Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe PDF
Preview Taxing the Rich: A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe
TAXING THE RICH TAXING THE RICH A History of Fiscal Fairness in the United States and Europe KENNETH SCHEVE AND DAVID STASAVAGE RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION New York PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS Pn'nceton and Oxford Copyright© 2016 by Princeton University Press and the Russell Sage Foundation Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, 6 Oxford Street, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1T R press.princeton.edu Russell Sage Foundation, 112 East 64th Street, New York, New York 10065 russellsage.org Jacket image courtesy of Shutterstock All Rights Reserved ISBN 978-0-691-16545-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016930691 British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available This book has been composed in Trade Gothic LT Std. & Sabon Next LT Pro Printed on acid-free paper oo Printed in the United States of America 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 FOR MELISSA &L AUREN The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. -Exodus 30:15 There are hundreds of thousands who have given their lives, there are millions who have given up comfortable homes and exchanged them for a daily communion with death; multitudes have given up those whom they love best. Let the nation as a whole place its comforts, its luxuries, its indul gencies, its elegances on a national altar consecrated by such sacrifices as these men have made. -David Lloyd George, 1916 CONTENTS Figures and Tables Xl Acknowledgments X111 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 ofWealth 135 7. The Role ofWar 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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