Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue: Tax Follies and Wisdom through the Ages

Cover
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part I. Plunder and Power
	1. Any Public Matter
		Bengal to Boston
		Never Such Disgrace
		Why Bolivia Is Landlocked
		Taxing the Light of Heaven
		Not Everything Is About Tax. But . . .
	2. The Way We Were
		A Quick Gallop through the Long History of Taxation
		How Much?
		Warfare and Welfare
		Babbage’s Nightmare
		Debt, Default, and Princes
		Making Money
	3. By Another Name
		Elizabeth I to Spectrum Auctions
		Selling Sovereignty
		Cheap Labor
			Working for Nothing
			A Rich Man’s War and a Poor Man’s Fight
		Doing Your Bit
		Paying Your (Feudal) Dues
		Crossing the Line
		And There’s More
			Jobs for the Boys
			A Tax on Stupidity
Part II. Winners and Losers
	4. Fair Enough
		Heads on Pikes
			Poll Taxes and the English
			Noble Causes
		Trying to Be Fair
			Pay for What You Get?
			Pay What You Can?
		Show Me a Sign
			Taxing by Class
			Taxing by Community
			Taxing the Finer Things in Life
			Presumptions of Prosperity
	5. This Colossal Engine of Finance
		The Work of Giants: The Income Tax in Britain
		The Dred Scott Decision of the Revenue
		A Crime of Passion and the French Income Tax
		Old Fears and New Directions
	6. Some Are More Equal Than Others
		Taxing Femininity
		Peculiar Tax Institutions
		Leaps of Faith
		Outsiders
			Strangers in a Strange Land
			Taxes as Punishment
		Hard Choices
	7. Stick or Shift?
		False Starts
		Burgling Other People’s Intellect
		You Must Remember This
		Buddy, Can You Spare 1/20th of a Dime?
		Things Aren’t Always What They Seem
			Helping the Working Poor (or Their Employers)
			Are Tax-Free Municipal Bonds a Giveaway to the Savvy Rich?
			The Murky Incidence of the Corporate Tax
		The Big Picture
Part III. Changing Our Ways
	8. Breaking Bad and Making Good
		Do the Right Thing
			Family Matters
			Taxing Knowledge
		Tax Bads, Not Goods
			Saving the Planet
			Wind-Breaking Cows, Scary Dogs, and Cute Cats
		The Wages of Sin
			The Vile Custome
			The Curse of the Drinking Classes
			Sex, . . .
			. . . Drugs, . . .
			. . . But Not Much Rock and Roll
			Unhealthy Living
		Just Say No?
	9. Collateral Damage
		Spurring Ingenuity
			Stranger Things
			Drawing a Line
		Excess Burden
			No Fire without Smoke
			A Window on Excess Burden
	10. How to Pluck a Goose
		Searching for the Holy Grail
			War Profiteers and the Corporate Tax Revisited
			Give Me Land, Lots of Land
			Conscripting Wealth
		Limiting the Damage
			The Cleverest Man in England
			Broaden the Base, Lower the Rate (Maybe)
		Shaping a Tax System
		How Many Feathers?
	11. Citizens of the World
		Squeezing a Rice Pudding
		Havens from the Tax Storm
		The Rich Are Different from Us
			They Don’t Live Here Any More
			Don’t Tell
		False Profits
			If I Were You, I Wouldn’t Start from Here
			A Farewell to Arms (Length Pricing)?
		Tumbling Taxes
Part IV. Taxes don’t Collect Themselves
	12. Vlad the Impaler and the Gentle Art of Tax Collection
		Mind the Gap
			A Gallery of Tax Rascals
			Known Unknowns
		Many Sticks—and a Carrot or Two
			Get to the Money First
			Big Businesses Are the Tax Administrator’s Friend . . .
			. . . And Small Businesses Are Their Nightmare
			Information Rules
		Trust but Verify
		Taxpayers Are People Too
			Principled (and Singing) Evaders
			Making Honesty the Easiest Policy
	13. Someone Has to Do It
		The Tax Collectors’ Gallery
		Who Collects?
			The Rise and Demise of Tax Farming (and Tax Farmers)
			Kickbacks—Legal and Otherwise
			Tax Independence
			Privatizing Tax Collection
			How Big Should Tax Administrations Be?
		Tax Tech
Part V. Making Taxes
	14. Taxing and Pleasing
		The Finance Minister’s Dream
		Starving the Beast
		From Coventry to K Street
			The Naked Truth about Lobbying
			I Can’t Believe It’s Not (Taxed Like) Butter
			The Taxes Chain Store Massacre
			One Man’s Exemption
			You Just Don’t Do That: Four Centuries of Not Taxing Food in Britain
		Games Governments Play
			Vanishing Acts
			What’s in a Name?
			Oops
		Some Triumphs of Pretty Good Tax Policy
			Lessons from Gucci Gulch, and Elsewhere
			The Rise (and Rise) of the VAT
	15. The Shape of Things to Come
		Taxes in Naboo and Utopia
		Pillars of Tax Wisdom
			Tax Revolts Are Rarely Just about Tax
			Be Careful with Words
			You May Be the One Paying for Lunch
			Fair Taxation, Whatever That Is, Is Hard to Achieve
			Taxation Is About Finding Good Proxies
			Tax Avoiders and Evaders Are Wonderfully Creative
			The Biggest Costs of Taxation May Be the Ones You Can’t See
			Taxes Are Not Just for Raising Money
			People Pay Taxes Because They Are Scared
			Tax Sovereignty Is Becoming a Thing of the Past
			Beware of Mantras
		The Future and Beyond
			Hard Times
			Brave New Worlds
		What Will They Think of Us?
Notes
References
Illustration Credits
Index