Government
‹ 7 · Outline · 9 ›
8.Government and the economy: finance, taxation and regulation
8a.The limits of the sovereign's role in directing industry
See also: Liberty 8c · Taxation 6b · Wealth 12d
Martin Luther, Address to the Christian Nobility of the German NationVol. 36
- p. 332Emperors, princes and corporations should prohibit usurious trade despite papal opposition.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 102–103The state should regulate usury by proclaiming a free rate and licensing lenders, rather than abolishing it.read · scan
- p. 103–104Better for the state to mitigate usury openly by license and small fee than let it rage by connivance.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 6National policies and theories of political economy shaped the conduct of princes and states.read · scan
- p. 126–127Towns were governed by traders and artificers, who made regulations in their own class interest.read · scan
- p. 157Smith criticises the French 1731 order restraining new vineyards as an unnecessary restriction on cultivation.read · scan
- p. 157–159Discouraging vineyards to encourage corn is likened to promoting agriculture by discouraging manufactures.read · scan
- p. 160–161Taxation convenience led to absurd prohibition of tobacco growing in Europe; colonial assemblies limit production.read · scan
- p. 196–197Duties and export bans on hides favor manufacturers; tanners are less favoured than clothiers in persuading the nation's policy.read · scan
- p. 198Prohibiting wool exportation would have been the most destructive regulation in the circumstances of the time.read · scan
- p. 270Government extravagance and administrative errors are overcome by the natural progress of private effort, like nature curing disease despite the doctor.read · scan
- p. 273–274Kings and ministers presume to watch private expense though they are the greatest spendthrifts; sumptuary laws and import bans are folly.read · scan
- p. 298–300The aim of a nation's political economy is to increase riches and power, without artificial encouragement of particular trades.read · scan
- p. 310Political economy is the science of the statesman or legislator, providing subsistence and public revenue.read · scan
- p. 313–314Government need not attend to bullion more than other commodities.read · scan
- p. 315Governments, ignorant of trade, adopted the merchants' maxims, turning from one fruitless care to another.read · scan
- p. 315–317Government need not turn its attention to procuring bullion, since freedom of trade suffices.read · scan
- p. 318–319Government's attention is most unnecessarily employed in watching over the quantity of money in a country.read · scan
- p. 323It is unnecessary for government to watch over preservation of money, as money flowed out and back unnoticed.read · scan
- p. 328–330Political economy's engines, import restraints and export encouragements, followed from the erroneous principle about money.read · scan
- p. 330–331Duties, prohibitions, bounties, treaties and colonies are state regulations of commerce.read · scan
- p. 335Statesmen directing private capital assume dangerous unwarranted authority; individuals judge their own employment better than any lawgiver.read · scan
- p. 348Distinguishes the science of a legislator from the skill of the politician in weighing retaliation.read · scan
- p. 352The legislature should follow the general good rather than partial interests; monopolies introduce disorder into the constitution of the state.read · scan
- p. 380Political institutions of Spain and Portugal aggravate the disadvantages of their situation as proprietors of the mines.read · scan
- p. 380Taxes and severe policing of export prohibition show state policy defeating its own purpose.read · scan
- p. 384–385Country gentlemen's bounty loaded the public revenue and taxed the people while retarding their own improvement.read · scan
- p. 389–390Nations bind themselves by treaty to prohibit or exempt certain foreign goods.read · scan
- p. 426Colbert regulated industry like public office departments, imposing privileges and restraints and depressing agriculture.read · scan
- p. 434Defective policy explains why landed nations lack their own merchants; duties are criticized as bad policy.read · scan
- p. 436–437Oppressive trade policy and monopoly of the home market harm the nation's own interest.read · scan
- p. 445Limits the sovereign's role; he cannot wisely direct private industry.read · scan
- p. 458–459Protecting trade is a duty of the executive power, but companies persuaded the legislature to hand them this sovereign function.read · scan
- p. 521–522Legislature taxes coastwise coal instead of bounty; regulations are futile and should be repealed once the public is convinced.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 196Magistrates fix maximum prices and threaten punishment, yielding to popular clamor for more decisive measures.read · scan
