"Winner of the Gold Medal in Business Reference, Axiom Business Book Awards" Michael Keen, former deputy director of fiscal affairs at the International Monetary Fund, is Ushioda Fellow at Tokyo College, University of Tokyo. Joel Slemrod is the David Bradford Distinguished University Professor and the Paul W. McCracken Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan. They have both received the National Tax Association's Holland Medal for their lifetime contributions, and both are former presidents of the International Institute of Public Finance.
An engaging and enlightening account of taxation told through lively, dramatic, and sometimes ludicrous stories drawn from around the world and across the ages
Governments have always struggled to tax in ways that are effective and tolerably fair. Sometimes they fail grotesquely, as when, in 1898, the British ignited a rebellion in Sierra Leone by imposing a tax on huts-and, in repressing it, ended up burning the very huts they intended to tax. Sometimes they succeed astonishingly, as when, in eighteenth-century Britain, a cut in the tax on tea massively increased revenue. In this entertaining book, two leading authorities on taxation, Michael Keen and Joel Slemrod, provide a fascinating and informative tour through these and many other episodes in tax history, both preposterous and dramatic-from the plundering described by Herodotus and an Incan tax payable in lice to the (misremembered) Boston Tea Party and the scandals of the Panama Papers. Along the way, readers meet a colorful cast of tax rascals, and even a few tax heroes.
While it is hard to fathom the inspiration behind such taxes as one on ships that tended to make them sink, Keen and Slemrod show that yesterday's tax systems have more in common with ours than we may think. Georgian England's window tax now seems quaint, but was an ingenious way of judging wealth unobtrusively. And Tsar Peter the Great's tax on beards aimed to induce the nobility to shave, much like today's carbon taxes aim to slow global warming.
Rebellion, Rascals, and Revenue is a surprising and one-of-a-kind account of how history illuminates the perennial challenges and timeless principles of taxation-and how the past holds clues to solving the tax problems of today. "It is hard to imagine a more timely-and entertaining-history."---Barry Eichengreen, Foreign Affairs "An erudite yet good-humored history of taxation. . . . Reading about taxes, it turns out, is a lot more fun than paying them. That's a low bar, but Rebellions, Rascals and Revenue clears it with ease. Check with your accountant: The book may be tax-deductible."---Daniel Akst, Wall Street Journal "Offers a historical precedent for almost any tax debate or controversy imaginable. . . . Keen and Slemrod have amassed the most remarkable collection of evidence to bolster and illuminate their case. . . . An invaluable primer to some of the underlying tensions behind contemporary political debate."---Chris Giles, Financial Times "Societies throughout the ages have wrestled with the question of how to tax, who to tax, and how to make people pay. The stories that emerge are remarkable. In this highly enjoyable tour de force, Keen and Slemrod show how the travails of our ancestors can help us understand the problems we face today-and pass on a few eternal lessons. Prepare to read, learn, and enjoy!" "The main effect of this enjoyable gallop through state levies of the past is to expose the continuing oddities of how governments raise revenue today. . . . The tales of historic folly and wisdom breathe life into dry principles of tax theory."---Liam Proud, Reuters "Amusing historical anecdotes. . . . Shed[s] light on how the modern-day tax system works-as well as its potential pitfalls."---Reed Tucker, New York Post "A fascinating and often funny book. . . . The real skill of Keen and Slemrod is to explain not just the history of tax but
