A Treatise of Taxes and Contributions — William Petty
The Langenderfer Library: Classics in Tax, Economics, and AccountingShow Notes
What makes a tax fair, productive, and economically sound? In this pioneering seventeenth-century work, William Petty examines how governments should raise revenue while minimizing harm to trade, labor, land, and national wealth.
Petty compares taxes on land, consumption, customs, offices, and other bases; considers incidence and collection; and applies his empirical “political arithmetic” to public finance. His practical proposals and early analysis of who ultimately bears a tax make the treatise a landmark in the development of economics, statistics, and fiscal policy.
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