The Concept of Income: Economic and Legal Aspects — Robert Murray Haig
The Langenderfer Library: Classics in Tax, Economics, and AccountingShow Notes
What do we really mean by “income”? In this foundational 1921 essay, economist Robert Murray Haig examines income from both economic and legal perspectives. He develops the influential idea that income reflects the net increase in a person’s economic power over time, then considers how this broad concept differs from the income recognized by tax law. A classic of public-finance scholarship, Haig’s analysis helped shape what later became known as the Haig–Simons definition of income and remains central to debates over taxable income, unrealized gains, and sound tax policy.
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