- p. 452Each decree begets a prohibiting decree; governors patch consequences of earlier regulations with penalties.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 291Governments once fixed prices and regulated manufacture; now sanitary and safety controls are allowed in principle.read · scan
Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Two Years Before the MastVol. 23
- p. 77–78Government's heavy import duties, meant to keep silver in the country, raise prices.read · scan
8b.Public revenue, taxation and debt
See also: Wealth 13a · Taxation 10 · War and Peace 9a
Herodotus, An Account of EgyptVol. 33
- p. 52The king divides land equally, levies annual rent, and remits it in proportion to flood losses.read · scan
Jean Froissart, The Chronicles of FroissartVol. 35
- p. 64They demand the chancellor account for the realm's revenues.read · scan
William Harrison, A Description of Elizabethan EnglandVol. 35
- p. 233Romans prescribed limits to every man's tenure; the prince's customary dues fall on remaining parishioners.read · scan
- p. 262Tenths devised by the pope were taken over by the king; crown revenue drawn from church.read · scan
John Dryden, All for Love; or, The World Well LostVol. 18
- p. 7Praises Danby's administration restoring the exhausted treasury and revenues without grievance to subjects.read · scan
William Penn, More Fruits of SolitudeVol. 1
- p. 390Applying superfluities to public needs would end taxes; pride should be taxed.read · scan
Voltaire, Letters on the EnglishVol. 34
- p. 91Describes English fiscal constitution: Commons sets taxes, Lords may only accept or reject money bills, king signs.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 137–138Governor and Assembly struggle over money bills and taxation; the proprietors are pressured to contribute to defense.read · scan
John Woolman, The Journal of John WoolmanVol. 1
- p. 213Taxation to fund wars is resisted by conscience.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 7–9Treats the sovereign's necessary expenses, methods of taxation, and the debts of modern governments.read · scan
- p. 417Taxation supports the sovereign; every order of citizens is bound to contribute to the commonwealth's support.read · scan
- p. 428–429Improvement rent should be free from tithe and taxation by church and king, lest future revenues shrink.read · scan
- p. 446Sovereign's duties require expense and revenue; outlines inquiry into public expenses, methods of contribution, and public debts.read · scan
- p. 453–454Coinage and post-office defray own expense and yield revenue to sovereign.read · scan
- p. 468Expenses of government and how the sovereign or commonwealth may fund them; fitness of different governments for managing commercial projects.read · scan
- p. 470–471Security of state lending rests on good faith of governments and continuance of peace; colonial paper money issued immoderately caused disorder.read · scan
- p. 472Steady revenue gives security and dignity to government; ancient republics and sovereigns lived on land rents.read · scan
- p. 472In ancient monarchies government expenses were modest; household officers were the great officers of state and land rent sufficed.read · scan
- p. 473Modern civilized monarchies levy revenue on the people far exceeding land rent, including servicing public debt.read · scan
- p. 473–474Crown lands are badly managed under negligent, expensive, oppressive agents.read · scan
- p. 475–476Public interest favors replacing crown land revenue with other revenue.read · scan
- p. 476–477Sovereign or commonwealth must be supported by people's contributions from private revenue.read · scan
- p. 479Nations strive to make taxes equal, certain, convenient and light; sovereign shares not in landlord's improvements.read · scan
- p. 482–483Good administration of the tax can remove uncertainty causing oppression and promote general improvement of the country.read · scan
- p. 487–488In Asian states the sovereign is supported principally by a land-tax on produce, as the church is in Europe.read · scan
- p. 492–493Ground-rents owe their excess value to the sovereign's good government, so should contribute peculiarly to its supportread · scan
- p. 493–494Tax administration by assessors, exemptions by favour, and valuations show practice of fiscal governmentread · scan
- p. 508No art does governments learn from one another faster than draining money from the people's pockets.read · scan
- p. 510Revenue-seeking sovereigns multiply register offices needlessly, an abuse natural to such taxes.read · scan
- p. 512–513Smith condemns wage taxes as absurd and destructive though common in France and Bohemia.read · scan
- p. 515–516Mild English government accepts what poll-taxes yield, while the severe French government forces intendants to raise fixed sums.read · scan
- p. 524–526Duties imposed to relieve the state's exigencies and regulate trade; export of wool prohibited and monopolies gained by conquest.read · scan
- p. 526–527Public revenue from customs and excise is compared as an instrument of state finance, with contribution proportioned to expense.read · scan
