Principles of Political Economy · John Stuart Mill
TAXATION.
272. How is the state justified in undertaking any manufacture or service which might be performed by private enterprise? 273. Enumerate Adam Smith’s canons of taxation. 274. Examine the argument in favor of the resumption by the state of what is called the unearned increment in the value of land arising from the development of society. 275. A picture by Gainsborough and a house in Broadway are sold in the same year at the same price; at the end of fifty years each sells for five times its first cost. Is there any, and, if so, what, reason why the increase should be sequestrated for the public benefit in the one case and not in the other? 276. Explain the incidence of taxes laid on wages. 277. Why should a tax on profits, if no improvements follow, fall on the laborer and capitalist? 278. Explain what effect, if any, will be produced on the price of corn by— (1) a tax upon rent; (2) a tithe; (3) a tax of so much per acre, irrespective of value; (4) a tax of so much per bushel. 279. On whom does a tax of a fixed proportion of agricultural produce fall? 280. Discuss the question whether the income-tax ought to be a tax upon income and property, or upon expenditure. 281. Discuss the expediency of a graduated income-tax.
282. State the arguments which you think strongest both for and against exempting savings from the income-tax. 283. Explain the conditions which should be observed in imposing taxes on commodities. 284. What taxes does a tradesman get back in the price of the articles he sells, and what does he not? 285. Test by Adam Smith’s four maxims of taxation the policy of indirect taxes on the necessaries of life. 286. All indirect taxation violates Adam Smith’s fourth canon. 287. Discuss the following: “A man with $100,000 in United States bonds comes to Boston, hires a house...; thus he lives in luxury.... I am in favor of taxing idle investments such as this, and allowing manufacturing investments to go untaxed.” 288. Compare the advantages and disadvantages of direct and indirect taxation. 289. On what principles is this country now taxed? 290. Explain the arguments for and against the policy of maintaining a surplus for the purpose of redeeming a national debt. 291. In estimating the ability of the United States to pay its public debts, it is usual to include among the data of the question the increased productiveness of industry in that country. How far is this a pertinent consideration?
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