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 78
... profits of trade , was only a very subordinate part of the general stent which , as one of the laws puts it , was to be assessed upon the taxpayer " according to the avail and quantity of his rent , living , goods , and gear that he has ...
... profits suffice to convert the rate or stent into a " local income tax , " any more than the wages tax or the busi- ness tax of the German states during the nineteenth century availed , as we shall learn , to make of the taxes on ...
... profits were taxed unless , with the one ex- ception of public salaries , they were derived from visible property . Moreover , while according to the intent of the law the chief revenue was to come from personal property , and only the ...
... profits arising from property , professions , trades and offices . " 1 The law of 1803 introduced a fundamental change in the method of assessment . As this new method is virtually identical with the one followed at the present time ...
... profits and gains . " These words have repeatedly been held to be synonymous and to signify income . " Profits " thus include " interest , " from which they are to be distinguished in both the popular and the strict economic sense . 2 ...
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 |