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The Common Sense Of A Wealth Tax: Thomas Paine & Taxation As Freedom From Aristocracy, Jeremy Bearer-Friend, Vanessa Williamson
The Common Sense Of A Wealth Tax: Thomas Paine & Taxation As Freedom From Aristocracy, Jeremy Bearer-Friend, Vanessa Williamson
GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works
Thomas Paine’s writing helped spur the American colonies to independence and ensure that the new nation would be a republic, not a monarchy. In light of the renewed interest in wealth taxes, this article provides a close examination of Thomas Paine’s wealth tax proposal in the second volume of The Rights of Man. Unlike Paine’s proposal to tax inheritances, his 1792 proposal to tax wealth on an annual basis is often overlooked. The article identifies Paine’s various design specifications, provides original estimates of the impact of Paine’s wealth tax proposal within his own time period and as applied to billionaires …