- p. 527–528Administration of customs on the model of the excise could make smuggling more difficult.read · scan
- p. 528Describes administrative supervision by customhouse officers of merchants' warehouses and dealers.read · scan
- p. 531Walpole's excise scheme was dropped because of faction and smugglers' clamour, deterring successors.read · scan
- p. 533–534Sovereigns assumed administration of local tolls, raising duties and neglecting their application, unlike accountable local communities.read · scan
- p. 539Excise and customs officers' vexatious inspection of dealers; Britain's state, though imperfect, is better than most neighbours'.read · scan
- p. 540Taxes requiring a multitude of revenue officers harm the country's commerce.read · scan
- p. 541France's differing provincial revenue laws require multitudes of officers and restrain internal commerce.read · scan
- p. 542–543Government administering taxes directly would be more frugal than farming them out; complicated revenue laws are absurd management.read · scan
- p. 544Tax farmers demand ever more severe laws, unlike a sovereign who, even if bad, has compassion because his family's grandeur depends on his people's prosperity.read · scan
- p. 545Proposes reforming French finances: abolish taille, make taxes uniform, administer directly; private interest opposes reform.read · scan
- p. 546French taxation is inferior to British; France raises far less revenue yet oppresses people more, though it has the mildest government after Britain's.read · scan
- p. 552–553Government borrows on the confidence subjects have in its justice and good faith.read · scan
- p. 553–554Governments, relying on easy borrowing, excuse themselves from saving; rude states must save for lack of credit.read · scan
- p. 555Governments fear offending the people with sudden taxes and so borrow instead.read · scan
- p. 556Government finds it easier to misapply the sinking fund than to impose new taxes the people would resent.read · scan
- p. 559Governments would not prolong war to humour a people who feel its whole cost.read · scan
- p. 560–561Vexatious tax collection drives merchants and manufacturers to leave the country, ruining trade.read · scan
- p. 561–562Public funding has enfeebled Italian republics, Spain, France and Holland; even wise governments must resort to improper taxes in urgent necessity.read · scan
- p. 563States facing accumulated debt have always freed revenue by bankruptcy, often disguised by act of parliament or royal proclamation raising the coin's denomination.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 357–359The Assembly is tested on ordinary administrative duty rather than ideal models and found to have ruined the finances.read · scan
- p. 359–360The Assembly had neither capacity nor authority to enforce any plan of taxation.read · scan
- p. 360A state without authority resorts to voluntary benevolence and then force to collect revenue.read · scan
- p. 361–362The Assembly's president reprimands Necker rather than heeding his warning, showing lack of foresight.read · scan
- p. 363Burke compares expenses of the new system with the old government and finds it more chargeable.read · scan
- p. 370The Assembly ignores its finance minister's advice and declares paper equal to metal money, beyond legislative competence.read · scan
Edmund Burke, A Letter to a Noble LordVol. 24
- p. 385–386Burke defends his economical reforms of the pay-office and civil-list establishment, achieved by method and principle against coarse amputation or taxation.read · scan
- p. 393Administration of Crown funds by principle and estimate; pensions to reward merit preserved.read · scan
John Marshall, Opinion of Chief Justice Marshall in the Case of McCulloch vs. the State of MarylandVol. 43
- p. 223A bank is a convenient, essential instrument of national fiscal operations, attested by those administering finances and by legislation.read · scan
Robert Burns, Poems and SongsVol. 6
- p. 145–147Excise officers and the loss of Ferintosh's charter privilege are denounced.read · scan
- p. 208–209Criticizes ministers unfit for office and taxation burdening Britain after the warread · scan
- p. 439–441Villagers cheer the Devil carrying off the hated Exciseman, mocking the tax collector.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 196Insupportable taxes levied with cupidity and folly, and the conduct of stationary troops, worsen the chronic distress.read · scan
- p. 509Magistrates wake late; the Decurioni raise money through loans and taxes and distribute funds for the Board, the poor and corn.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 373–374The English government strictly keeps its engagements, and breaches of faith or finance provoke national inquiry.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 64Parliament's scrutiny of public expenditure and unpopular administration.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 294–297The State's duty in taxation is to choose commodities consumers can best spare, including those injurious beyond moderate use.read · scan
