| Abstrakt: |
Today's pandemic is a life-altering crisis that presents an opportunity to revisit first principles. Glossing those principles of social science (including law) as anthropology, this Article attempts to make sense of particularistic institutions, viz. tax legislation, in world-historical context. Now the potential legislation of a federal wealth tax has been a question for presidential candidates and the American electorate as well as legal scholars. By reviewing how civilizations have imposed taxes throughout history, this Article attempts to shed new light on the enduring question of the tax base and progressivity. Dividing human existence into four broad stages, the Article develops a typology for each stage of political economy and culture as well as taxation. The current stage is partially descriptive but partially predictive, an exercise in writing the history of the present. Briefly, civilization grew when modes of subsistence supported the progressively complex division of labor, formalization of law, and unifying ideation that constitute contemporary society. While tribute paid in kind from the produce of the peasant may have been the ancient form of revenue, the Industrial Revolution heralded progressive taxation of consumption and savings. In an economy of high technology, the taxation of wealth is not a question of whether but how much. Recent popular opposition to wealth taxes compared with historic support of wartime revenue bills raises questions of either "false consciousness" or a Durkheimian vision. Taxpayers have not voted against the rich, they have voted in favor of their nation. The underlying issue is the economic psychology of the taxpayer population whose floor is subsistence yet whose aspiration may be unlimited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
