ABSTRACT

The expectation of levies from the relatively rich, as from any other class, acts upon the national dividend differently according as the levy is voluntary or coercive. The contribution of a voluntary levy implies that a new use has been found, into which people wish to put some resources more keenly than they wish to put them into other available uses. Voluntary transference of resources may also take the form of generous conduct on the part of the wealthy to the poor persons who are united to them through common citizenship of the same town. This chapter considers an income tax in which there is no differentiation against saving. An income tax, which is constructed on the same general plan and yields an equal revenue, but which does differentiate against saving, may be expected to have a larger effect.