ENGLISH

Dimensions of Law in the Service of Order: Origins of the Federal Income Tax, 1861-1913

Book information

Year
1993
ISBN
0195058488, 9780195058482
LCC
HJ4651 .S73 1993
Open Library ID
OL1720830M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
20 MB (21307124 bytes)
Pages
331\346
Topic
History
Time added
2011-06-04 13:46:07

Description

A sophisticated and accessible application of the newest theoretical work in public-policy history and legal studies, this book is a detailed account of how a permanent income tax was enacted into law in the United States. The tax originated as an apology for the aggressive manipulation of other forms of taxation, especially the tariff, during the Civil War. Levied with very low rates on a small proportion of the population and raising little revenue, the early tax was designed to preserve imbalances in the structure of wealth and opportunity, rather than to ameliorate or abolish them, by strengthening the status quo against fundamental attacks by the political left and right. This book shows that the early course of income taxation was more clearly the product of centrist ideological agreement, despite occasional divergences, than of "conservative-liberal" allocative conflict.

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