ABSTRACT
The most thorough-going attempt to show that the incidence of the income tax is not shifted in the form of a rise in price is that of Mr. W. H. Coates. Because his view is contrary to the one which we go on to express, and also because he attempts a statistical, as well as a theoretical investigation, his treatment of the problem appears to be particularly worthy of examination. The statistical investigation made by Coates was one of the greatest thoroughness. Coates's theory is a variant of the "theory of three arguments" which we have just examined; and it contains the fallacies of that theory. Coates attacked the business men, Mr. P. D. Leake, for considering, in their theorising, what would take place in the "long run". As a result, probably, of the weakness in his treatment of the time factor to which we have alluded, Coates's theory is specially unsatisfactory when dealing with savings, interest and capital.
