Of the Sources of the General or Public Revenue of the Society — Adam Smith
The Langenderfer Library: Classics in Tax, Economics, and AccountingShow Notes
How should government revenue be raised, and what makes one tax better than another? In this celebrated section of The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith examines the sources of public revenue and develops his four enduring maxims of taxation: equality, certainty, convenience, and economy in collection.
Smith analyzes taxes on rent, profit, wages, property, consumption, and trade, testing each against incentives, incidence, administration, and fairness. His discussion connects the practical machinery of taxation to a broader theory of political economy and remains one of the foundational texts of modern public finance.
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