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Taxation in England during the Industrial Revolution

Author

Listed:
  • Ronald Max Hartwell

    (Nuffield College, Oxford.)

Abstract

By 1820, as Sydney Smith argued, the English believed that they were a heavily taxed people. There had been a large increase in tax- ation during the wars with France, and amassive increase in public debt, and the subject of taxation was regularly debated in Parlia- ment and vigorously disputed in journals and pamphlets. Neverthe- less J. R. McCulloch complained in 1845 that, “considering the importance of taxation, both as regards the interest of the public and of individuals, it appears singular that it should have been the subject of but few publications.†1 McCulloch argued that before him only Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Sir Henry Parnell had treated the subject comprehensively.2 He was less than fair to his contemporaries, if correct about the classical economists and Parnell. Smith had certainly given considerable impetus to the study of fiscal questions, had surveyed taxation in the 1770s, at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, and had shown that tax inci- dence could be explained by the economic theory of the distribu- tion of wealth. He also propounded his four famous maxims of taxation that have played such an important part in all subsequent discussion of taxation...

Suggested Citation

  • Ronald Max Hartwell, 1981. "Taxation in England during the Industrial Revolution," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 1(1), pages 129-153, Spring.
  • Handle: RePEc:cto:journl:v:1:y:1981:i:1:p:129-153
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alberto Mingardi, 2015. "A Critique of Mazzucato's Entrepreneurial State," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 35(3), pages 603-625, Fall.
    2. Ni, Shawn & Van, Pham Hoang, 2006. "High corruption income in Ming and Qing China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 316-336, December.
    3. Seghezza, Elena, 2015. "Fiscal capacity and the risk of sovereign debt after the Glorious Revolution: A reinterpretation of the North–Weingast hypothesis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 71-81.
    4. Ludmila Koroleva P. & Л. Королева П., 2017. "Налоговое стимулирование неоиндустриализации: опыт Великобритании и его актуальность для России // Neo-Industrialization Tax Incentives: the UK Experience and its Relevance for Russia," Экономика. Налоги. Право // Economics, taxes & law, ФГОБУ "Финансовый университет при Правительстве Российской Федерации" // Financial University under The Government of Russian Federation, vol. 10(2), pages 65-72.
    5. Greif, Avner & Iyigun, Murat, 2013. "What Did the Old Poor Law Really Accomplish? A Redux," IZA Discussion Papers 7398, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Elena Sochirca & Oscar Afonso & Sandra T. Silva, 2017. "Political Rivalry Effects on Human Capital Accumulation and Inequality: A New Political Economy Approach," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(4), pages 699-729, November.
    7. John Brewer, 1988. "The English State and Fiscal Appropriation, 1688-1789," Politics & Society, , vol. 16(2-3), pages 335-385, June.
    8. José Alves, 2018. "Tax incidence and fiscal systems: some problems on tax compared history in XIX and XX centuries," Working Papers REM 2018/45, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Government; taxation; revenue; England; Industrial Revolution;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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