Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- PART ONE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
- PART TWO COLLECTIVE CHOICE AND THE NORMATIVE ANALYSIS OF TAXATION
- PART THREE APPLIED GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS
- PART FOUR STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF TAX STRUCTURE
- PART FIVE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND TAXATION
- Bibliography
- Name Index
- Subject Index
1 - Introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 October 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- PART ONE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
- PART TWO COLLECTIVE CHOICE AND THE NORMATIVE ANALYSIS OF TAXATION
- PART THREE APPLIED GENERAL EQUILIBRIUM ANALYSIS
- PART FOUR STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF TAX STRUCTURE
- PART FIVE POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AND TAXATION
- Bibliography
- Name Index
- Subject Index
Summary
Taxes are the sinews of the State.
Marcus Tullius Cicero (1st century B.C.)It is not surprising and is indeed appropriate that fiscal policy… should be among the most controversial of policy issues. The fiscal process, as much as any other democratic institution occupies the middle ground between anarchy and absolute rule. It provides the forum on which interest groups and ideologies may clash without resort to the barricades, and on which compromise and cooperation may be sought.
Richard Musgrave (1981, p. 1)Taxation has been a major subject of comment and analysis throughout history. It is not difficult to understand the source of this widespread attention. Taxes directly affect the daily lives of individual citizens while also providing “the sinews of state,” as pointed out long ago by the Roman writer Cicero. They give the government access to private economic resources and make possible the provision of essential public services, such as defense, police protection, and the enforcement of property rights through the courts. Their imposition influences the distribution of personal income and may alter the division of wealth among different groups. How a society employs taxation reveals much about the relation between its citizens and the state, and thus defines an important part of the nation's character.
Economists have made many contributions to the study of taxation and fiscal choices. Although our analysis falls into this broad tradition, it also represents a new departure.
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- Democratic Choice and TaxationA Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, pp. 1 - 8Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1999