The Strongest Shoulders: What History Teaches Us about (Un)equal Taxes
A fascinating historical argument for making taxes simpler and fairer
Cicero famously called taxes the ‘sinews of the state’, essential to the government’s functioning. We’ve nevertheless reached a point where hardly anyone, politicians included, understands our byzantine tax systems. Isn’t there a better way? For tax specialist Reinier Kooiman, a democratic discussion about taxes doesn’t have to be complicated. We can understand the principles behind tax law if we understand how they were invented and where they went wrong.
Hayo Deinum
Shared Stories Rights Agency
hayo@sharedstories.nl
Kooiman takes us back to thirteenth-century Italy, where newly-independent city states like Bologna, Siena and Perugia first sought the fairest way to tax their citizens. Their eventual system, based on each citizen’s means, was a source of civic pride. These original ideals were, however, steadily forgotten with the industrial revolution and Adam Smith, who favoured manufacturers and merchants. The widespread destruction caused by the Second World War might have temporarily reversed the transfer of wealth from poor to rich, but since the 1970s when Thatcher and Reagan dismantled the welfare state, our tax systems have rather helped increase wealth inequality.
As long as the tax system favours wealth over work, Kooiman argues, inequality will continue to grow. Fortunately, the solution doesn’t require a dismantling of capitalism, or the state – simply a fairer tax system that returns to simple principles and distributes wealth from the rich to the poor. Ultimately, he proposes a single tax on wealth, and demonstrates why it is feasible and why it will work. It’s time for those who own the world to help bear the burden.
Argues for reclaiming the tax system as a democratic good we should all have a say in
Tax havens and capital flight, it turns out, are nothing new, with the church being tax exempt early on
Historical context for fans of Thomas Piketty and Garry Stevenson
The reason the book is a pleasure to read is that Kooiman builds up his book so exquisitely with historical insights.
dewereldmorgen.be
A groundbreaking book...
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