Economic Cultures and Debates on Taxation in Italy after World War II: 1943–1948
-
Paolo Bozzi
Paolo Bozzi joined the Chair of Social and Economic History at Humboldt University in 2019 as research assistant, while pursuing his PhD in Economic History. Between 2014 and 2019, he studied in Pisa, where he received his M.A. in History from the University of Pisa in 2019 defending a thesis on the Economic History of 20th-century Italy. At the same time, he was a fellow at the Faculty of Humanities (Classe di Lettere e Filosofia) of the Scuola Normale Superiore, from which he was awarded a five-year scholarship. In 2018, he spent the spring semester at the University of Sheffield as Erasmus exchange student. Currently, Paolo is working on the redefinition of Italian fiscal contract in the 1970s. The research aims both at collecting quantitative data about the functioning of the Italian tax system, and at analysing the development of Italian tax policy with a particular focus on income and wealth redistribution.
Abstract
This contribution analyses the change in the conception of taxation which occurred in Italy during the aftermath of World War II. From being a neutral mechanism to collect state revenue, in this period taxation became seen as a powerful political tool to redistribute income and wealth. The article primarily relies on material collected by the Economic Commission of the Ministry for the Constituent Assembly set up in 1945, a unique source which offers a comprehensive overview of the different conceptions of taxation at the time. Drawing upon their different economic and political ideologies, liberal economists and entrepreneurs, Christian Democrats, and Communists formulated alternative tax programmes. While liberal economists and entrepreneurs advocated the maintenance of the existing tax system on technical grounds, the Christian Democrats imposed a new conception of taxation as a means for income redistribution. Progressive and redistributive taxation was also present in the Communist programme, but their ambiguous tax views suffered from the lack of administrative and economic experience which liberal and Catholic economists had instead gathered before and partially even during the Fascist regime. The debate ended abruptly in 1947 with the exclusion of the left from government and the success of liberal conceptions. Nonetheless, during the 1960s, the Catholic emphasis on progressive and redistributive taxation incorporated the new Keynesian ideas on public finance and achieved a hegemonic position in the public debate, thus overcoming the traditional liberal view.
About the author
Paolo Bozzi
joined the Chair of Social and Economic History at Humboldt University in 2019 as research assistant, while pursuing his PhD in Economic History. Between 2014 and 2019, he studied in Pisa, where he received his M.A. in History from the University of Pisa in 2019 defending a thesis on the Economic History of 20th-century Italy. At the same time, he was a fellow at the Faculty of Humanities (Classe di Lettere e Filosofia) of the Scuola Normale Superiore, from which he was awarded a five-year scholarship. In 2018, he spent the spring semester at the University of Sheffield as Erasmus exchange student. Currently, Paolo is working on the redefinition of Italian fiscal contract in the 1970s. The research aims both at collecting quantitative data about the functioning of the Italian tax system, and at analysing the development of Italian tax policy with a particular focus on income and wealth redistribution.
© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Abhandlungen
- Einleitung: Staatsfinanzen und Konflikt
- Eine moralische Ökonomie der Steuern?
- Kommunaler und kollektiver Widerstand gegen fiskalische Abschöpfung in der alten Eidgenossenschaft (Schweiz vor 1800)
- “Robbery Made the Kingdom of Italy, Misery Will Unmake It”
- Notstand und Sachverstand
- Economic Cultures and Debates on Taxation in Italy after World War II: 1943–1948
- Steuerzahlverhalten quantifizieren
- Die Entwicklung des „Steuerstaates“: Ursprung, Aufstieg und Ende eines finanzwirtschaftlichen Fortschrittsparadigmas
- Forschungs- und Literaturbericht
- Wann ist ein Unternehmen profitabel?
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Abhandlungen
- Einleitung: Staatsfinanzen und Konflikt
- Eine moralische Ökonomie der Steuern?
- Kommunaler und kollektiver Widerstand gegen fiskalische Abschöpfung in der alten Eidgenossenschaft (Schweiz vor 1800)
- “Robbery Made the Kingdom of Italy, Misery Will Unmake It”
- Notstand und Sachverstand
- Economic Cultures and Debates on Taxation in Italy after World War II: 1943–1948
- Steuerzahlverhalten quantifizieren
- Die Entwicklung des „Steuerstaates“: Ursprung, Aufstieg und Ende eines finanzwirtschaftlichen Fortschrittsparadigmas
- Forschungs- und Literaturbericht
- Wann ist ein Unternehmen profitabel?
