Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue (Paperback)

Michael Keen

ISBN 10: 0691234027 / ISBN 13: 9780691234021

Published by Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2022

About this Item

Paperback. Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts- and, in repressing it, ended up burning the very huts they intended to tax. Sometimes they succeed astonishingly, as when, in eighteenth-century Britain, a cut in the tax on tea massively increased revenue. In this entertaining book, two leading authorities on taxation, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, provide a fascinating and informative tour through these and many other episodes in tax history, both preposterous and dramatic - from the plundering described by Herodotus and an Incan tax payable in lice to the (misremembered) Boston Tea Party and the scandals of the Panama Papers. Along the way, readers meet a colourful cast of tax rascals, and even a few tax heroWhile it is hard to fathom the inspiration behind such taxes as one on ships that tended to make them sink, Keen and Slemrod show that yesterday's tax systems have more in common with ours than we may think. Georgian England's window tax now seems quaint, but was an ingenious way of judging wealth unobtrusively. And Tsar Peter the Great's tax on beards aimed to induce the nobility to shave, much like today's carbon taxes aim to slow global warming.Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue is a surprising and one-of-a-kind account of how history illuminates the perennial challenges and timeless principles of taxation - and how the past holds clues to solving the tax problems of today.*Winner of the Gold Medal in Business Reference, Axiom Business Book Awards*'It is hard to imagine a more timely-and entertaining-history.' Barry Eichengreen, Foreign Affairs'An erudite yet good-humoured history of taxation. . . . Reading about taxes, it turns out, is a lot more fun than paying them. That's a low bar, but Rebellions, Rascals and Revenue clears it with ease. Check with your accountant: The book may be tax-deductible.' Daniel Akst, Wall Street Journal Shipping may be from our Sydney, NSW warehouse or from our UK or US warehouse, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780691234021

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue (Paperback)
• Publisher: Princeton University Press, New Jersey
• Publication Date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691234027
• ISBN 13: 9780691234021
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

An engaging and enlightening account of taxation told through lively, dramatic, and sometimes ludicrous stories drawn from around the world and across the ages

Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts—and, in repressing it, ended up burning the very huts they intended to tax. Sometimes they succeed astonishingly, as when, in eighteenth-century Britain, a cut in the tax on tea massively increased revenue. In this entertaining book, two leading authorities on taxation, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, provide a fascinating and informative tour through these and many other episodes in tax history, both preposterous and dramatic—from the plundering described by Herodotus and an Incan tax payable in lice to the (misremembered) Boston Tea Party and the scandals of the Panama Papers. Along the way, readers meet a colorful cast of tax rascals, and even a few tax heroes.

While it is hard to fathom the inspiration behind such taxes as one on ships that tended to make them sink, Keen and Slemrod show that yesterday’s tax systems have more in common with ours than we may think. Georgian England’s window tax now seems quaint, but was an ingenious way of judging wealth unobtrusively. And Tsar Peter the Great’s tax on beards aimed to induce the nobility to shave, much like today’s carbon taxes aim to slow global warming.

Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue is a surprising and one-of-a-kind account of how history illuminates the perennial challenges and timeless principles of taxation—and how the past holds clues to solving the tax problems of today.

About the Author

Michael Keen, former deputy director of fiscal affairs at the International Monetary Fund, is Ushioda Fellow at Tokyo College, University of Tokyo. Joel Slemrod is the David Bradford Distinguished University Professor and the Paul W. McCracken Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. They have both received the National Tax Association’s Holland Medal for their lifetime contributions, and both are former presidents of the International Institute of Public Finance.