Convention Between the United States and the Republic of PanamaVol. 43
- p. 454–455Panama may establish customs houses and guards to collect duties and prevent contraband.read · scan
8c.Government's duties in public works, welfare and relief
Marcus Tullius Cicero, Letters of CiceroVol. 9
- p. 95–97Senate and people give Pompey control of the corn supply, with a rival law granting money, fleet and army.read · scan
Plutarch, CiceroVol. 12
- p. 222As quaestor in a corn scarcity he compels Sicilians to send provisions to Rome.read · scan
Plutarch, CaesarVol. 12
- p. 270Cato has the senate give the poor a monthly corn allowance at great public cost to blunt Caesar's popular power.read · scan
Miguel de Cervantes, The History of Don Quixote of the Mancha, Part IVol. 14
- p. 304Curate compares tolerated books to games permitted in well-governed commonwealths for idle men.read · scan
Francis Bacon, Essays, Civil and MoralVol. 3
- p. 39–40Policy should balance population to the kingdom's stock and avoid excess nobility, clergy and scholars.read · scan
Francis Bacon, The New AtlantisVol. 3
- p. 160–161Founding of an order or society as the lantern of the kingdom, with the state supporting those who stay.read · scan
Jonathan Swift, A Letter of Advice to a Young PoetVol. 27
- p. 118Appeals to Lord Mayor and aldermen to fund a public repository for wits' productions.read · scan
Benjamin Franklin, His AutobiographyVol. 1
- p. 98–99Franklin proposes reforming the city watch by paid watchmen and a tax proportioned to property.read · scan
- p. 117Franklin persuades a reluctant Assembly to grant public money to the hospital through a cleverly conditional bill.read · scan
- p. 121–122Proposes municipal contracting of watchmen for street cleaning.read · scan
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of NationsVol. 10
- p. 153–154Roman corn distributions and provincial tithes at low prices discouraged tillage near Rome.read · scan
- p. 454–455Contrasts public works funded from self-supporting tolls with those built by officials to please great lords, and private versus commissioner management of tolls.read · scan
- p. 483Sovereign's attention to improvement is vague, the landlord's minute; the sovereign should secure industry's reward, free markets, communications and exportation.read · scan
Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in FranceVol. 24
- p. 290Statesmen should use monastic corporations' wealth and discipline as a lasting instrument of public benevolence, not destroy them.read · scan
- p. 294–296Corporate bodies are more open to public direction by the state than private citizens are.read · scan
William Ellery Channing, On the Elevation of the Laboring ClassesVol. 28
- p. 352–353Enlightened people should demand municipal regulations for cleansing the city, pure water, and healthy housing.read · scan
- p. 353–355People must require city administration to make public health a leading object.read · scan
Alessandro Manzoni, I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed)Vol. 21
- p. 205–206Describes the superintendent's office and the court of provisions, whose officials are blamed in times of scarcity.read · scan
- p. 235–236The stranger, 'if I were ruling', proposes to make things right with bread for all; Renzo hopes people will govern themselves fairly.read · scan
- p. 236–237The stranger's scheme of rationing bread by family notes and fixed price; Renzo asks why no law does this.read · scan
- p. 271–272Government's business is to seek out hidden corn and hang monopolists; citizens should remonstrate rather than riot.read · scan
- p. 286Venice's governors block corn passes, then the Doge and senate order free transit and grain for the countryside.read · scan
- p. 461Boards of Health and Provision debate slowly while corpses multiply; the Lazzaretto expedient is adopted at public expense.read · scan
- p. 462–463Authorities move from invitation to compulsion, rounding up beggars; the narrator satirizes foolish public spending and poor administration.read · scan
- p. 465The Board of Provision, ashamed, undoes its costly scheme on advice of the Board of Health and dismisses survivors.read · scan
Ralph Waldo Emerson, English TraitsVol. 5
- p. 322Carlyle says public men abdicate duty; government should direct poor men to till waste moors instead of leaving pauperism.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, AutobiographyVol. 25
- p. 146Parliament, ignorant of foreign social phenomena, passed a Poor Law instead of creating peasant properties.read · scan
John Stuart Mill, On LibertyVol. 25
- p. 302–303The State's role is enforcing the law through examinations and fines rather than influencing opinion.read · scan
- p. 306Mill weighs when government should help rather than restrain, preferring individuals and voluntary associations to state action.read · scan
Convention Between the United States and the Republic of PanamaVol. 43
- p. 453–454US may enforce sanitary ordinances and maintain public order in Panama and Colon if Panama fails to.read · scan
‹ 7 · Outline · 9 ›