Taxation in Colonial America

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Princeton University Press, Dec 16, 2010 - History - 968 pages

Taxation in Colonial America examines life in the thirteen original American colonies through the revealing lens of the taxes levied on and by the colonists. Spanning the turbulent years from the founding of the Jamestown settlement to the outbreak of the American Revolution, Alvin Rabushka provides the definitive history of taxation in the colonial era, and sets it against the backdrop of enormous economic, political, and social upheaval in the colonies and Europe.


Rabushka shows how the colonists strove to minimize, avoid, and evade British and local taxation, and how they used tax incentives to foster settlement. He describes the systems of public finance they created to reduce taxation, and reveals how they gained control over taxes through elected representatives in colonial legislatures. Rabushka takes a comprehensive look at the external taxes imposed on the colonists by Britain, the Netherlands, and Sweden, as well as internal direct taxes like poll and income taxes. He examines indirect taxes like duties and tonnage fees, as well as county and town taxes, church and education taxes, bounties, and other charges. He links the types and amounts of taxes with the means of payment--be it gold coins, agricultural commodities, wampum, or furs--and he compares tax systems and burdens among the colonies and with Britain.


This book brings the colonial period to life in all its rich complexity, and shows how colonial attitudes toward taxation offer a unique window into the causes of the revolution.

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Contents

INTRODUCTION
1
Founding the American Colonies
19
Turmoil in EnglandGrowth in the Colonies 16071688
65
War in EuropeOpportunity in the Colonies 16881714
271
Salutary Neglect in the Colonies 17141739
441
War Debt Money and Taxes Prelude to Imperial Intervention 17391763
559
An American Tax 17631775
713
CONCLUSION
865
APPENDIX
871
BIBLIOGRAPHY
891
INDEX
915
Copyright

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About the author (2010)

Alvin Rabushka is the David and Joan Traitel Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. His books include The Flat Tax.

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