From the revolutionary-era Whiskey tax to twentieth-century war taxes, the proverbial two certainties of life have exhibited an uncanny correlation throughout American history. And through such institutional fixtures as federal excise taxes, the Sixteenth Amendment, the IRS and federal income tax withholding, war finance has profoundly altered the individual’s relationship to the American state.
Robert Higgs is Retired Senior Fellow in Political Economy, Founding Editor and former Editor at Large of The Independent Review.
EconomyGovernment and PoliticsTaxes
Other Independent Review articles by Robert Higgs
Fall 2019 Pressure-Release Valves in Participatory Fascism
Winter 2018/19 Two Worlds: Politics and Everything Else
Fall 2018 Against the Whole Concept and Construction of the Balance of International Payments
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