Synopses & Reviews
Review
"...a remarkable achievement." Neil Rollings, University of Glasgow, Albion
Review
"...a huge achievement in drawing together a mass of empirical material from a wide variety of sources...and building a technically authoritative and accessible narrative of the history of British taxation in all its incoherent complexity. With this study Professor Daunton has completed a monumental study of the British tax system which will be an authoritative guide, a source of new questions, and a stimulus of future research for many years to come." Ewen A. Cameron, University of Edinburgh, Canadian Journal of History"...a remarkable achievement." Neil Rollings, University of Glasgow, Albion
Synopsis
Just Taxes offers a unique analysis of the politics of taxation in the twentieth century. At the outbreak of the First World War, taxation was about 10 per cent of GNP; by 1979, taxes had risen to almost half of the total national income, and had contributed to the rise of Margaret Thatcher. Professor Martin Daunton examines the politics of acceptance and hostility to taxation and asks why this period of huge tax rises did not provoke the same levels of discontent in Britain as it did on the continent.
About the Author
MARTIN DAUNTON, FBA, is Fellow of Churchill College and Professor of Economic History in the University of Cambridge.
Table of Contents
1. The taxing state: an introduction; 2. 'The limits of our taxable capacity': war finance, 1914-1918; 3. 'This hideous war memorial': debt and taxation, 1918-1925; 4. 'Adjusting the particular turns of the different screws': reforming the income tax, 1920-1929; 5. 'The great conflict of modern politics': redistribution, depression and appeasement, 1929-1939; 6. 'The exigency of war': taxes and the Second World War, 1939-1945; 7. 'The mortal blows of taxation': Labour and reconstruction, 1945-1951; 8. 'A most injurious disincentive in our economic system': Conservatives and taxation, 1951-1964; 9. 'Modern and dynamic economic policy': Labour and taxation, 1951-1970; 10. Rethinking taxation policy: from an opportunity state to an enterprise society, 1964-1974; 11. 'Highly defensible ramparts': the politics of local taxation; 12. Conclusion.