From: Blunderov (squooker@mweb.co.za)
Date: Tue Oct 28 2003 - 13:33:28 MST
Kharin
> Sent: 28 October 2003 2211
> "Question: is taxation not a quintessentially socialist concept - the
> redistribution of wealth?"
>
> Am I correct in assuming that you are referring to progressive
taxation
> i.e. income taxation rather than flat rate taxation (or other taxes)
such
> as that used by Hong Kong and Russia? If so, the answer is 'not
quite.'
> You are of course quite correct that progressive taxation has been
> favoured by socialist administrations, but the concept predates
socialism.
>
> Income taxation was first introduced between 1799 to 1816 by the Tory
> Prime Minister William Pitt in order to raise funds for the Napoleonic
> Wars. It was abolished after the war and reintroduced by another Tory
> faced with a defecit; Sir Robert Peel. Later the Whig Gladstone and
the
> Tory Disraeli failed to repeal income taxation and it became
permanent.
> The US followed a similar course in 1864 and for similar reasons; the
> civil war. In both of these cases we are speaking of measures that
were
> originally temporary; the reason they eventually became permanent
tended
> to owe as much to the fact that they were highly efficient means of
> funding the state during a period when the modern centralised state we
> know today came into being.
[Blunderov]
Thanks for the informative reply. I see that now it might or might not
be a 'socialist' measure depending on how it is applied.
Best Regards
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