; on everything that comes from abroad, or is grown at home. Taxes on the raw material ; taxes on every fresh value that is added to it by the industry of man.
Page 116 - TAXES upon every article which enters into the mouth, or covers the back, or is placed under the foot — taxes upon every thing which it is pleasant to see, hear, feel, smell, or taste — taxes upon warmth, light, and locomotion — taxes on every thing on earth, and the waters under the earth...
Page 597 - The result is a conviction that the States have no power, by taxation or otherwise, to retard, impede, burden, or in any manner control, the operations of the constitutional laws enacted by Congress to carry into execution the powers vested in the General Government.
Page 445 - Provided, That no deduction shall be allowed for any amount paid out for new buildings, permanent improvements, or betterments, made to increase the value of any property or estate...
Page 546 - Resolved, that each branch ought to possess the right of originating acts; that the national legislature ought to be empowered to enjoy the legislative rights vested in Congress by the Confederation, and moreover to legislate in all cases to which the separate states are incompetent or in which the harmony of the United States may be interrupted by the exercise of individual legislation...

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