Progressive Taxation in Theory and Practice |
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according Adam Smith advocates amount applied argument assessed benefit theory besoin Besteuerung biens cantons capital chap citoyens classes clear income Cohen-Stuart contribute defends degressive direct tax doctrine doit economic Einkommen equal sacrifice equality of sacrifice erty être excess exemption faculty theory finance Finanzwissenschaft five per cent follows Forbonnais fortune francs French give-and-take theory Gomel graduated gressive principle gressive taxation gulden hectolitres Hence Ibid imposed impôt increase individual inheritance tax l'impôt progressif Léon Say levied livres marginal utility means minimum of subsistence Montesquieu nécessaire necessary objection one-half onera paid payer Politique poll tax portion progres progressive income tax progressive principle progressive rate progressive scale progressive taxation property and income property or income property tax proportional taxation proportionnel protection qu'il relatives revenue rich says Schanz social Staats superflu taxa taxable taxpayer theory of taxation tion Vaud wants wealth writers
Popular passages
Page 163 - The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state. The expense of government to the individuals of a great nation is like the expense of management to the joint tenants of a great estate, who are all obliged to contribute in proportion to their respective interests in the estate.
Page 192 - Résumons en quatre mots le pacte social des deux états : Vous avez besoin de moi car je suis riche et vous êtes pauvre ; faisons donc un accord entre nous : je permettrai que vous ayez l'honneur de me servir, à condition que vous me donnerez le peu qui vous reste, pour la peine que je prendrai de vous commander.
Page 231 - As in a case of voluntary subscription for a purpose in which all are interested, all are thought to have done their part fairly when each has contributed according to his means, that is, has made an equal sacrifice for the common object ; in like manner should this be the principle of compulsory contributions : and it is superfluous to look for a more ingenious or recondite ground to rest the principle upon.
Page 231 - Equality of taxation, therefore, as a maxim of politics, means equality of sacrifice. It means apportioning the contribution of each person towards the expenses of government, so that he shall feel neither more nor less inconvenience from his share of the payment than every other person experiences from his.
Page 232 - ... rises with the amount of the income. On the best consideration I am able to give to this question, it appears to me that the portion of truth which the doctrine contains, arises principally from the difference between a tax which can be saved from luxuries, and one which trenches, in ever so small a degree, upon the necessaries of life. To take a thousand a year from the possessor of ten thousand, would not deprive him of anything really conducive either to the support or to the comfort of existence...
Page 157 - Which considered, the equality of imposition consisteth rather in the equality of that which is consumed, than of the riches of the persons that consume the same. For what reason is there that he which laboureth much and, sparing the fruits of his labour, consumeth little should be more charged than he that, living...
Page 290 - If it does not lead necessarily to any definite scale of progression, much less can it lead necessarily to a fixed proportional taxation. But if we never can reach an ideal, there is no good reason why we should not strive to get as close to it as possible.
Page 192 - This shows the spirit, the object and the effect of political society. At the start, according to Rousseau, it consisted of an iniquitous bargain, made by an adroit rich man with a poor dupe, "providing new fetters for the weak and fresh power...
Page 289 - ... these results — the capacity in other words of enjoying the results of the exertions. It is this latter conception which has been developed by recent writers, although they have carried it to an extreme just as one-sided as that represented by the advocates of the earlier theories. The elements of faculty, then, are two-fold — those connected with acquisition or production, and those connected with outlay or consumption. What is the application to the matter in hand?
Page 128 - The whole system of protective duties has been framed not merely with reference to t, revenue considerations, but in order to produce results which should directly affect social and national prosperity. Taxes on luxuries have often been mere sumptuary laws designed as *' much to check consumption as to yield revenue. Excise taxes have frequently been levied from a wide...